First up was Huaraz from Cusco. This unfortunately involved the return 20 odd hour bus to Lima, waiting for around 8 hours and then an 8 hour ride to Huaraz itself. Quite a long couple of days! We were fortunate really it was in Peru as they have a very good and comfortable bus system. We got to Huaraz pretty late in the evening so simply hit the sack in the hostel to think about our next moves in the morning.
We got up to find the hostel served a really good breakfast of either a massive plate of scrambled eggs and toast or fresh fruit salad and granola, both with coffee and fresh juice. Whilst thoroughly enjoying this we decided that we were still far too sore from the Inka Trail to do a long hike, which is what most visitors to Huaraz do. Instead we would just relax for a couple of days and plan our next movements. It also fortunately turned out Huaraz has a great selection of cafes and restaurants to do this in. The highlights being finding out there are 2 local micro-breweries in town and a curry house run by a man from Blackburn. The curry washed down with ale certainly ended cravings we'd been having of late!
Next up was Chimbote. When we had trekked in Uspallata with Quinnen she had put Matt in touch with a tattooist called Jorge who had done some work on her friends. Matt had been in regular contact on Facebook and arranged to stay with Jorge's family in Chimbote and get a new tattoo, picture at the bottom. We arrived into an empty bus terminal at 230am and phoned Jorge. He came straight to the station to get us in a taxi and insisted we take his room for our stay. The family also run a gym so his room involved a walk through this! This exceptional politeness continued for our 2 day stay, his family were just as brilliant.
The first morning we headed straight to his shop to get Matt a tattoo. Matt had seen a Moche (pre-Inka) design on a pot in Museo Larco in Lima and decided on that. It took Jorge almost 6 hours and looks great. We hung out a bit in the shop and also wandered to the seafront as it was actually our first proper time on the coast. The town itself is pretty big, but there is no tourism at all and we were definitely the only gringos in town. Next day Jorge's sister in law made the family and us ceviche. This is probably Peru's most famous dish and is fresh raw fish marinated in lemon and chilli with onions. She had made a fantastic spicy version with yucca, potatoes and toasted nuts. This was followed by a whole fish in a tomato and pepper broth. Defintely one of the best meals we have eaten in South America. It was also lovely to eat with all Jorge's family and to thank them for their hospitality.
That night, after a few rums, we took the 12 hour bus to Mancora. This is the place gringos congregate to sit on the beach during the day and drink into the early hours. We decided to join the party the first night as it was Saturday! This was all good fun, as far as we remember, but left us a bit fragile the next day. We had a nice hostel bungalow so we divided our next 3 days between the beach, restaurants for dinner and the odd drink. It wasn't a bad place, but we never felt as relaxed as we'd hoped and the amount of drunk gringos was a bit of a shock too at times! Good place to party though no doubt.
After that we were heading for the Peru/Ecuador border, our time in Peru was sadly over...
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