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Huaca, Huaca, Huaca

Trujillo was supposed to be my last destination, before returning to Lima for a flight out of Peru. It seemed like there was a lot to do. I wanted to spend 2 days visiting the ruins of the region's Moche and Chimu cultures and I wanted to have 3 days on the beach at nearby Huanchaco. The only question was, what would come first? As the coach passed the beaches and sand dunes, the sun rose and revealed a cloud-filled sky. Ruins first then.

I turned up at the cheapest hostel in my guide book and asked for a room. The owner offered me the choice of either a double room with a hot shower and cable tv for 20 soles or a dorm room with a communal bathroom that only had cold water, for 5 soles (about 1 pound) less. The price of the dorm room was the maximum that I had decided I would pay, so I asked to see both rooms. When we came to the dorm room, the door was opened by a pretty, blonde, English girl. The next thing I knew I was handing over my 15 soles and then I went to sleep.

I woke up to the sounds of street protests and music. It was only 9am, but I had to get up. In the cavernous room every movement made a lot of noise and I was sure that I was driving the girl mad dressing from my backpack full of plastic bags, but she stayed sleeping. I was feeling quite lethargic and decided that I would not get much out of visiting ancient cities in such a state, so I confined my explorations to Trujillo's restored colonial centre. The main square was pleasant enough, but some of The Lonely Planet's 'sights' were of questionable interest and I returned to the hostel in the late afternoon having well and truly wasted the day.

Things changed from then on, however. The girl was in the room and I was pretty smooth. About 5 minutes later, the conversation went as follows...

Girl: Nice camera.

Tim: Not really. My digital one was stolen and the self-timer function on this one is hard to use.

Girl: So? How often do you use the self-timer?

Tim: You'd be surprised. I... No I'd better stop. It's a bit embarrassing.

Girl: No. Go on.

Tim: Well, I was travelling with 3 guys a month ago and we regularly used the self-timer to take photos of ourselves posing as though we were in a boyband.

Girl: Oh... That's worse than I thought it would be.

Despite that, the girl, who turned out to be called Katie, had been born and still lived on the other side of Hampstead Heath from me, had studied hispanic studies at university and had spent 10 days at Pousada dos Duendes in Lencois, Brazil on this trip, agreed to go to dinner with me. We ate, predictably, at the Chelsea Pub restaurant, a bizarre place with each room decorated in the style of different aspects of an English pub. The beer was strictly Peruvian, but we took one each. Unbeknown to us, we would not be able to buy any more alcohol for the duration of the weekend, as La Ley Seca was to be introduced until the end of Sunday's Peruvian election run-off between Ollanta Humala and Alan Garcia.

The next day, I breakfasted with Katie and we went to see some of the ruined temples (or huacas) together. At the Huaca de la Luna we were given a lengthy guided tour. Though it was interesting, I was caught yawning almost every time the guide looked at me and I was glad that ongoing research at the Huaca del Sol meant that we would not be going there.

After lunch we bumped into Ferry, the hiking Dutchman from Torres del Paine. It was the second time I had bumped into him since our trek in southern Chile. Katie left soon after. She had used the previous afternoon to see the ruins that I was planning to see the following day, leaving me to enjoy my dinner of tamales with only the hostel owner for company at the empty place.

When I got up on Friday morning the clouds had still not cleared and I decided that I would have to chase the sun further north. I used the morning to visit Huaca Esmeralda, Huaca Arco Iris and the area's highlight - the ruined city of Chan Chan. The Chimu society's succession rules meant that a new king would not be able to use the dead king's palace, so he would have to build a bigger and better one from scratch. As a result, Chan Chan consists of 9 separate citadels, though only one has been fully excavated for tourists to wander around. It was an impressive place, surrounded by desert, in contrast to the huacas, which were located in modern, urban suburbs. I took my time exploring, before catching an afternoon bus to Chiclayo.

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