After a night in Chiclayo - a large dusty hot city in Northern Peru, I headed for the small former fishing village of Huanchaco. Now popular with surfers and travellers looking to escape Peru's endless archeological remains and big cities, there is a very chilled out atmosphere in the village. Surf combined with dirt cheap accomodation and food made it somewhere that I could probably have stayed a lot longer (my surfing could definitely do with a bit more practice!) but there's still a lot of Peru to get through before I return to Chile.
I skipped Lima (I've heard it's slightly sketchy, which combined with my dislike of big cities didn't make it too appealing!), and instead headed for Ica and the nearby sandy playground of Huacachina. Built for upper class Peruvians, this desert oasis is now a relaxed place for gringo's to hang out and explore the sand dunes by buggy or go sandboarding.
I gave the sandboarding a go, and was a bit dissappointed with it - much slower and less graceful than snowboarding... I've got a bus to Cusco later on, so should be at Machu Picchu at some point in the next few days for a bit more stereotypical sightseeing before continuing south.
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