First stop in Peru was Mancora. Apparently one of the best places to surf in S. America, but sadly very few waves and the waves that did come were rammed, so we gave it a miss and swam with the fishes. Literally. As soon as you got beyond thigh high in the turquoise/green/electric blue water you were greeted by a very odd sensation, of many many tiny little suckers on your legs and stomach. You couldnt look anywhere and not see fish, it was crazy. A couple of days spent chilling, skimming stones, reading books and ambling along the beach was enough for us to move on in search of some waves (the only real reason we had ventured to the coast). So we got a terrible, terrible (owing to the fat sweaty shouting man who had fully reclined his seat in front of us and spent the majority of the time with his arms in the air - in order for us to fully appreciate his impressive odour for which he must have worked very hard for a good few weeks at least, and who did not want to face forwards but would rather look at us for the whole journey. Unnerving to say the least) nightbus to Trujillo and changed to Huanchaco.

We spent the afternoon watching the locals surf on the (sadly, small) waves as the sunset, and also witnessed the traditional caballitos landing - single man kayak type boats with a raised end designed to allow the captain to ride the breakers, fish for the day, then surf his way back to shore. That evening we sampled the coastal speciality ceviche - raw white fish marinated in lime juice. This was the first time in ages the "local cuisine" had involved anything more interesting than a bit of chewy meat and some rice (apart from the cuy - check the banos photos) so we tucked in with gusto. All good until the next day when the ceviche bit back, hard. Not to let a mild bit of diarrhoea stand in the way of the surf I (stupidly) insisted we went surfing. Not only were there no waves, it was FREEZING and really rocky and just not ideal for someone as severely dehydrated as i was. Even if we had been in good condition though this meant we had been to both the top two surfing beaches in Peru, and they really arent that great. Satisfied with our fill of beach life once again (and now very very tanned again) we moved on to Casma, via a quick change in Chimbote; probably the smelliest place in the world with its big claim to fame being a major producer of fishmeal. Nice one. The locals were less than impressed as we spent the hour at the bus station holding our noses, and gratefully only breathed freely once more when back on the road to Casma. Here we intended to see the ruins of Sechin. Until we got ill, very very ill indeed. The problem is the hygeine standards in all but the nicest restaurants seem non existent so we cant really point the finger of blame at anything with conviction as literally anything could have been unwashed or undercooked. We do however suspect yesterdays lunch at a Chifa (cheapo chinese restaurant) to be the cause of our ailments. So Casma hasnt been all that great as you can imagine, but hopefully we are on the road to recovery now, or we had better be as we have tickets to go to Huarez tomorrow morning (christmas rush and price hike is rather annoying as for the first time in months we have actually got to be pretty organised for the next week or so about where we want to stay and when we want to get there).

We will be spending christmas in Huarez and the surrounding area; snowy mountains, glaciers and the region where "touching the void" was filmed apparently, so it should be pretty much the opposite to the hot dusty desert region along the coast. And we wont be going anywhere near ceviche or a chifa for a long time!

We hope everybody has a lovely christmas - Feliz Navidad!