Travelling through Peru is like a constant assault on the body  and brain . As you descend from altitude your lungs breathe a sigh of relief as the effects of COPD wear off ! Then again your brain is assaulted with more history . There are more cultures here than  you can imagine. Sadly none left any written evidence so modern day archaeologists have to summise what might have taken place . I listened to a great TED talk the other day which talked of the new sciences of Astroarchelogy . Google can show us where graves will be that looters have not found .

One thing you will not be assaulted by is your pocket . They haven’t heard of Teresa May yet and Brexit so our sterling still goes a long way .But I digress . Els encouraged us to stay with her Peruvian friend April in Lima and so after a 7 hour bus journey ….. Lima … the most polluted city in South America. We had a lovely week staying with April and family . She lives 40km south in a lovely village Punta Hermosa . Fantastic surf and great swimming. Before we arrived there had been a lot of rain …. result all the rivers exit to the sea with all the plastic bottles and effluent. It cleared in a couple of days . Like most of South America there is a huge divide between rich and poor , the former live behind gated communities the latter cling to hillsides . It sounds as if I’m negative about Lima . It is a very vibrant city full of interest and cracking museums. We saw the Gold museum… well the bits that Pizarro missed and a great textile museum. Mario Testino photography museum too who photographed Prince Di . However the best part was sharing Aprils life , a generous host and a very calm personality. She employs highland knitters in the Altiplano to knit for her and exports it to America and Uk . Lady Gaga had worn one of her dresses as knitwear . She employs many Peruvian and is very fair. Her website is the Peruvian collection . All too soon it was on up the coast to Trujillo courtesy the great buses they have . We stayed in a Peruvian resort next door called Huanchaco . Ceri finds great AirBnB and this was no exception. We usually book for 2 nights and end up staying three . Our visit here was to see Chan Chan … the Chimu empire and Huaca Del Luna the Moche empire … only discovered in 1993!  Getting along with each other is so easy … a casual remark by Ceri that it might be good to see Cajamarca sees us here , from where I am writing this blog after many hairpins and avalanches. The recent rain had washed out the road and so we had to take a 4 hour diversion … nothing unusual about that .Our choice was to carry up the coast to Ecuador or go in land like Pizarro did to where he met Atahulpa whom he double crossed and murdered . I am reading Hemings Conquest of  Peru at the moment on the Kindle . I really want the Incas to win but you know they don’t ! Tessa gave us one of Dervla Murphys books ‘ Eight Feet in the Andes ‘ it’s a great read and refers to her walk with her daughter and mule from Cajamarca to Cuzco . She gets into all sorts of scrapes but somehow managed to charm the locals . She has written many books and intend to borrow some from Tessa on return . Ceri is busy filling her ESTA form on line or Trumplandia my refuse her entry . Fortunately Wales is not on the undesirable nations list … even if it’s mine as they beat Ireland last Saturday. Our plans change as I’ve said so we intend to stay high for a bit and hopefully visit Kuelap which is supposed to be better than Machu Picchu and not developed. More bus journeys and downloads of Desert Island Discs and From our own Correspondent beckons me thinks. Written stone cold sober 10.30 . Time for Cafe con Leche