Flyin' Shoes

The reception guy must be bored, as well as a star. Picking up the change and receipt for hotel payment, he was in the middle of arranging a bus for us to Trujillo in the morning. Turns out that Emtrafesa aren’t answering the phone, so we’re booked on Transporte Linea at 6am. Apparently all I have to do is turn up at the bus station and say I have seats 7 and 8 under Mr Mike for Trujillo. Sounds simple enough.

We were about to head out to get some snacks for the evening when the guy pulled up Google translate and proceeded to spend the next hour, asking what bands we liked and showing some old rock vids like Journey, on youtube. It’s great to share some culture, even if it is a little abstract. Heading to bed early, to ensure the 5:30am taxi is caught.

I think the lack of translation has forced me to sit back and relax for a bit, before the flights home in a few days. The hotel pool is a little too dirty to float in, the staff are usually missing from the bar or front and there’s no compelling sightseeing to be had around town. It’s a good thing to enjoy the end of a trip, instead of mad rushing.

This morning it was time to hit up the Sipan museum – the reason I chose a hotel in this town in the first place. 10 soles to get in and it took a good 2 hours to see all the artifacts on display. Very well laid out and interesting, but a lot of exhibits are the same. There’s no photography allowed in the museum, so nothing to post and a lot of the larger exhibits are representations. It’s certainly not worth a visit just to see the museum, unless you have a strong interest in artifacts of the era and even then, there are often better examples in the major museums of the US and Europe (mostly, because we claimed all the good stuff).

Took another brief walk around the main square for a few pics of the ‘hood, before heading back to the hotel, via a pastry shop. Picked up a couple of sodas and random cakes, of which all except one, tasted like stale synthetic sponges. Tried to book the Cruz del Sur tickets online in the reception but the browser is so old, that it just kept dropping errors when processing the credit card payment. Just going to have to try and book something tomorrow morning while at the bus station, or first thing when arriving in Trujillo.

The guy at the front desk is getting more helpful and along with the Google translate widget, we negotiated a taxi for 5:30am tomorrow to Chiclayo, which should enable us to book and catch a 6am bus to Trujillo. We also paid up for the room and are currently awaiting the 10 soles change and receipt for payment. Nothing to do for the rest of the day except chill. It’s going to be a fun day acquiring tickets tomorrow.

Slept like a rock after all the travel yesterday, and found the shower to be nice and steaming hot this morning; the opposite of last night. I was hoping that today would see the manager that I booked the room with and some easier translation for what I was looking for. Apparently Romina is in Lima for an undisclosed amount of time, so I’m attempting, very badly, to use the phrase book I have with me. The day manager eventually lost his frustration and we worked out a way to use Google translate, to get some messages across.

One of the things I’ve found out since arriving in Lambayeque is that people don’t seem to want to do hand gestures or drawings – I don’t expect them to understand English but some patience would be helpful. Eventually I got to use the reception computer and locate a map of Lambayeque for navigation. I hadn’t done this before because firstly, the tour book and website says that the hotel is a couple of blocks away from the Sipan Museum (my only choice for visiting) and I didn’t intend to do much while here, apart from relax by the pool for a couple of days respite from the inca Trail and jungle. Yet another thing to remember is to print a map if none are available in handbooks, as it’s likely needed. Hilarity ensued for myself next, as the only printer was an old dot matrix, so the Google map ended up being a rough shaded area of black dots. I was able to fill in enough lines and street names to get around and also took a picture of the map for the laptop (they don’t have a USB input, only a floppy drive). I feel like McGuyver of the computer world.

Lambayeque used to be the main town here but now is considered an annexe of Chiclayo. It’s very small and you can hit the ‘downtown’ border, walking ten minutes in any direction. Needless to say, it didn’t take too long to locate the Sipan museum and also the Banco de Credito. After working out what will be worth photographing tomorrow, it was time to grab some food. Ended up in a ‘tourist cafe’ as the food for the locals looked like it would play havoc with the digestive system. Watching meat cut up on a stand in the street with a cloud of flies, doesn’t make the option of something local, all that enticing.

After failing to work out what was in each dish, it was settled on the only item that had the translation ‘fried’ in it – this would at least ensure it was cooked. What was dropped off at the table, was pan fried fish with potato root and a spicy marinara sauce, with calamari, shrimp and baby squid tossed in. It was one of the most delicious items of food I’ve had in Peru and equally as perfectly cooked, as the fish on Taquile Island.

About to take a short nap and enjoy the warm air. Before dinner, I need to figure out transit from here to Trujillo and then to Lima, while there’s at least some kind of internet access. Of course that means having to spend thirty minutes translating again, that I need net access to the reception.