Today 45 hours of bus rides across Peru finally hit me and I spent most of the day trying to decipher a tour guide's fast Spanish whilst barely keeping my eyelids apart. Still, the scenery and incredible ruins did at least help with that.

To help re-acclimitize to Huaraz's 3600m altitude, I decided to take it easy and do a tour of Chavin de Huantar. This is one of the most significant archeological sites in Peru, the Chavin being one of the country's main pre-Incan civilizations, dominating the Ancash region of the country from around 500 BC to 800 AD.

Chavin de Huantar itself was largely an excavation site, I've definitely been to more impressive sites such as Tiahuanaco and even Machu Picchu. But still, it's interesting to explore a little around places such as these, the site was mainly a place to host ceremonial rituals in the various labyrinthine tunnels. The architecture also had an incredibly scientific basis - it was designed so that you could decipher the time of year based on how the sunlight hit the main plaza.

The ride to Chavin de Huantar was interesting in itself. It rained quite a bit, and there was lots of construction on the road meaning we were delayed for quite a while but the scenery was spectacular as we ascended 4500m mountain passes, above the mist draped mountains and pass incredible lakes, including a stop at Querococha Lake.

Anyway, more adventures await my last days in the Cordillera Blanca and Peru...

Vamos!