Lima, what a suprise...

After having a mouthful of one of the most visited places around - Cuzco - i made a bee-line for Lima. Why another big city? because my mate Luciana, who i know from BA cos she´s studying there and working for an NGO no less in the south of argentina, is back visiting her family and stuff and i just want to hang out with her and do absolutely nothing, other than decide my future bus trajectory. I arrive there and leave a message for her, and when she gets back to me i tells her: i want to see you, son`t need to do anything, no city tours no museums no nuffing. Sweet with her cos she´s got better things to do than city tours, like catch up with her wonderful and extensive family, finish a report for work while i did my much needed vegetating, visit her lecturers at university where i get to sit in group tutorials, see her friends play live at a jazz venue, go to the local pub, and yep, there i am tagging along like a little lamb everywhere she goes. I even took notes on how a loving family actually works - never too late to learn. I settled in just fine, but thank goddess for the little spanish i know. Not to boast, but there was no single foreigner where i went ...ok, maybe that is boasting. This is exactly what i was looking for and this makes it all worthwhile. And the city itself, well i did stick to the nicer middleclass neighbourhoods, and sometimes it even reminded me of melbourne, except the shorline in melbourne hasn`t got a 100m or so drop.

Alas! i had to leave and head for Trujillo, a seaside town in northern Peru highly recommended by Luciana for it`s newly descovered history. And who sits next to me but a PhD archeology student with an amazing passion for her country`s ancient history, and who didn`t stop short of writing notes for me of all the ancient civilazations that roamed the north of Perù (which is the zone i had to restrict her to). Trujillo and the surrounding areas are full of pre-Columbian ruins of ancient civilizations which rival the renowned Incas and who preempted their development and success, of the Incas that is, until the Spanish of course. Absolutely incredible and any archeologist dream and not to mention a novice`s like me, dating from 10,000bc to 1470ad, where conquering groups built ontop of the defeated and so, can you imagine what lies under metres of sand? Layers and layers of life! I`ve seen elaborate and massive ceremonial grounds and palaces, exceptional royal tombs - El señor de Sipan from the Chimù, loads of pyramids built by the Tucume, inticate and fascinating wall carvings and pantings. In one site one wall had carvings of fish winding up along the whole wall, why? El Niño - the massive tidal waves that came in and flushed whole cities, yet wouldn`t quite wipe them out because they lived to tell the story. (take note Paco you`d be interested if you`re not already ahead of me there)

Anyway, 3 days of hardcore archeological exploring and museum visiting made me and my newly found columbian travelling companion, Rosana, head for Mancora, a lazy beach village, setting the scene for bikini sunburn and jewellery shopping off the streets from artisans. It just so happens that she´s living in Buenos Aires too, studying, and had done more or less the same treck from there, heading to Bogotà to spend time with family during summer break. Exactly my root. But once again, my travel buddy gets a hard time by immigration - border of Peru and Ecuador, the Ecuadorians - her neighbours - won`t let her through without a police check. Lucky she was prepared but still aghast and broken by the third degree treatement. Me? no problems again, not unless i`m crossing into Estonia or Slovenia, and even then it`s not so bad compared to Diane´s frisking.