An Australian who doesn´t surf...

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After travelling through dust and sand the colours of the cathedral and colonial mansions surrounding the plaza in Trujillo are nice but like every city so far there is so much noise. Mostly it is taxis and bus drivers yelling destinations. There are so many contrasts everywhere. The buildings look old and dark, but you step through the door into a bright courtyard and into offices that are very modern. Another strange sight is seeing the women in their traditional clothing, carrying their sacks of grain and produce to the market and then they will take a mobile phone out of their pocket and send a text message. The good thing is that I have only seen this a few times.
I spent another day visiting some more ruins. This time it was the Huacas del Sol and de la Luna and Chan Chan. I went with a tour guide and a group of people from France, Holland, Israel, Germany and America. Our tour guide called us ´la familia internacional´ and we were all trying to communicate in spanish.
On the tour I met Atar and while we were laughing at our tour guide and the ugliest dog I have ever seen we decided that we would go to Huanchahco for a couple of days. It is a beach town about twenty minutes from Trujillo. In the summer it must be extremely busy but in the off season it was very quiet. We arrived there determined not to pay more than 10 soles each for accomodation. We found a nice hostel but they wanted 15 soles (too much!) and then we met a guy named Israel who told us about his friend who had rooms to rent. The price was 7.50 soles each. He took us to his friends place, a bright yellow house across the road from the beach. We had a bed, a private bathroom, hot water but no pillows! But for the price and the location I was not going to complain about that.
After spending two days relaxing in Huanchaco I´ve discovered that in the beach towns of Peru they can´t understand that not all Australian´s are surfers. Israel offered to teach me, but looking at the grey sky outside there was no way I was getting in the water. He offered to teach me to salsa instead, but I said no to that as well. I preferred watching the waves and spending time in a place that is so laid back. My only problem is that all the restaurants serves so much seafood. The local dish is ceviche, marinated raw fish with lemon juice, chilli and peppers. Everyone tells me it is very nice but I am not going to try it. I made the mistake of believing someone when they told me Inca Kola was nice. They were wrong. It is disgusting and tastes like bubblegum but everyone here drinks it.

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Photos

At the Huacas
Standing on top of the Huaca de la Luna with the Huaca del Sol in the background

The ugliest dog I´ve ever seen
The tour guide was trying to explain about a temple but everyone was too busy taking photographs of the dog.

Chan Chan
Part of the passages that made up the Ciudadela of Tschudi at Chan Chan. The walls were originally 9 metres high.

Cabillitos de totora at Huanchaco
Fishing rafts made of totora reeds.