The One With The Minor Setback

Trujillo over the weekend was really interesting! It was election day on Sunday so no alcohol was served in the entire country the day before. I told you they take it seriously. The plazas were bustling, bands were playing, it was awash with electioneering. After Trujillo, the next stop, a few hundred kilometres up the coast, was Chiclayo for a visit to the tomb and museum of the Lord of Sipan. What can I say...more honking taxi drivers, more bustle and dust, more men selling baby tortoises on the street, more dogs asleep outside pet stores in fish tanks with barely enough air to breathe. I suppose you just have to accept the different way of things in other cultures, to a degree. They have different priorities. What is important to me in travelling , I suppose, is that I am challenged about what I think is right or wrong. I don't ever want to become complacent in my thoughts.

However, good things did also happen. I bumped into Sabine (from school in Cusco) and her friend Claire (more dutch sweeties) who hadn't intended to be that far up north. I have never met a couple whose plans change so frequently, but that was excellent news for me. We had a lovely day at the witches market in Chiclayo. It was a wonderful bustling south american market stretching for blocks. The stalls are brimming with knobbly, ugly, but brightly coloured fruit and vegetables that smell like they're supposed to. The street sellers are squeezing beautiful juices that send the hairs in my nose crazy, my mouth is watering, but I know I must NOT be lured into the drinking of street juice. Remember what happened last time! I have a bus to catch tomorrow! And the next day...

The following day we visited the Lord of Sipan's tomb and the museum holding the finds. All I can say is that an archaeologist would train for years dreaming of being involved in that find. It was only unearthed in the mid 80s \ early 90s and the painstaking nature of the recovery and restoration of these artefacts is incredible. And the museum was excellent. So many aren't. I know we are spoiled in London, but this museum was laid out well. You could see the exhibits clearly, details were explained and most importantly, there was a really interesting narrative to the exhibit. There was tension in the air as you followed the story of the tomb robbers, the discovery of what to the untrained eye looked like a pile of rubbish, and the gradual unearthing of these magnificent artefacts. We were beside ourselves!

Over the two days we also managed to eat in what were, hopefully, the worst restaurants in Peru.

So up the coast and inland to Piura - avoid it - to make my way into Ecuador. All that and more in next week's exciting installment of Mils on Tour.

And there won't be any new photos for a while folks on account of the new camera I bought in Boston suddenly seizing. And you know that feeling, the one you have when it's in your bones that this won't be easy to sort out. This is the stuff that the SODIT rating was invented for! Oh and I also mislaid my prescription sunglasses. Andre...score please.