Mancora - Huanchaco - Lima - Nazca

It´s been a while since my last update. We have had a pretty speedy trip through Peru as it is much more expensive than we had anticipated, especially the buses. I met up with James and Henri in Mancora a small beach time. I spent a couple of nights there, but it was a bit of a disappointment after Montañita. The beach wasn´t too special and it was fairly dead on the weekdays.

We took our first night to Trujillo after that. The seats reclined quite a ways and we got an okay sleep. We then got a colectivo to the nearby town Huanchaco. It´s a fishing village which is also popular with surfers. We stayed a very nice hostel - casa suiza. We went there to see the ruins Chanchan. They were a bit of a disappointment for me after the spectacular Mayan ruins in Central America. The setting was very different. It was in the middle of the desert.

From Trujillo we then took another night bus to Lima. We managed to find an incredibly cheap bus outside a gas station for 15 soles (about $5) the only catch was that we had to wait in the bus for 3 hours to leave. It worked out well though, because we got into Lima around 8 instead of at 5 am. The seats were not nearly as comfortable as the first one since they hardly reclined. I woke up several times during the night and all I could see was desert. I was groggy and half expected to see Jose - it reminded me a tad of the Nevada desert. I had pretty low expectations as everyone talked about what a horrible pace it was. We found a really nice hostel in one of the newer, touristy centres. We spent our two days there walking around the various neighbourhoods and the first night went to see Shutter Island at the cinema. It was a very exciting experience for me. Although the movie was good, it was slightly upsetting. Last night, our second night in Lima, we had planned to go out, but ended up falling asleep at 8 pm because we were so knackered.

We had a pretty early morning this morning in order for the seven hour bus to Nazca. The bus company was called cruz del sur. It was very posh and comfortable, almost like a grounded airplane. They had food - attempted vegetarian food, movies, comfortable seats, and a steward. It was the cheapest option for us. We got to Nazca today and had lunch at a local Peruvian place. I had Arroz a la cubana - white rice, a fried egg and platanos. The extent of Peruvian vegetarian food, and I was lucky to find it! Tomorrow we are going to go see the Nazca lines then we will part ways with Henri. James and I are going to go to Aeriquipa by night bus with cruz del sur again. It´s about 11 hours, but at least it´ll be on a comfortable bus. We will hopefully spend a few days there. I think my foot will be good enough to do a small hike, I don´t want to over do it.

We have decided to give Cusco a miss, which means also giving Macchu Pichu a miss. It´ll cost several hundred dollars to do as it is very out of the way. I also can´t really do it with my foot, which is a major disappointment. It gives me a good excuse to come back though and I think it is best to wait and do it properly than attempting it with a broken foot.

After Aeriquipa we are going to head into Bolivia, so should be there sometime next week. I am anxious to get there. I am looking forward to it, it seems a little more off the beaten track then Ecuador and Peru. I am also looking forward to sticking in one place for a while.