Loja, Chiclayo and Huanchaco

Not much to report from Loja. The plan was... we're not sure what the plan was... but it was raining so we mostly camped out in the internet cafe. Do you like our new map?

[crooked] Loja city gates

From Loja we took a night bus to Piura, Peru, including a 4am border crossing. Not at all like Canada-US borders. They weren't concerned in the least about your bags... actually... they didn't even say 2 words to us. We even filled out different customs forms? Who knows what was going on. We arrived around 6:30am to Piura and were hit with a whole new [unexpected] wave of culture shock. Bus terminals in Peru are set up differently; there aren't regional and international bus terminals like in Ecuador, rather each bus company (and there are MANY) has it's own terminal, and operates services to different places. You have to do is figure out where you are going, which company goes there, and where their terminal (not their ticket office) is.

Note the extensive damage on every taxi; a testament to the driving habits around here

From Piura we decided to keep going to Chiclayo. When you've spent 16 of the past 24 hours on buses, you aren't up to a whole lot. We checked out the massive market in Chiclayo, and then retreated to yet another incredible hostel - Hostel Amigos Chiclayo for an early night. Some of the most interesting sightings at the market;

- A woman carrying around a screaming kitten tied up in a plastic bag. A local told us it might have been destined for the dinner table.

- The market was about 4 city blocks, squared. Our goal was to find the witches market, which (according to 3 different sources) was in there somewhere, but after several laps we gave up.

Lisa wanted to take pictures desperately, but it just wasn't safe to bring out the big Nikon (we were attracting way too much attention as it was), and we'd forgotten to put memory card in the little camera (again).

The landscape between Piura and Chiclayo

Local "taxis" are more like dirt bikes turned into small carriages.

The poverty of Peru is very evident in some places

From Chiclayo we headed to Trujillo, 3 hours south. The landscape in Northern Peru was completely unexpected for us. It's a desert! Who knew? However, it was nice change after the Ecuador buses to drive along a flat road, in a straight line, without stopping every 2 minutes to pick up locals who flag the buses down. We too, started flagging buses down in Trujillo - it's what you do here. We took a Cambio (micro-bus/shared taxi) to Huanchaco, a small surfing village on Peru's north coast. It's what you'd expect from a surfing village, but with Salsa Discoteques (open until the sun rises) instead of bars. We learnt to dance Salsa and had a blast practicing our skills until early morning.



Huanchaco beach



Two little boys had a blast playing with the Nikon (while Lisa held onto the strap firmly)

We visisted the Chan Chan ruins, which were quite grand, an unbelievably huge. We pretty much had the place to ourselves because it's low season here.

Note: after 3 weeks of spending 24hours a day together, we are still getting along fabulously.



Some of the Chan Chan ruins with Andes in the background

We then spent the afternoon learning to surf with our instructor, Carlos. We have pictures of us surfing, but you'll have to wait because we are having issues uploading them from the waterproof camera. For some reason, a whole crowd of local mothers kept trying to get pictures of their children with us. It was cute at the begining, but not 20 pictures later. We found (for the first time) a self-serve laundromat, and decided our clothes could use a real wash (sinks only do so much). Simple pleasures! (Note the appropriate Macchu Picchu mural in our hostel room!)

Alex enjoying warm, lovely-smelling laundry. You have no idea how excited this made us.



The food in Peru so far has been incredible. Above is some Pescado Sudado (literally "sweated fish") which was out of this world good (and for $4 too!). It a typical speciality of Peruvian cuisine. We tried Pisco too!

We are off on yet another night bus to Huaraz, in the Cordillera Blanca.