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The bus got into Chiclayo around 10:30pm. We caught a cab and got to our hostel, though not before the driver tried to convince us it was closed (I'm sure he would have been able to take us to his friend's 'cheap and comfortable' hostel and get a cheeky commision in the process). We were greeted at the hostel (Muchik Hostel) by a little old lady (the owner) and her son (who helped run the place. I didn't catch his name so I'll refer to him as Pedro). I have to mention Pedro because he was the highlight of the Chiclayo trip. When we entered, we were tired and ready for bed. Unfortunately Pedro's mum wanted to get through all the formalities. She insisted on seeing each of our reservation e-mails, checked each detail, took our passports and various other details such as marital status and occupation and then proceeded to carry out a hilariously long and circular calculation of what we owed. During this, Pedro got started on one of his many fantastic episodes. He explained how Kiran should wear longer shirts to cover her backside as Peruvian men had a propensity to stare and if they did so they might not pay attention to where they are going, and walk into walls. In case we didnt understand, he acted this out for us, slowly walking into a wall. He showed us up to our room and after we settled, I went to ask him for soap and towels. First the soap: he seached behind the reception but could not find it. His mother came over and found it for him. She handed me 6 pieces. He started tutting and shaking his head in frustration and took the soap from my hand. He tried to explain to his mother that apparently western tourists liked to select their own soap and not have it handled by anyone else, all the while apologising to me. As much as I insisted it was fine he was having none of it, until his mum gave him a stern look and he gave up. The towels: soap dilemma resolved, we headed to the 2nd floor (our room was on the 3rd) to find the towel cupboard. He handed me three towels and we headed up the stairs towards the dorm. Half way up he had some kind of moment of realisation and started saying: 'no no no, this isn't acceptable' and ushered me back towards the cupboard. We put the towels back and he insisted that he would find towels of a perfect standard, and so we headed towards the private rooms. We went to three different rooms, taking a towel from each, only after Pedro had insisted I inspect each one and give it my approval (apparently all westerners are experts on towel quality). Finally we had all we needed and we went to bed close to midnight. The following day we headed to the local market for breakfast (recommended by Pedro) and had some fresh made juice and pastries. We then headed to Lambayeqe in a collectivo. Here we went to the Bruning Museum, which had various artefacts, pottery and gold from excavations in the local area. I was a little underwhelmed as some of the online reviews had waxed lyrical about the gold collection, but in my opinion it wasnt all it was cracked up to be. I hadnt been feeling too well, so maybe that had something to do with it too. Next we headed to Museo Tumbeas Reales Sipan. This exhibited the findings from two graves that had been discovered nearby. Again, it was interesting but not what I had anticipated. What was especially frustrating was that you couldn't take pictures. We were done with both museums in around 2-3 hours and headed back to the hostel, where we found Pedro practicing his dancing skills in the reception with a plastic bag. I rested the rest of the day as I felt I was gradually getting worse. We had another bus journey the next day, heading to Trujillo, a few hours south of Chiclayo.
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