Good news and bad news!

The good news is that we are having fun and are healthy. The bad news is that our computer has gone haywire - so we can't post pictures. If "a picture is worth a thousand words" we are in trouble!

We will be visiting the business centers of a lot of hotels to post these but I will be brief. A google map of Peru will help you follow this.

We left Chachapoyas on Monday 4-5 and made the 12 hour! journey by car to Chiclayo on roads that were flooding and rock strewn, but we made it. The Andes are not one set of mountains like our Sierras but rather three sets of more or less parallel "cordieras" as they are called-so a ride through these involves going up steep mountainsides, down into river valleys and back up to high mountain passes 3 times. The Peruvian National Highway on this route is paved but is also a mass of potholes, long stretches of roads under construction, ubiquitous speed bumps and bus drivers competing for advantage. To give credit where it`s due women have nothing to do with this because apparently they are not permited to drive (at least that`s my impression I have not seen a woman driving in Peru!). I should mention that it rained all the way.

We arrived at Costa del Sol Hotel in Chiclayo and to our surprise there was someone staying there besides us ( we were the only guest in the 3 hotels we stayed in in Chachapoyas region). Chiclayo, on the Peruvian coast 500 miles north of Lima is a dusty crowded industrial city serving the vast agricultural areas of northern Peru - much of which is rice, potatoes and sugar cane. However! This is the northern center of the Sican, Chimu and Moche indian cultures that began 4-5000 years ago as indians there began cultivating and dometicating animals. The next two of our days was spent touring the ruins of the last vestiges of these cultures. Fabulous experience!

Two matters of note about these ruins. First the ruins show a population capable of building well designed temples, canals, and other structures with great skill and esthetic values. It also demonstrates that these early civilizations had created an agricultural class that could support an even larger artisan and worker class. But second we see the almost mindless destruction of these developments by the Spanish as they searched for gold and silver to steal. Not content to physically destroy the Spanish proceeded to destroy any sign of indian culture in their determination to convert the indians to Christianity including anything that they thought might refer indians to past religious practices (remember the Inquisition was going full blast at this time (1530`s). This whole tragic process has given anthropologists fits trying to interpret what is left that they are now finding and Peru is stepping up in its efforts to salvage much of its historic past.

Rather than describe what we are seeing go to Google and Wikipedia and look for "The Tomb of the Lord of Sipan" - Chan-Chan - Tucume Ruins - Moche - Chimu" the Spanish missed alot!

We are staying two nights in Trujillo a very colorful city at the Hotel Liberatador - a truly luxurious hotel. A reprt on Peruvian quisine is coming when we get to Cuzco. Tomorrow we are off to the airport for flights to Lima and then Cuzco. Machu Picchu here we come!