PART V: The North Coast.

Friday, March 20th.
Friday, March 20th.

I got up early as always in the nicest hotel I stayed at so far and headed North out of town. A little trafficky heading out of Lima but driving here is a cakewalk compared to the agressiveness of NYC.

The drive was sand dunes and brown mountains. Admittedly, I don´t care much for the desert. The aesthetic of it is so displeasing. But it IS Peruvian desert, so there´s awesome formations and neat perspectives. Time and again the cerulean blue ocean would come into view on my left. Miles of pristine natural sand. If this was the USA there would be hotels and fat people blocking this view. Heheh. There were all sorts of ancient structures in these mountains. Made of mud brick so what where once villages and ceremonial centers are now nondescript lumps of peculiar dirt. There´s over 2,500 acheological sites in the area, and surely more to be found...by ME? Nope.

I passed by a sign for the pyramidal ruins of Caral, one of the oldest city-states in the world some 5,000 years old. I didn´t have time to drive 25km inland. On the way back?

8 hours of passing through humid, impoverished towns I arrived in lovely Trujillo. A rich feel with sophistication. Got a great hotel and hired a personal guide for the next day.