Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Not unsurprisingly, I think I may have been a little drunk still when I woke the following morning, and was glad to go to the Lord of Sipan museum in a taxi... I think Aaron, Nick, Andrew and Simon were also equally relieved, as none of them looked any better than I felt. The taxi ride to the museum involved the predictable wacky race as we crammed ourselves into 2 of the strange little cars they use as taxis in Peru, a sort of smaller and less well built version of the Fiat Panda. Once at the museum we had to check-in our cameras so couldn't take any pictures of any of the beautiful artefacts inside. Not only that, but all the exhibits had explanations only in Spanish, which means that I've little idea of what we were looking at. Sipan is an archaeological site just a few miles down the road, and whilst most of the tombs were raided a long time ago, one was found relatively intact and had the body of a king (or lord) buried with some rather beautiful metalwork of gold and blue, with intricate carvings of faces on the bracelets and necklaces. There was also a display showing how the archaeological site was when found, with the body of the king laid out in the centre surrounded by 4 other bodies and lots of pottery, which were then covered by a sort of wooden ceiling on which lay another body, perhaps of a guard, and a further body in a sitting position in an alcove in the wall. Quite fascinating, but it would have been more so had we had some English explanations and had the hangover from the night before not kicked in big style whilst we were wandering around...

So we quit the museum, got out cameras back and jumped back in the taxis which were waiting for us and survived the journey back to the hotel where we met up with Jeff, who'd driven the van through the night to catch us up. Then back to bed for an hour to shift the hangover before getting on the bikes. My starting problem has re-emerged, the bike reluctant to start despite it turning over, but thankfully it did fire up and I was able to head out with Aaron and Nick. We rode out of town and back into the desert, following the Pan Am down the coast to the seaside town of Huanchaco. The ride was pretty uneventful, and we arrived around 3pm. Just outside Huanchaco is the mud adobe village of Chan-Chan, which was recommended as a spot to visit, but we were hungry and knew it closed around 4pm, so we pulled up outside the hostal and ordered some lunch (hamburgers and chips). At least by now I was feeling better...

After lunch we went in search of some 'presents' for Kevin's birthday tomorrow, and found some suitable tat. We also had time to wander down the pier and to look at the traditional reed fishing boats that they use here, the promise being that if we get up early in the morning we'll see them heading out. I managed to get a few photos before the fog came in and turned everything dull...








After exhausting the town of its sights (not many), we wandered back to the hotel and had a beer in the bar before heading across the road to a small restaurant where I had some very nice Taglielle Bolognese washed down with... well, water, actually... and then off to bed for an early night, as tomorrow we tackle Canyon del Pato, over 60 miles of gravel road up into the mountains...