After Easter Island we had to spend a night at Santiago airport. This was not fun. We got no sleep at all, but it could've been worse. Having (somehow) managed to make a friend, Scott, who was travelling to the same hostel in Lima as well, we managed to pass the time (mainly with Chris regaling horror stories involving his bowels...nice.) So by the time we arrive at the wonderfulBackpackers Family Hostel in a nice area called Miraflores, we're exhausted.

Our time in Lima is spent doing jobs to prepare us for the next part of the trip. This included some tricky Spanish for Chris, as we decide to buy a laptop. We were forewarned about the high prices of such things in the more official shops, so got sent to a dodgey market type place (where it's cheaper but possibly stolen/broken. Brilliant). All that left time for was another tricky genre of Spanish for Chris to master (the post office) and finally we can do some actual sight- seeing.

In Miraflores there are some ruins within walking distance, Huaca Pucllana. This site used to be a temple for the Lima people (they don't know the real name!) where horrible things like human sacrifices took place. It's a small site, but interesting enough as it's our first look at the adobe bricks in the 'bookshelf' technique, and the pyramid style layered buildings they used to make. We also met a nice Swiss girl, Jasmine who introduced us to a Peruvian drink that's made from maize called chica morada (so good!) As she's travelling alone she joins us (and another girl from the hostel, Ally) at the restaurant Norkys for some incredible lomo saltado and a pisco sour.

Our next stop is Peru's second city, Trujillo. Just 9 hours north on the luxurious Cruz Del Sur bus it is the gateway to many archaeological finds. First we found the wonderful taxi driver/tour guide, Juan. He got us booked into a hostel in Huanchaco then proceeded to Las Huacas del Sol y de Luna. This temple blew apart the ruins in Lima for us. It has paintings that are still intact, due to the Moche peoples tradition of burying old temples under the new ones (in a pyramid style again). It has huge ramps that run through the entire building as well, and none of it has been restored.

The next 2 sites are both Chimu temples, La Huaca Esmeralda and La Huaca Arco Iris. There are a lot recurring symbols carved into the walls of the ruins from this extensive period, all to do with natures elements. We see pelicans, seals and owls throughout all of these places.

The final stop is the enormous Chan Chan. Built in about ad 1300, at the height of the Chimu empire, this city contained nearly 10 000 structures. It's amazing to be able to walk inside the walls of a place that was built so long ago. Some of these walls are made to look like huge fishing nets. Our guide takes us around one of the Kings palaces (she couldn't tell us who's exactly). Chan Chan has 9 palace areas, as each time a king died, the palace would be sealed off and a new one built for the next ruler. The city was eventually conquered by the Incas in 1460.

As well as the interesting ruins here, there is also an abundance of interesting dogs-the (hairless!) Peruvian dog. Aside from simply being butt- ugly, they have suffered a major blip when it comes to evolution. Because they have no hair, they get sunburnt...and they live in the desert! The Peruvians love them though (and lovingly lotion them up in the heat). They have a high body temperature of about 40 degrees so if you're sick, especially with asthma or arthritis, they dump one of these lovely creatures on your chest to speed up your recovery!

We decided to catch the 6am bus to Chiclayo so we could see all the sites in a day.On arrival we choose our taxi driver for the day, who unfortunately passes us on to his friend, who isn't overly friendly or informative. Anyway, we head to Tucume, Valley of the Pyramids, to see the most awesome view of these crumbling structures. The climb was pretty steep, but we'd already ordered our traditionally cooked chicken and rice for when we got back down!

We had planned to see the highly recommended Lambayeque museum next, but it turned out to be closed on Mondays, rubbish! So we make do with Brunings museum, which is pretty good and has a really interesting photo exhibition. We ask the driver to take us to the tombs of Sipan, but he says it's too far, so we feel a little ripped off.

The next bus journey takes us to the coastal town, Mancora. There is nothing to do here but relax by the pool or swim in the sea, maybe eat some sea food....all good and lazy! We have a wonderful cabin at The Point Hostel, about 20 metres from the sea, and decide to have a couple of days there. It helps that the place has so many friendly visitors with great stories and advice for us.

Next stop, Ecuador...(via the 'worst border crossing in South America')