Greetings from Trujillo

---

Hello all, these past days have been a whirlwind, sit back, relax and read on...

I left Cuzco last Friday for Lima, sad to be leaving such a great place, Cuzco is so great! Landed in Lima so I headed to the bus station to catch a bus to Pisco. It is named the poor mans Galapogos, so I could see sea lions, penguins and heaps of birds. Okay, great, jump on the bus on my way to Pisco. It is about four hours south of Lima but since I am not driving, I am fine with that. I arrive in Pisco, wait, let me back up, I arrive about 6 kms outside on Pisco and the bus drops me off on the highway, not in the town but the highway. Fine, a little concerned but a frenzy of taxis come from the side roads so I grab one of those into town. Arriving in Pisco was interesting, let me just say, Toto, I dont think we are in Kansas anymore. This place just gave off a scary vibe, buildings in the main square were crumbled in heaps of rubble and Im sure the church had bullet holes at the front. I quickly made my way to where I was to stay, got myself organized on a boat tour and thought Id have a little look around. That is when I saw the bullet holes and had two men hiss at me. Freaked me out at first but it has happened again here in Trujillo so I think that is the mens way of getting your attention.

I must admit, the tour of the Islas Ballestas was so worth it! I saw penguins, heaps of different types of birds, and thousands of sea lions. It was very cool and I only got hit with bird poo (also called guano) once and it was on my life jacket. And the highlight, three dolphins swam beside the boat when we were returning. Even though Pisco is a bit unnerving, I highly recommend the Islas tour but really no reason to stay in the town, I got the heck out of there right after my tour of the island ended.

I then made my way to Trujillo, saw some great ruins, Chan Chan, the moon temple and a few others. Today, I am going through some of the great houses and churches. My bus to Chiclayo leaves in a couple of hours for the three hour journey. Chiclayo also has some interesting ruins and whatever else I need to keep me occupied.

It has all been great so far, loving it and finding simple things that are cracking me up along the way. I miss you all, hope you are all doing great and Ill drop another line in a few days.

Love Cheryl

---