Chan Chan and Los Huancas de los Moches, Temples of the Sun and the Moon, 25th - 27th November

We left the beach resort and drove through the village for the next few days to fead for Lima. There was a shrub desert with nodding donkeys and pipes running everywhere connecting the various oil wells.

Where there was water for irrigation there were fields and trees but these ended abruptly where the pipes and canals finished and as we went further south, the amount of natural vegetation diminished to nothing but sand and rock.

Endless dry desert.

Outside a small town we did a bush camp, nothing remarkable about the location but the sunset was particularly spectacular.

After another day on the road, in the afternoon we stopped at Chan Chan, a mud built city with several walled royal enclosures. It is significant archaeologically but there is not much to see.

We had a hostel overlooking the sea near Trujillo and another great sunset with waves washing over the sandy beach.

 In the morning we stopped at the Huancas del Moches, also called the Temples of the Sun and the Moon and in contrast to Chan Chan there was a lot more to see and the guide was much more informative. It had been covered by the sand  and also each successive alteration was a larger temple built over the existing temple thus preserving five different architectural styles.

 Shane and Stu bombing my photo.

A detail of some of the decoration.

 A detail of such of the mud bricks that were built over an existing frieze in a later expansion of the temple.

 A view over diggings in the old city between the Temple of the Moon and the Temple of the Sun which used it is estimated 140 million mud bricks.
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 The five different levels of development shown in the walls of the temple facing the old city.

 After visiting the temples and the associated museum dedicated to the Moches civilisation which built the temples it was back along the main road down the coast through the desert. I always thought of Peru as a country with jungle and mountains which it has in abundance in the interior but the whole coastal strip is desert.

 Sand dunes marching their way across a hillside.

 We drove off the road and found a secluded place for a bush camp behind a hill out of sight of the road in the vast desert. And then it was the final section of road to reach Lima to stay there for a few days.

Peru, Waltako Beach Resort 23rd - 25th November

We left Cuenca early to avoid the rush  hour and headed south out of the city and within half an hour we were going through a pleasant alpine pass with scattered fields, pastures and trees.

We climbed higher and the scenery slowly changed from green fields to arid mountains with steep valleys and rocky slopes. There had been some landslides and there were major rock works which involved cutting a new road further up the valley side with deep cuttings, embankments and new bridges. It would be great when it was finished but lots of the sections were just rough bumpy stones without any grace surface let alone any tarmac.

There was also another reason where the road was being moved. There was a river in the valley bottom and at one point a new dam was being built across the valley. In a couple of years this will be a smooth ride along the edge of a shimmering blue lake but today is was a dry, dusty bumpy road.

 Where there is water there are fields, pastures and hectare after hectare of banana plantations. And then suddenly the fields change abruptly to arid coastal desert where there is no water to irrigate.  

                                      

We crossed the border between Ecuador and Peru. There share facilities so we stopped and queued at one window to get our exit stamps from Ecuador then joined the next door line to get our entry visas into Peru…making sure that we all got at least four week visas.

We drove along the coast and soon came to our first Peruvian city, Tumbes. One thing that was immediately obvious was the change in the traffic, there were dozens of tuk tuts wherever you looked that clogged the roads. And i was still on the look out for vochos…although this one I nearly missed...nice paint job but I only got a poor picture as we shot past.

Then it was a 90kms drive to our beach front camp site at Waltako Beach Resort. We pitched our tents under see palaces on the beach.

It was a great place and we had it to ourselves. There was a bar, a swimming pool. we could swim in the sea if we wished but it was a bit cold and a bit rough o we stuck to the pool. For lunches we would eat in the restaurant but as we were camping, we would still be cooking our evening meals for ourselves.

It was nice and quiet but towards dusk, we noticed that wherever we looked there was movement. The sand crabs were busy feeding and running across the beach.

That evening we cooked for ourselves under the cliffs and Kim found two kittens who came to join us looking for scraps.

 The next day most of the group lounged around on the beach. But I walked the 3kms into the local village which turned out to be more like 5kms but it as a pleasant walk along the beach to the small local fishing village. There was no bank, no supermarkets and most shops seemed to be either a shed on the side of the road or some one’s front room. And there plenty of tsk tuts everywhere so I couldn’t resist a few pictures.

 There was plenty of sea life washed up on the shores including a dead elephant seal, an eel as long and thick as my arm, a parrot fish, a pencil fish and a turtle. It’s shell was badly broken having been washed against some rocks where it was hidden but my curiosity was stirred by the sight of several black headed vultures fighting over the carcass. But it was pleasant walking along the beach with little modern development along the shore.

 The walk along the beach was more rewarding where there was some live wildlife such as these two curlews searching for food along the tide mark.

Cuenca, 21st - 22nd November

First stop in Cuenca was a panama hat factory. These hats have always been made here from a special fibre grown in the country. They ware only called panama hats as that was from where they were exported to countries all over the world.

Panama hats are traditionally white or cream but other colours and numerous styles are available.

Many styles are available to be bought at the shop with prices up to $2,000 for the better materials and closer weave. needless to say I didn't buy one at that sort of price.

Then dropping my bags off at a hostel I walked around the town, down some steps to the small river

then a collection of shots of interesting buildings.

The new cathedral in the main plaza.

The San Luis Seminary.

A mini went past so I had to take a snap of it.

There were several of us who gathered on a street corner for a walking tour of the city as advertised on Trip Advisor but no one turned up so we looked around the insides of the cathedral by ourselves and aid extra to walk up the steps to the top to see the views across Cuenca.