Work, Shop, and Food-a-holic Sao Paulo

The very first morning in Brazil was like most mornings in life. For Steph it meant sleep and for me it meant coffee. She went for a nap and I went straight to the local diner on the corner for a cafezinho which was to become one of my favorite rituals in this country.

Before industrialisation, it was coffee that built this city into the magalopolis it is today. And what could be easier than sliding up at the lancheonette on every corner right next to the humongous metal coffee tank. Before you can even try to ask properly, a steaming hot glass of coffee is supplied with several sweetening options on the side – Brazillians seem to love their sugar. I decided to do a little research from the counter with our two guidebooks. Their would be little time to mess around in the mere week we left ourselves to see one of the world's largest and most diverse country.

What I had read was a little intimidating. An introduction to Sao Paulo read like a list rattling-off records that the mammoth city has eclipsed. Firstly, the 29 million people who live here are only overshadowed by Tokyo. You name it and the Paulistanos probably have the most of them in Sao Paulo. The city is also defined by it's physical size - three times bigger than Paris and growing every day. Everything is enormous.

I'm willing to bet that your first impression will be none too charming on the way into town. You might be met with the world's longest stretches of snarled-up traffic (São Paulo redefines rush hour). Otherwise you will soon be greeted by the endless forest of grey tower blocks across the Blade Runner city-centre. I had read that this may be the ugliest, most dangerous city I'll ever love. What Sao Paulo lacked in physical charm, it was about to make up in flair.

The Mercado downtown - We were staying out in Vila Madelena the city's arty quarter, which is both a bit more leafy and completely safe to walk around. São Paulo does have its share of crime, but unlike Rio the worst of it takes place far out from the centre of town.

There were many reasons for our short stay but I won't go into those now. Steph also had a reason to be tired since our 1am departure to Brazil was delayed until 3am giving us a lot of terminal time in the small hours of the night. When she returned to the world of the living, we headed directly downtown on the metro for a bite to eat at the Mercado Municipal before walking around the old city centre. I asked a man on the platform if we were taking the right connecting train. We then got not only his help, his life story, but also an insistance that if we ever needed any help in Brazil, to call him. This experience (in our first Brazilian hour on the street) was not a one-off at all. It was to happen regularly during a week of warmth and incredible friendliness.

Sao Paulo turned out to be a city is filled with energy and sophistication. The Mercado Municipal blew my expectations away. This was no grimy street market or crumbling market hall. It was a pristine, clean and grand old Victorian building filled with Italian wine, meat and cheese shops. We were here in search of one thing only - Sao Paolo's famous mortadella sandwich! This towering masterpiece of hot meat is the official sandwich of the city. And the terrace of Hocca Bar overlooking the market hall was the perfect place to begin our whirlwind tour of this country. The sandwich melted in our mouths almost as fast as it arrived. Some waitors reckon this cafe constructs up to 1500 of them each Saturday.

Bellissima - piled high with sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, sweet peppers marinated in garlic, and provolone melted between meat layers. The Italians emigrated to Brazil to follow work in the coffee trade. It turns out the Japanese also came in large numbers. After a special arrangement between the two governments, there came to be more Japanese here in Sao Paulo than anywhere outside Japan.

We went to walk off our snack around the Luz quarter to the north. This was once the grandest of all neighborhoods in Sao Paulo. The dual railway stations around a pristine park square then slipped into a red light slum. Today it is just now beginning to regain it's elegance.

“Play me, I'm yours” - The old Luz Train Station greeted us with the sounds of it's centrepiece - a public grand piano that invites anyone to play.

Next we popped into Bar Leo where I heard we could learn how a Brazillian will masterfully pour a chopp glass of beer (pronounced shopee). The objective is to create as much moose (foam) as possible in the glass - a concept that is pretty much opposite to what Americans and English strive for.

Another cafe to try a chopp was the institution that is the Bar Brahma. As everyone will tell you, this is where Caetano Veloso's soulful song “Sampa” starts out. Legend has it that he wrote it from the huge corner terrace outside. We sat inside for warmth to get our first dose of dark Brazilian beer and MPB (Música Popular Brasileira - literally, Brazilian Popular Music).

