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We finally made it to our first stop in Peru after a couple of days of travelling. As soon as we crossed the border from Ecuador the landscape changed. There were tuk tuks everywhere and then we hit desert all the way to Trujillo.
Trujillo was a brief stop to take in the huge pre-Inca ruins nearby and to give us a break from buses. The ruins (called Chan Chan) turned out to be very interesting and baking hot, plus we lucked out in meeting our first Peruvian hairless dog. Ugly little devils but with a very warm body temperature, meaning the locals lay them on their bodies to cure everything from colds to arthritis!!
On the second day we went to the Huaca de la Luna an ancient adobe temple that contains well preserved friezes. Met a Croat / Peruvian couple who were sickeningly touchy-touchy and told terrible jokes!
We hopped onto our next bus with joy in our step as it was only an eight hour journey - made even easier with blankets and a soggy cheese and ham toastie. Huarez is up at 3100m in the Andes in teh Cordillera Blanca range. It is a spectacular setting and we enjoyed it from our lovely roof terrace. The hostel is probably the best we´ve stayed in all year, needless to say we didn´t want to leave.
We mooched around on the first day trying breathlessly to acclimatise. Mountain biking on the second day with some minor uphill surges at 4000m before a lengthy 33km descent back down (now that´s more like it). Rest on the third day to gear up for our trek into the Cordillera the following day. The trek was brilliant with fantastic views. As we neared Laguna 69 walking more than 100m became painful (4500m up) but it´s probably one of the best places we´ve visited and we only scratched the surface. We rewarded ourselves (much to Russ´and John-Paul´s delight) with a genuine curry, the first for a long long time.
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