Some notes on recently visited locales

Piura: a northern Peruvian transition town, where we disembarked from a bus at 10pm expecting to easily connect to Trujillo in the coast. We began to despair when the fourth bus company (they all have offices on the same street) we tried said, as the previous ones had done, "no pasajes". Apparently everyone in Peru was heading to Trujillo from Piura and were more organised than us. Just before we booked into the nearest hostel we tried one more, and this company inexplicably had many tickets available, possibly because an appalling Jennifer Lopez movie was playing in their waiting room. We were glad to not see so much of Piura.

Huanchaco: A desert beach resort a little north of the coastal city of Trujillo. On Mel´s (kind of) birthday we ate ceviche (fish and shellfish "cooked" in lemon juice and chilli) and "arroz con mariscos" (rice with seafood) and drank beer (a popular alcoholic drink made with malted grains, hops and water) right on the beach. It was a wonderful day, only enhanced by the presence of a zillion partying Peruanos enjoying their Sunday rest. We observed a lot of people who must have had ready made sickie excuses for the Monday.

Lima: Nine hours by bus from Trujillo, through barren but spectacular coastal desert. We had numerous glimpses of jagged coastline with bright blue water standing out starkly against the relatively dull sand. The colour was the only thing that was dull, the dunes and enormous flocks of birds on the beaches again keeping the iPod securely packed away in the backpack. The bus company, Oltursa, has an in-bus video describing some tourism options in Peru, all backed by a soundtrack dominated by Gary Numan´s Cars! Does he know his song has such a wide reach?

The beds in the Lima Sheraton are among the most comfortable in Peru, and the service second to none. Alas, we were staying in the Hostal Belen, right on the outrageously noisy Plaza San Martin. The bed was so ear-splittingly creaky the word "creaky" was rendered hopelessy inadequate, and the window curtain was lacy and thin so that the bright city lights shone dazzlingly in at all hours of the night. By contrast, the shower curtain was elaborate and dense, making a shower an undeniably private but very dark affair ("hello darkness my old friend..."), even when the bathroom lights were on. Matthew Parris, in his book Inca-Kola, named the first chapter "Atrocious Lima", and while this feels a little harsh we were glad to leave. The highlights were the best Pisco Sour to date in a very old school limeño bar and a photographic exhibition at the Museo de la Nacion remembering the terrorism of the Sendero Luminoso and other groups during the 1980´s and 90´s. Also at that museum we were lucky enough to see a dress with an image of Machu Picchu woven into it, the closest view of that attraction we are to get as it is cut off by mud slides until after we leave Peru. How good can it be anyway (wiping tears away)?

Cusco: We flew here from Lima, avoiding a 20 hour bus ride. A beautiful city, nestled in a valley and subject to a strict town planning code, resulting in low buildings with uniformly desert-red rooves. There are several beautiful squares and plazas, the atmosphere in these areas being slightly soured by the multitude of touts for restaurants and massage parlours. We ate bad pasta but excellent pizza, and lovely stuffed peppers and alpaca kebabs. I obtained a brown hat that had me humming the Indian Jones theme, and I was thrilled when Guido the guide at Sacsayhuaman ruins suggested I enter a dark tunnel ahead of Mel because "you look like Indiana Jones sir". The city is close to many Incan ruins, and we were told that the original town of Cusco, the Incas´ original capital city and centre of their empire, was built in the shape of a puma, with nearby Ollantaytambo in the shape of a llama. Perhaps Nerrin Nerrin, when seen from the air (the plane would have to be flying pretty low admittedly), appears as a ferret? Or Lake Bolac as a camel, albeit retaining water less successfully. There´s a coffee table book in this.