The next day again started out with advice from our hostel owner and a true gentleman giving us directions when we were totally lost. Both people were so friendly that I think it would be considered stalkerish anywhere else. I had been told about people's passion to be friendly, and that in Sao Paulo this is even more true since it is such a large city that attracts relatively low number of tourists, compared to say Rio.

Now let me then tell you about my favourite place to visit in Sao Paulo. I can only describe The Museu do Futebol as the louvre of sport, built only last year inside the municipal stadium. Whoever dreamt up this interactive shrine to the beautiful game was an absolute genius. It's design led you through the legends of Brazilian football, who are projected in holograms like Greek gods, through chambers underneath the cement stands of the stadio that echoed with chants from the crowd. World Cup history is documented meticulously year by year as well as visual displays of every aspect of how the game is played. There was even a penalty simulator that also measured the strength in mph of your shot - I got up to 97 kph while Steph peaked at 68.

Brazilian football is the best reminder of why this is known as the beautiful game. I didn't realize that soccer legend Pele was also Brazil’s first black government minister.

We now had to rush off to meet, Vinicius, a Brazilian I had met in a hostel in Argentina, who wanted to take us to lunch. True to form – we got lost again and showed up late. Brazilians do talk about “pontualidade britânica” (British punctuality), but luckily for us turning up 20min late is the norm and traffic is usually the excuse. Vinicius had just arrived to pick us up anyway (due to legitimate traffic) and drove us to lunch to introduce his country famous beans. Now I vividly remembered how passionate Vinicius was about Feijoada and would not stop talking about them a few months ago in Argentina. Any beans that could arise this amount of enthusiasm had to be tried. It was great to know a local friend and fellow traveller. But here Vinicious was in his element as a true Paulistano ambassador who took great pride in entertaining us as his guests.

Feijoada - pork stew served with rice and beans. The national dish is served buffet style on Wednesdays across the city while Brazilian families also cook it up at home or their Saturday lunch.

Then came an afternoon of very successful shopping in Jardins (the Avenue Montaigne or 5^th Avenue of Brazil). The neighborhood is not afraid to show of it's bling as the rich and beautiful strut their stuff. Some boutiques are so exclusive that customers even arrive by helicopter. Steph picked up a knockout dress and I opened the floodgates to buying flip flops from the Havaianas shop, I've heard their third quarter earnings were some kind of record).

Custom build your own flip flops in this brand new 3000 square meter headquarters for Brazil's rags-to-riches sandal.

This city reminds me only of New York when it comes to the pace of museums-dining-shopping. No sooner than we could catch our breaths back at the hostel were we due at one of the best pizza restaurants in town. Finding a good restaurant by the way is like finding hay in a haystack or sand at the breach. Tonight we were to meet our friends Kirsten and Dan who incidentally just moved to Sao Paulo to teach at the international school. We learned that their expat arrangement came with incredible benefits, notably a highrise apartment with a pool terrace. Dinner was a chess match trying to extract one another's exciting stories. It was so wonderful to see them.

Let me also tell you something about the pizza in Sao Paolo. Forget the national bean dish. This is by far the favorite food in the city, and it is taken extremely seriously. Apparently there are 6,000 pizzerias that combine to make over 1 million pizzas each and every day. Our restaurant, Braz, is responsible for up to 800 each Sunday night, not to mention the 1000+ that they deliver. I know this is one of the biggest cities in the world, and there is the largest Italian population in South America, but how could they possibly eat that much daily? When I put this question to Vinicius at lunch, he simply shrugged and professed his love for a food that he does indeed eat almost every day.

Today was a sneak peak of what how this was not going to be a cheap place, but the quality would be outstanding. I desperately wanted to stay another day in Sao Paulo but my conscience told me to give the rest of the country a chance. Next time we will take a spin around the Interlagos F1 track (when we can afford it). We still must see the city from the top of the Edifício Itália‎ and the green masse that is Ibirapuera park, Oscar Niemeyer's modernist answer to central park. We return with enough time to hit the nearby Bonete beach - one of Brazil's finest. And I just know we will be back to take another heavy dose of what Sao Paulo does best: museums/shopping/pizzeria/chopp.

