Peru

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First thing we did when we got into Peru was hit the beach. We spent a day and a half lazing around and enjoying the warm weather. The only major issue was the giant spider I found in my tent at 4:30am on the final day. It was at least 5cm long, hairy and nightmare inducing. Luckily for me my fellow Canadian, Amy, was awake and able to rescue me. And no, I didn’t cry when I saw it but if I’d had to deal with it by myself I might’ve.

After the spider incident and at a more reasonable hour in the morning the truck stopped at the Lord of Sipan Museum. There were no cameras allowed, and they even used a metal detector to see if you were sneaking them in. So, no pictures. The museum is flled with items recovered from the tomb of an ancient lord. Anyway, the museum was mostly in Spanish but there were enough pictures and diagrams that you had a general idea of what each exhibit was supposed to be. There were several dozen gold and silver pieces and a few ceramic bead necklaces that were impressive but what I was most surprised by were the ceramics. They’re ancient but the quality is amazing. Many of them were crafted in the shapes of humans and they look like things you could go and buy today.

My only other activity of historical interest was a visit to the Temple of the Moon and the city of Chan Chan. Both places were under restoration and it was interesting to see the contrast between the different kinds of architecture and decorations.

My last few days in Peru were a little more active. First there was a day-long hike to Laguna 69. The scenery here was much better than our last trek and I found that the altitude wasn’t a huge problem for me anymore. Took quite a few pictures at the lake and then we all ran down the mountain as the clouds came in. And last was rock climbing! Real rock climbing on a cliff face, not indoors with the brightly coloured rocks stuck to the wall. The site itself was a 40 meter cliff face above beside a small river. So we climbed to the top of the cliff, repelled down and then climbed back up. The last time I went rock climbing was more than 10 years ago so I wasn’t super speedy but I am happy to say that I never fell. My knees are a little purpler though.

And…yeah…this is a really short blog entry because I wasn’t in Peru very long. Hopefully the pictures will make up for my lack of words.

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Photos

Another Lake
Which I don't know the name of.

Comments

[Dancing Dave]

LAGUNA 69
There's something about those Andean Lakes that excites...and Chan Chan I'll investigate...from your pics it looks great