Glenn's South American Oddssy

It has been two great days here in Lima! I have done all the things I wanted to do; the Church of San Francisco, Museo de la Nacion, the National Museum of Peru. Its main focus is on the indigenous people and their rise and fall, up to the Spanish arrival. The Market del Indios is selling handicrafts and tourist stuff, though
I think it is geared to the busloads of people who are on a guided event. Tonight I will study the map and work a route out of the city, as the roads do not seem to run north / south /east /west. It is all crazy, like you go a little east, then southeast, then connecting with the Pan American Highway again to head south again.

Huanchaco is a seaside town know for its fish. I did find another local drink there that is best found in the back alleys behind partly closed doors. I am told that it is made from maize, sugar cane, and some things that I cannot remember. It is fermented down for some days before being served at room temp in a bowl made from half a coconut shell. Though quite tasty, I did find myself stopping at two. Just not quite sure how this will affect me!

A short drive from town is the pre-Inca site of Chan Chan (see photo of the well below.) It took a little finding but when you approach this from the not normal way but I got there. The site was good but I was disappointed in the fact that the site
museum was closed.

Today is the drive south from the small seaside town of Huanchaco to Lima. The Pan American Highway here comes across more desert than I have seen before. It varied from sand dunes that were trying to cross the road to very rocky areas that that look somewhat like the moon. In all of this at some small town, midmorning, I
stopped at a road side fruit stall and got a watermelon. And how tasty it was! I think it was the sweetest I have had for some years. It was nice to be cruising across a black ribbon of tar on a gray and tan landscape, sampling some great watermelon as the mile markers flash by. What a change it is after climbing pass after pass and never ending hills above 3000 meters. I know that this bliss
on the highway will end soon when I turn left to Cusco.