Souveniers from Peru

Some tastes to take away and souveniers to remember Peru by.

Our friend Yen was far more adventurous than we were by the looks of some of her photos.

Charqui > If you like beef jerky in the states (or peperami* in England) then you are in for a treat in the Andes. It was the foodtech-savvy Incans who actually invented "charqui" which is what we now know as beef jerky and the word jerky is a derivative of this Quechua word for dried meat. It was typically made of dried alpaca or lama meat back then. Today various forms and preparations of charqui exist in the Andes with the meat of animals such as cows, pigs, and horses.

*Peperami was a “charqui” dried spiced sausage originally manufactured by Unilever for the German market. When the company accidentally sent a shipload to England that was mis-labeled pate, they tried to sell off the shipment by branding it “peperami” which turned into an accidental success.

Coca Tea > The coca leaf helped us in the more strenuous high and low altitudes of the Tren del Sierra and the trek in the Colca Canyon by calming the stomach and alleviating headaches and nausea. A box of coca tea costs next to nothing. However I'm not sure how legal it is to bring too much of this out of the country since coca leaves are what cocaine is made from. Apparently traces of the drug are detectable in your system for two weeks after drinking the tea too.

Also available to take home in your suitcase is a packaged version of Chicha, as previously mentioned in the food blog. Or you could do worse than to part with Inca Cola – a toxic-neon coloured soda that tastes like sweet pineapple.

Alpaca and Llama Wool > We had our own mission. Some of the finest wool in the world can be found in both Peru and Bolivia. Steph was on a hunt to find her Mum some Alpaca wool to knit with. We didn't have many leads to go on in Lima during our last few days. After asking maybe a dozen people around town, we finally made it to where the locals buy their wool, as well as hang out to knit and compare notes. Mission accomplished.

The Land of a Thousand Marvels

The sounds of Peru > Ducking out into the city street I would always first hear the rumbling of semi-broken down collectivos. Then came the street vendors, several mumbled “Dollars-Euros” others often blared “Mandarinas!” into a megaphone. Oddly, shops would sometimes have an English Language learning tape broadcasting on a stereo system into the street for reasons I have yet to understand. The city markets had more sights and smells than sounds. It was surprising to hear Quechua, the ancient language of the Incas, when one stall owner would translate our garlic request to another who didn't speak Spanish.

To sum up Peru is like trying to explain your first thoughts approaching Machu Picchu – a little overwhelming to say the least. This country showed us it's rich history, friendly people, tasty and elaborate food, and the enormous blessing of natural beauty from mountains down to sweeping shorelines. On top of all this it was not too expensive, not preventing one from visiting as much of Peru as you want. This country just seemed to tick all the boxes for adventurous travellers.

Machu Picchu and Cusco enchanted us so much that I wrote down a lot of those impressions there and then in the moleskine and online.

One mistake we made was defaulting to the tourist catered Cruz del Sur bus company which charged double price for similar service to that of the dozen or so competitors.

We took some amazing overland journeys by bus in Peru and Bolivia. Often these were the times when we saw the most – both outside and inside the bus. The Inka Express in particular saw us through the sacred valley and all the way to Lake Tikaka, which at 4321 meters looked more like a sea to me. Amazingly, a guide was included on that particular bus and also in almost all of the museums and sights we visited. Sometimes they were state employees. Other times the most they would encourage was a small tip. Each guide was extremely helpful and friendly as we visited places that were steeped in history.

There were two tiny regrets I can think of (very rare in Peru). One was spending time in Ica desert and the other was running out of time to see Nazca. The journey along the desert coast itself was more inspiring than the tourist trap at the Huacachina oasis. Darwin didn't particularly like it (rare) and nor did I. Yes it is a unique place but maybe it just paled in comparison to more inspirational parts of India that we had already seen. Unfortunately we later had to make a tough decision about seeing these mystical lines of Nazca. Apparently the flights overhead are unreliable due to weather and we couldn't afford to gamble our remaining days away. The closest we got to them was when our night bus bisected the monkey's tail on the Panamerican highway late into the night and without us even noticing.

