Since the Trek

I got up Ssaturday morning after about 4 hours of sleep to meet the Germanic kids one last time, in order to have breakfast and swap photos. An early morning, indeed. I then hopped a quick flight back to Lima and was back in the pleasant Occidental world of San Isidro. Luis and Andrea had a wedding that evening, but Papa Lucha was visiting from Chincha, and we had a nice chat in broken Spanglish. Saturday night Luis and I went to an amazing party at a top floor flat in Miraflores (sort of a Peruvian Beverly Hills) overlooking the Pacific. The place actually has a glassed in shower overlooking the beach. Sunday I spent in Lima, the morning hanging out by the pool at Luis's country club while he golfed, and Andrea joined us for an afternoon party at his friend Nicolas's place (I actually met Nicolas, a Perivian who was living in London when I visited Luis this summmer.) Sunday night put my on a bus to Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca. Huaraz is known for its trekking, but I am a little trekked out particularly as the weather wasn't cooperating. A day trip to Chavín de Huántar one day,



and another trip to Llanganuco Lake.



En route to the Lake, we stopped at Yungay, scene of a

devasting avalance

on 30 May 1970, where an estimated 17,000 villagers died in the scope of 5 minutes when part of the wall of Huascaran fell to the earth and swallowed up the entire village. A few dozen people were spared because the were at the town cemetary, one of the few spots of high ground spared the devastation. Over 50,000 died throughout Peru.

Another overnight bus has left me outside Trujillo, in a beach town near the very impressive ruins of Chan Chan, a dominating coastal culture until their annexation by the Incas in the 15th Century.

This afternoon is for drinking at the beach and eating ceviche, and tomorrow I'll see some more ruins at the city of Trjillo.