Backing up, we spent our final day in Huanchaco roaming around the beach town, hiking up the hill to the catholic church built in 1540 (still operational) and then went for an afternoon dip in the ocean to cool off. The surf was immense, and after several tosses into the sand, despite standing in knee deep water, Pocahantas decided it was time for a shower to get all the sand out of her bathing suit.
The next day we took a bus further down the coast to another smaller beach town, Barranca, where we were able to take a taxi 25 km inland (along a mostly deserted dirt road) to the 4700 year old ruins (carbon-dated to 2627 B.C.) of Caral. It was another smoking hot day but well worth the 5 km hike to see the start of civilization in the Americas that mirrored the timing of the Egyptians / Mesopatamians, and who also built pyramids to honour their Gods. Another amazing find from the past 50 years that they only started to excavate 15 years ago (and at a very slow pace).
We have now made our way to Lima, a huge 7M+ city. We are staying in Miraflores, a nice neighbourhood where we can safely walk around, and situated close to the ocean which has some lovely views. Yesterday, we had a tasty paella lunch near JFK square where we came across some seniors doing the mamba in the park with a surrounding crowd of 200 appreciative onlookers. We have a short video which is too big to post but the men were especially entertaining. Today we had a nice walkabout that included a visit to the Museo de la Nacion where they have an interesting, but slightly disturbing, photo exhibit of the history of the communist Shining Path movement, which cost many lives during the 1980's in Peru. It is an important part of their history however and did lead to more responsible government in the end.
Tomorrow we are heading 200 km's south by bus where we plan to spend a couple of days exploring the Reserva Nacional de Paracas and Isla Ballestas, which is known as the poor man's Galapagos.
Buenos noches.
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