One benefit from visiting Ica was a chat we had with an old man on a bench in the town square. He warned us that Peru was full of mystery, from the lines of Nazca and well beyond. This was true. We did indeed tour the country with many questions unanswered. Like why the heck do electronics stores have motorbikes as their centrepiece with a guy in a panda bear costume dancing to techno blasting on huge speakers? Why did women offer cell phone calls from a dozen mobiles chained to their belts, just standing there waiting for customers outside train stations etc? This gave new meaning to pay-as-you-go. Women who did have their own cell phones also seemed to yell down them as loud as possible as if to speak more clearly and audibly. This was odd. Yet it was nice to see a record amount of women police officers enforcing the law on the streets. I don't understand why, but I rarely ever saw policemen.

These chats were too infrequent with Peruvians. I wish on our entire trip I had had the chance to put all these questions and observations to the people – the greatest source of amazement of all.

Central to a kitchen was the large brick oven, underneath this sometimes were the dens for Cui who, along with chickens often roamed around the kitchen floor freely. Here a guide shows us how Cui have lived in the kitchen since Pre-Incan times.

I've learned here that just like New York City, Lima is completely unrepresentative of the rest of the country. The gap between the country’s rich and poor remains very clear when you travel around. Three out of 10 Peruvians live in poverty as a whole. But in the potato farming terraces of the Andes that number jumps to 7 out of 10. The economic divide is one challenge. What to do with the country’s vast store of mineral resources is another. The mines are polluting the rivers, mountains and jungles thus causing, to me, what seems like a natural contradiction to the Andean respect for mother earth that runs so deep into the culture. Yet Peru is experiencing booming growth, as much as Brazil, while grabbing far fewer headlines and with that comes prosperity, and a rapidly emerging lower middle class. Peru is now the world’s leading producer of silver, and among the top-five producers of gold, zinc and copper. Meanwhile the large ethnic population continues to grow too. When hunting in Chinatown for wool we relied on the helpfullness of many Peruvians from other ethnicities. Today the country prides itself on a rich multi-ethnic population. Peruvians cheerfully greet friends with racial nicknames like negro or chino (not always accurately). Even the former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who was of Japanese descent, was known as 'El Chino'.

The Sights of Peru > Most towns we visited would have Spanish colonial architecture towards the center and Plaza de Armas. Looking down these streets one can often admire the dark wooden bay windows jutting out. Approaching the market, miracle doctors would entertain me with their tonics. I also enjoyed guessing whether the brightly coloured blanket sacks on women's backs contained potatoes from the market, corn or their little child.

The festive Peruvian people were my favourite to observe in the markets, towns and mountain roadsides. One image really stuck in my mind on a bus journey when I saw a smartly dressed band playing outside a bright blue village church, with smiles on their faces almost as big as their sombreros. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

We did capture many other images on film. The town of Chupaca (as well as Cabanaconde) provided some of the most 'authentic' explorations. This market day was one of those truly local explorations that had Steph and I feeling like we were REALLY travelling. The university parade the next day was one of the 400 festivals that the people from Huancayo put on each year. Steph has already described how in awe we were at moments like these. This particular festival had each of the college professions marching (doctors, lawyers, nurses) while the other half of the town residents watched. Perhaps the handful of festivals we stumbled upon were what really summed up Peru for me. They say that in Peru you don't have to go looking for adventure, it will come to find you. And I don't think you can capture it on film or even in stories. You must go visit Peru for yourself.

A Sinfully Perfect Day in Lima

Lima surprises you with it's eeriness. Let's face it. This is not the most exhilarating city on the planet. Yet the guarantee of fog blanketing the colonial buildings in the historical centre is sure to enchant most people.

I would therefore start a top day in Lima at the plaza de armas. Lima was founded here in 1535 by the Spanish explorer and conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro had been in the process of overthrowing the entire Incan empire. After the Incans surrendered, they (apparently) urged Pizarro to set up as the seat of Spanish power in the area that is now Lima and which they regarded as the geographical and meteorological armpit of the Empire - or so the story goes. Today the Palacio de Gobierno on this plaza is home to the President.

