Borderlands and beaches
Peru begins with our first border crossing, and already we're getting screwed. This is no reflection on the Peruvian personality, but that of the money changers we were dealing with on the border. Given that the next few days would be spent on the beach with no ATM machines or beaurau de changes in sight, they were the only way we were going to stock up on Peruvian Soles when we entered the country.

It doesn't take a degree in maths to be able to work out how to multiply by one hundred, but given that I have one (sort of) there's no excuse for me accepting cash for a 3.045 exchange rate once I had agreed on a 3.45 one. The trick is that most punters crossing the border are completely unfamilar with Peruvian currency, so while I was busy trying to work out if the coins I had been given were 10 soles each (they were just ones), the guy vanished into the crowd. Reasurinly, I wasn't the only one. In fact, everyone on the bus save two got screwed with exactly the same scam. Gary did the best, grabbing the calculator off the guy and forcing him to give him what he wanted (so to speak), while the other guy on the bus to do the same, ended up getting a handfull of forged notes! Honesty, eh?

The beach was fantastic. Vast and empty with a nearby bar to loose our newfound currency in. We arrived on the day of one of our number's birthday, so a celebration was called for which proved a little on the messy side (a number of people failed to find their tents that evening!) It was also the first night we were camping, which proved as straightforward as you would expect, although instead of tent pegs, we were issued with nine inch iron nails, which are probably pretty effective in mud and earth, but less so in the soft sand. Mucking about in the surf was compulsary of course, as was topping up the sunburn (now on my shoulders, very apealling) and games of beach volleyball were casually organised and more beer was drunk. Utterly relaxed and luxurious. I like it here.

After a couple of nights on the beach we headed down towards another beachfront town named (excuse the spelling) Huanchacca. This was more of a stop over than anything else as the town was a little on the small side, the only interesting feature of it being that it was home to fishermen who rode out into the sea on home made reed boats. A fact which was itself scuppered when we discovered that they were reed boats stuffed with polystyrene and balsa. Cheats.
We spent the next day dropping in to a few archeological sites. Chan Chan, the largest mud city in the world (although our tour guide dispute this, claiming a larger one exists in Iran) and the temples of the sun and the moon, all pre Inca.
Our guide was an ex Brumie accountant who visited for one day and ended up staying. Very informative and interesting stuff. The mud city was very impressive and unusual and it would have been fun getting lost in it, typically (and understandably) it was all cordoned off with ropes to protect it, it was only mud after all and was a miracle that had lasted as long as it had. The temples were intriguing too, although we only really visited one, the other not having been excavated yet.

It seems that having spent so much time doing fun things in Ecuador, Peru seems to be the educational part of the trip. Still great fun though and no, the option to jump off the temples wasn't available.
- posted by Vince @ 10:57 AM