Hello from Peru, it´s been a while since my last entry and it´s pretty late here so apologies if this is short/rubbish! After my last journal entry we left Ecuador on an overnight bus for Piura in Peru. We reached the border in the early hours, crossed over and reached Piura at about eight, we picked up some cash from the cash point (some of which has since been rejected) and got straigh onto the next bus to Chiclayo. There we had a strange chinese (mushrooms turned out to be quails eggs - which they cook and sell on the street here) and hit a casino to kill some time. Afterwards we went to a market where the girls ate some Guinea Pig which looked foul, all boney and still with teeth and whiskers!

That afternoon I picked up the fourth member of our gang. For 35 Solers (3 to the dollar) I purchased a two and a half foot boy called Nelson. Fear not, he´s a mannequin, and we got a pair of pants thrown in for free. Nelson is to be our mascot, unfortunately so far he´s fallen onto a lady on a bus, had some odd looks. We need to get him some clothes, but we´ve successfully managed to glue his arms on now so they don´t cause too many problems anymore! That night we got our second night bus to Chachapoyas, a small town in the mountains. We arrived the next morning, headed straight to a tour agency and left to go to Kuelap within two hours of arriving. Kuelap is a sky fortress built by a pre-inca civilisation but later colonized by the Incas. The place is vast and built on the top of a mountain, it is usually covered by myst and so bromeliads grow there - it looked amazing. We looked around during the day and had lunch in a tiny village called Maria perched on the hilltops. Then we wound our way back down the scary sand road (2500+feet up), had a rushed dinner and got on the next bus, this time back to Chiclayo. We arrived in the early morning and jumped on a bus to Trujillo, a large city in the North of Peru. We spent two nights there.

Trujillo was brilliant, but no Cuenca. Colonial architecture, amazing moorish-style balconies and great food. That said our hotel was a bit dodgy, I was given a shock by the electric shower twice, sparks in the shower are not a great sign! We travelled out one afternoon to Chan Chan, a sprawling complex of adobe walls and not much else. It reminded me a lot of Luxor, but of course when the rain falls everything starts to dissolve. The next day we took a trip to the Temple of Sun which was much more impressive, almost a pyramid like a ziggurat with colour on the adobe and designs depicting a strange looking God and some creatures from the sea. We went on to a town called Huanchaco (I think) and sat by the beach reading for a while. It was full of surfers who come for the good break and for the fishermen who take the reed boats out and bob around before riding back in.

That night we took another, this time 20 hour, bus ride to Lima, we arrived early morning, napped, and went to see the Cathedral in the afternoon. Lima is amazing compared to Quito which was totally overwhelming. We´re in Miraflores at the moment, an expensive, safe part of town which sprawls down to the Pacific Ocean where we´re going paragliding tomorrow afternoon (fingers crossed we can book it and the weather is good). The Cathedral holds the tomb of Francisco Pizzaro, the Spanish Conquistador who conquered the country. After seeing so much of his dirty path of distruction and so many of the churches he helped to build it was fascinating to see his ornately decorated tomb. The next day we went out and went to a black mrket where I picked up a Barca and a Brazil shirt for ten pounds (they´re almost perfect) and then we looked around the museum of the Inquisition which was good but had no english translations. I spent the afternoon at the waterfront watching the paragliders and walking around the incredibly modern (And far too expensive) Mall. That was yesterday and in the evening I went with Christopher and Ulrich, two danish cousins, to Atlantic City, a crazy fancy Casino where we bought in with 6 dollars, and I walked away having lost 80 i´d made, all a bit crazy.

Today Becca and I went to hunt for a museum but only had time and money to the erotic exhibition - fascinating and far more graphic than in the Greek culture! And then we went to go watch Universitario Desportes vs San Martin in a Lima derby. San Martin won to the ire of the home fans, there were no San Martin fans at all - perhaps this had something to do with the water cannon, riot police and body-armour clad security people! We sat in the VIP section close to the pitch for 35 solers, and had a great time! Poor goals though and no real talent on show apart from the San Martin number 18 who was a brilliant playmaker. Anyway, the girls have turned the lights off, so I should probably go! We´re staying in a dorm room in a hostel called Friend´s House. There is an American guy my age called Greg and a blonde girl who just arrived tonight here. We´ve met very few English people here, it´s apparently out of season for gap yearers. But we met some great Americans who are biking the Andes then canoeing the length of the Amazon for some website called wilderness classrom.com!

Our future plans are to leave Lima tomorrow, either for Ica or for Cuzco, and hopefully to watch Boca Juniors take on Cuzco in the Copa Libatores on the 4th in Cuzco. Then maybe Bolivia or more of Peru until it´s time to do the Inca trail. I´m going off the idea of Chile apart from Tierro del Fuego, I´ll keep you posted! Till next time....