We carried on south along the coast of Peru in the evening, enjoying the beautiful sunset; the landscape in between towns was semi-desert, reminiscent of South Africa. Later it started raining heavily so we were delayed and didn't arrive at Huanchaco until around 2am.

The next day we visited some archaeological sites and were guided around by a crazy French lady, Ozelyne, who told us all about local customs and traditions as we were driving around. Firstly we went to Huaca del Sol y de la Luna, which dates from around 100BC to 700AD and was built by the Moche people in their capital. Huaca del Sol hasn't been excavated and just looks like a huge sandy pyramid. However, Huaca de la Luna is very impressive - it was a palace of sorts and each time a king died his palace was buried under adobe (mud bricks) and another palace was built on top, so it has several levels. It has been very well conserved and many colourful wall decorations have been uncovered - lots of their god, Ayaypec, and others of animals, fishermen and dancers - it is remarkable to think how long those images have been there.

While we were there we saw some of the hairless dogs that live at the site - they are indigenous to the area. They are strange looking - black-skinned and bald apart from a little mohawk on their forehead and a bit of fluff at the end of their tails. Apparently they have an unusually high body temperature and many years ago were used as a sort of hot water bottle for people that were ill!

On the way to the next archaeological site, Chan Chan, we stopped in the city of Trujillo for lunch and pottered around a bit.

Chan Chan was the capital city of the Chimu people, built between around 1200AD and 1500AD. We visited the Tschudi complex - the central palace which has largely been reconstructed in an effort to recreate what it would have looked like when in use. Evidently the modern materials and techniques aren't as sturdy as the original ones because when we visited they were trying to repair damage from the previous day's rain (the following day it was closed altogether for repairs). The scale of the site was vast and it was interesting to see how the people would have lived though I found it strange knowing that none of it was original.

Similar to Huaca del Sol y de la Luna, Chan Chan was robbed of the majority of its valuables by the Spanish when they arrived in the area - any artefacts that remained at the sites have been sent to the National Museum in Lima.

Back at our hotel, Sebastian showed us how to make the Peruvian specialty cocktail, Pisco Sour, from Pisco brandy, lime juice, sugar and egg white. They're pretty strong! I had ceviche again for dinner though it wasn't as good as the one in Mancora.

The next morning I was awoken by a marching band outside at 7:20am - every day in every town there seems to be a parade for something or other! Before we left I went to try to get a photograph of the famous 'surfing fishermen' who use caballitos ("little horses"), which are small boats made from reeds that look like surfboards. I'd seen lots in the water the previous day as we drove around but when I went to look there were none - perhaps they were having a day off!