Short and sweet..

In the town of Trujillo I worte for an hour and half and then the power went out. Very irritating. Here is the short list of what have been happening, I'll try and elaborate in the next town: OK in the next town, Huaraz, and going to elaborate on all the things below!

As I have said before, the coast of Peru is a frickin desert, and I didn't realize that this close to the ecuator someone can get majorly sunburnt even on a cloudy day. I have learned my lesson now, and am wearin my silly little safari hat every day now. The first day from Piura I stopped in the small town of Virrey, where they were having the annual Virrey festival. There were people coming from all over Peru to celebrate this tiny little town. I asked if I could stay for the party, and before I knew it I was given a spot on the floor of the store, a dish of rice and chicken and met about 20 people in the course of 10 minutes. The festivities of the day included a horse race, a loval soccer game, and a salsa dance late into the night. At the horse race I was the next most exciting thing, with a crowd of 30 people or so watching the gringo talk. I was let into the soccer game for free, watching these guys my age play for the honor of their town. Now I know some pretty goof soccer players in the states, but these two teams from two tiny little towns put everyone I know to shame. They were AMAZING, so much teamwork, sportsmanship, with the crowd going crazy... the game lasted untill the sun went down, and then everyone dispersed for dinner, or cena. After taking a nap I went to the salsa dance, where a great live band was playing, and danced with all the locals untill 1:30, when I finally had to sleep. In Peru, it seemd that it is either dancing, or drinking alcohol with the guys, and since I erally didn't want to drink that much it sort of forced me onto the dance floor. Two nights later I made it to the town of Laymbayaque, where there was supposedly an amazing museum of the " Señor de Sipan" ana rchaeological site a little ways south. Unfortunately, it was the day of the 10 year census, so EVERYTHING (and we are talking everything) was closed. I was able to spend the night in the firestation, and in the morning go to the museum. I am really glad I stayed for that extra day, because the amount of gold and POWER that this fellow (and all his friends) had was simply amazing. Tons of gold, llamas and virgens sacrificed and buried with the Señor... My favorite treasure (and it really was lilte Pirates of the carribean treasure) were a necklace, with gold and silver peanuts the size of my fist, and another necklace of 8 intricate spiders and snakes, made of gold.The spiders were sitting on circular webs of thin strands of gold... very awe inspiring. I really felt intimidated by the power this guy had, even some rhousands of years later.

Two more days later I made it to the town of Trujillo, which had a "casa de cyclistas", a free place to stay with a great family! I only wanted to stay for one night, but the matriarch of the family, Aricelli, made me stay three nights so that I could help bake cakes with her. Lucho, the owner of the bike shop, gave me an itinerary to get to Huaraz, in "only three days". The first day I stuck to the itinerary, but the second and third were on amountain road that was in worse condition than most of the roads in Alaska (and that's saying something.) The third day I went through the Cañon (Canyon) del Pato, a crazy bumpy ride through 35 tunnels, most of which were long enough that I had to bike through in complete darkness (I lost my headlamp). After three days I made it to the town of Caraz, where there is pavement all the way to Lima (Yess!!!!)

Three nights in caraz in total, two because I wanted to go hiking and one because I felt a little sick to my stomach, probably because of some bad water that I drank. My last day I went for a long hike to La Laguna Paron, a crystal blue lake surrounded by snowcapped peaks. My legs are still a bit sore from this hike, because I lost my money for the bus back and had to sort of run back to Caraz before it got dark... Maybe 22 miles in total that day, oy! On my walk back, still feeling a bit stomach-achy (not bad enough to keep me from hiking) a nice indigenous family gave/forced milk upon me. I am a bit lactose intolerant, and with my bad stomach in the first place it was definately not a great idea to drink it, but I wanted to be polite.... bad choice. I didn't keel over and die, but I though about it during my next three hours walking to the town. In the morning (this morning in fact) I biked the 70 kilometers to Huaraz all before noon! A friend who I was going to meet actually is not here, but I am going to stay two nights anyways, mostly just to wash my clothes. This is a confession, but some of my clothes haven't been washed since I was in the US, and the ones that have were washed over a month ago in Ecuador! ALL of my clothes are filthy, and will be ready tomorrow afternoon, so now I am wearin clothes from the lost and found at my hostal. I look like a very hip teenager from England, with only my sandals and my belt made of rope giving me away. Tonight is Halloween, but who knows if I will do anything, the only things happening here are very touristy (and probably very expensive) discotechs. I already spent a bit of money today on an addiction of mine; peanut butter. I don't want to say exactly how much it was, but I could have stayed another night in my hostal for the same price. wow. I think that I can get to Lima in a little less than a week, it is about 450 kilometers, mostly downhill and flat. I'll update for sure from there, if not before!

Ciao!