Speed bumps on the Trans Canada?

Since our last post we have been on some exciting bus rides travelling through Southern Ecuador and the north coast of Peru. We suspect the bus drivers are all former grand prix drivers (or wanna-be's). Double, solid yellow lines around mountain curves seem to have no meaning to them........they simply honk their horn and start passing. The buses, usually double-deckers with great views for longer trips, are the biggest vehicles on the road so the slower trucks and smaller cars seem to give way to them when a confrontation looms. We have been travelling along the Pan American Sur (their version of the Trans Canada along the west coast of South America) and the only thing slowing the buses down are speed bumps as they enter small towns along the way. It has been an exciting and cheap (approx. $1 per hour of travel) way to get around.

Our first stop in Peru was in Chiclayo, a nice colonial style city with a population of about 600K people. We took a full-day tour to some nearby ancient Moche (00 -800 AD) and Chimu 800 - 1400 AD) pre-Inca ruins, where we were able to view the 750 year-old tomb and remains of the Lord of Sipan along with some amazing gold, silver and copper artifacts. Most of these items were just discovered in the past 25 years and they have much more excavation still to do (which seems to be moving along at a snail's pace).

We are currently staying in a surfer, beach town, Huanchaco which is 600 km's north of Lima, and just west of Trujillo (700 K city). It is a nice break from the busy cities and a chance to watch the sun go down from the terrace balcony of our hostal......Rhonda enjoyed the view so much that a bottle of wine disappeared while I was sipping on my cerveza. This morning we took a local bus to the nearby Chan Chan ruins, one of the largest Chimu cities discovered (30 - 50 K people) and we hiked around 5 km's of the old city, another Unesco world heritage site uncovered less than 50 years ago with more scientific work underway.

We will spend one more day relaxing in this wonderful paradise town (27C and sunny) and then we will continue our trip down the coast. Adios.