WEEK 8 - TRUJILLO, HUANCHACO, HUARAZ

 TRUJILLO

The 3rd biggest city in peru Trujillo is full of colourfull buildings and provides a good base to see many archaeological ruins, and the beach town of Huanchaco.

 

 

Traditionally used as body warmer for people with arthritis, this naked dog has a higher body temp. than average!

 Chan Chan covers 20 km² and had a dense urban center of 6 km2.  Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimor and was the largest Adobe city in the world (mud brick).

 

Trying some traditional Peruvian food in Huanchaco- Scallops with Parmesan and a potato like vegetable ( sorry cant rememer the name) with a cheesey dip.

Huaca del sol y la luna

 

HUARAZ

On our second day we decided to hike to the famous lake 69. The scenery was stunning and the photos don´t quite capture the beauty of the hike up. 

 After 3.5 -4  hours we were very happy to have reached the lake which is 4650m above sea level. Towards the end I was struggling with altitude sickness taking 10 steps at a time before resting again, I was looking forward to the descent during which I was sick twice! The best way to describe altitude sickness is, a migrane crossed with being drunk crossed with being very unfit and the worst hangover of your life

 Steph needed a break on the way up

The View from  Carolina Guest House

 The town square

 A short walk from the town centre

P E R U - WEEK 7 PART 2 - MANCORA

MANCORA 

Our first stop in Peru! Mancora and beaches near it is Perus most popular beach resort, as most of the coast is pretty arid and used for fishing. We mostly chilled out here as this was our last good beach stop!

 Thanks to Pollys recommendation we had the best sandwich and chips ever for lunch in ´Green Eggs and Ham´

 The view from our dorm at Loki Hostel

 At Mancora mud baths in the desert. A short ride on a tuktuk (our driver joined us) and we could have been a millon miles away!

WEEK 7 - VILCABAMBA, PODOCARPUS

VILCABAMBA

Famed in the 1980s for the longevity of its residents (apparently they don´t even bother celebrating 100th birthdays!), Vilcabamba is a small town situated near to the Podocapus national park. It is said that 40% of the flora that grows there, ONLY grows there! The town is full of businesses owned by Americans of the northern variety who flocked here to get a taste of the Vilcabamba good life.

We decided that the easiest way to see the park was by horse! We went on a 6 hour trek, for both of us it was our first experience of this type of riding. I couldnt feel my bum or my thighs after!

 We stopped by a river and saw this odd creature, if anyone can tell me what this is, there is an alpaca jumper init for you!

El Beardo on his steed

 

We tried to find a spring but we hit a dead end

 

Down by the river

WEEK 6 - MONTANITA, CUENCA

Right well we´ve traveled a long way since the last post we are now in Peru about to venture to Machu Pichu! Its been a busy few weeks hence the lack of update. We will quickly try to fill you in on our last two weeks in Ecuador!

MONTANITA

Ecuadors hottest beach, surf, party resort! Think giant mojitos in the famous cocktail alley and plenty of bamboo constructed bars with topless surfers! We stayed in the aptly named Iguana Hostel, which we would really reccommend!

The main strip

Spotted this one morning without my glases, at first glance I thought it was a cat...easy mistake I guess...

Yeah I am!

 

 

Tom trying to get rid of his t-shirt tan lines!

 

 

The main social area at Iguana

CUENCA

Slightly reluctantly we left the heat and beauty of the Ecuadorian coast, and headed to the culture capital of Cuenca! Full of beautiful colonial architecture and the cleanest streets we´ve come accross yet! it was here where we caught our first glimpse of inca artifacts and ruins! Sadly we were both a little ill here so didn´t do much besides wonder the streets, which is the best thing to do anyway!

 Cuenca is clean and surrounded by beautiful mountains!