Chicalayo

We were glad to be out of the madness in Trujillo in the morning and headed to Chicalayo, first though a visit to Chan Chan, the largest Adobe city in the world, quite impressive, dating from pre Inca times, once again made me think how great civilisations can dissapear and give way to modern day chaos. After that a visit to Huanchano which is about 8Km fro Trujillo and where we should have stopped for the night, this beachfront town is nice and you can see the fisermen here still using reed boats to get their catches. Then a hot run up to Chicalayo, a nice town, still busy but not quite as mad as before and a nice blend of old and new Architecture. We've had a rest day here to give ourselves a break, it was needed!!

These pictures are of the Chan Chan Adobe town, thousands of years old, impressive!  

Fiona wondering why they could build straight walls all those years ago and have now forgotten!

The Boss was buried here with all his wives and head guys, no point in getting promotion here, when the Boss goes you do to!

The Reed boats in Huancho

 

A very hot Gino contemplating a new career in Reed boat fishing!

Celebrating the following day off! (Fi with a Cherry Pisco Sour)

Health & Safety?????

Nice Colonial Cathedral

 

 

 

Heading North

We left on Sunday to head North through Lima to Huacho, god knows what the traffic would be like on a weekday, Sunday through Lima was bad enough, as I said before Peruvian drivers seem to lack spacial awareness and are forever trying to pass you when there is no room, the Urban sprawl of Lima goes on for 50 Miles so it was hard going but we made good time anyway and ended up in Huacho for Sunday night. Huacho is actually quite nice, loads of money has been spent at the seafront to create a plaza and is really the first "modern" bit of Peru we've seen. It was really busy and good to see everybody out enjoying themselves and for the first time, no hustlers trying to sell you anything, much better!
Today we headed up to Trujillo, once again some interesting driving! But having said that some of the open bits of the Pan Am are superb, waves crashing on the beach on one side and desert on the other. I now realise what to expect from the drivers here, indicators are never used, neither are mirrors, or side windows come to that. Instead of looking or indicating blow the horn, once you realise that and the fact its mandatory to try to squeeze a car up your inside or outside at every opportinity then it makes sense. I got a telling off from a policeman on a bike today because my front wheel was partly on a zebra crossing at a set of lights in the manic town of Chimbote, I just thought "you are having a laugh!" pick on any of the 30 cars/ moto taxis /trucks behind me, they have all done something really stupid in the last 3 minutes!
Plan is to see some historic stuff here that Fi is researching before heading Northwards again.

Harbour at Pisco

Waiting for breakfast!

Doing the laundry & having a Sunday bath!

Big Fishing fleet in Huacho 

Moto Taxis everywhere

 Photo stop

 Fuel & water stop

 Local Gigilo perhaps? Translated it means No Money then you can't have love

 The Pan Am cuts through several towns so it keeps the average speed down a bt

Nasca Lines

My thoughts on Peru so far, the driving is bad, not in an agressive way but in a stupid way, the people have no concept of the danger they put themselves in or others, The place is also full of hustlers all trying to sell you something on the street, it becomes really annoying. Two people in our hostel yesterday had been robbed on the bus in seperate incidents and the police aren't really interested so my feelings on Peru at the moment is that it could be twinned with the Democratic Republic of Congo !
Rant over, we left this morning and headed North to the seaside town of Paracas as reccomended by some of the backpackers we met, just South of Pisco which most people said was a dump (Nasca was a dump also) En route we passed the famous Nasca lines , rather than take an expensive plane jourmey to see these Geoglyphs from the air we took the cheaper route and climbed the tower for 2 soles (around 50p) its possible to see the tree and the hands, I'm a bit sceptical about these things so I don't believe any of the many theories behind these drawings in the desert, one thing though, left un maintained the desert would surely eradicate all traces of these within a year. I'm pretty sure that some bored schoolkids drew them one day for a laugh or maybe I'd rather believe the Aliens drew them as a message, my interpretation of that message would be, keep going, nothing to see here and the driving's crap!
When we finally got into our hotel today the room wasn't ready so we had a coffee while we waited and meanwhile some thoughtful idiot (of which there are many here) must have sat or leaned on the front "beak" or mudguard of Fi's bike and broke it, we noticed it as soon as we got back to the bikes so some suprglue and cable ties have restored it  back into some funcionality . Heading North tomorrow all going well to try to get past the capital Lima, our theory being that Sunday will hopefully be quieter.

Bikes locked up inside hostel

No Goggles, gloves and wearing sandals, Health and safety 0

Strange!

 "Hands"

 "Tree"

 "Fiona"

After the repair!

  

Machu Picchu

Not sure where to begin with this one, we have been tourists for a while, a visit to the world famous site of Machu Picchu involved a 2 hour car trip then a 1 hour 40 minute train to Aguas Calientes where we stopped for the night then a trip to Machu Picchu the following day then of course the reverse journey but the lat bit by bus. Put bluntly, I hate being a "tourist" and I have to say you get fleeced at every opportunity in this part of the world. That aside Machu Picchu was amazing, built 600 years ago it is an amazing feat of engineering when you take into account the location and the associated difficulties, rediscovered just over 100 years ago by an American who subsequently took the treasures out of the country. I'm glad we visited it but like I say my kick is from riding my bike , not being a tourist in its finest sense. We rode the 400 miles from Cusco to Nasca in two days as its a road that's difficult to keep good time on, hairpin after hairpin, at times you are glad of a straight to get a rest. It was interesting to see the locals working the land and their animals the same way they have been doing for hundreds of years, one thing I did observe was the amount of kids working or watching their younger siblings whilst their parents work, the women in particular seem to work very hard here whilst the men watch! The sad thing is the kids education undoubtedly suffers and whilst they all seem happy with this simple way of life it means they have no choice and will undoubtedly be disadvantaged as the country develops. We found a crack in the pannier frames yesterday (both Right sides) but got them both welded today so ready to rock again tomorrow after seeing the Nasca Lines.

The road the bus takes you up! Not for the faint hearted

 Machu Picchu

 Long long way down

The Sundial at the top of Machu Picchu

 The money shot!! Copyright!!

 Furthest Travelled Antler Rally hat

 Typical houses in the outskirts of Agua Callienties, how can they build Machu Picchu 600 years ago and now this is normal!

 Also Copyright

 My new hobby, standing on the train line while the train is coming

 Vicous Parrot

 Health & Safety????

 This is easier to understand in Spanish!!

 600 years ago Machu Picchu now this!

 Stunning Rainbows

 The next load of UK hamburgers going for a walk!!! (Shocking revalations from the UK!!)

 Would you shower under this? Health and Safety not considered

 400 miles of this, good but tiring

 A challenge to market these in the UK, actually not Krap at all, quite nice!