A walk north towards the railway station (now the National Library) marks where the highest passenger train in the world still calls for Huancayo only a few dozens times a year. On the opposite corner is the Bar Cordorba. With excellent ceviche, it is one of the most traditional cafes in town and a perfect resting spot for a coffee, drink or snack at any time of day. I would probably head directly over to the San Francisco Church where a guided tour of the convent and extensive networks of catacombs always re-assures me of the spooky and sinister sides of Lima while the library and beautiful ceilings are always intriguing. If you are in a brave mood you could visit the bull fighting museum just across the river - but be warned this is also the 'wrong side' of the railway tracks. So why not have a look at the Museum of the Inquisition instead which also includes a free guided explanation of the various torture methods used on those who were seen to defy the church.

Peru is known for the Inca, but Lima is a city built by and for the Spanish conquerors. As a result, the telegraphic and gas light were introduced to Peru here, and Lima was the first city in South America to set up a rail link to another city.

All this excitement will have me heading straight for lunch with the French nuns at their colonial mansion / non-profit restaurant known as L'Eau Vive. After being politely seated in French, the delicious lunch menu that follows reminds you of home cooking, no matter how far away that may be. To walk off that lunch, I would then head back towards the plaza de armas this time popping in to the Catedral, where the remains of Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro rest. From here walk south down the pedestrian shopping street of Jirón de la Unión. Passing one South American shoe shop after another, I might pop in to Topi Top, the Peruvian Gap. Why not also take a peek in the Gran Hotel Bolivar, which has a nice terrace round the back. After a morning full of cultural museums, it's time for some real-life discovery at the Huaca Pucllana Inca Site. Taking one of the many collectivos that run down to Miraflores from the centre is by far the most exciting and local way to get there.

I am always amazed that a real Incan temple-city complex is being uncovered right in the middle of a modern-day residential neighbourhood. There's an entry fee of a few soles but this includes a guided half-hour tour along side the painstaking excavation efforts. If it's not my first time to the site I may just stop by to enjoy lunch or a drink on the terrace with the adobe temple looming behind. You may want to go from here to catch a wave at the beach or visit a posh Miraflores shopping mall (built inside the cliffs) overlooking the Pacific.

Either way I always end up back in Parque Kennedy to watch the world go by with a Pisco Sour at the timeless Cafe Haiti that overlooks the palm trees of in Lima's glitziest shopping neighbourhood. And finally, to taste some of those famous Peruvian dishes try booking a table at La Merced for dinner, or for lunch with all the businessmen. The ceiling is an excellent example of the dark woodwork craftsmanship in this city and the Papa Huancaina is delicious.

Andean Appetite

The Land of Corn and Potatoes

Peru was the land that gave the world the potato over 7,000 years ago. There are over 2000 varieties, as previously mentioned by Ms Potato Head herself (Steph), each having a different flavor and texture which was documented in her photographic account of the 'potato aisle' at the market. I think even though Steph is the master of making her famous student baked potato, she was a little overwhelmed by the variety.

More broadly, Peru boasts one of the best food cultures in Latin America. Of course there are the Andean roots, there is the influnece from Spanish conquistadores, the wealth of seafood from the coastline, and now there is also a rich cultural mix from African slaves to indentured workers' 'Chifa' cuisine.

The 'Cui' Guinea Pig - With 65 million eaten each year, the 'Cui' Guinea Pig is Peru's primary source of protein. It's a very basic dish. Most rural families still have a shelter for their pet cuis built into the walls and brick oven of the kitchen. Cui has been eaten for a long, long time. We saw shelter goes all the way back to pre-incan times... One thing we never tried was 'Cui' (do not order 'a Horno' - served whole, you may have to cut it's head off before you quearter and eat it) guinea pigs can have different number of toes from 4-8).

The Rotisserie Houses - Steph and I chickened out instead. We really needed a break after two months of Argentinian steak. So we went straight for the rotisserie chicken that lined every block. Let me tell you - the Peruvians know precisely what to do with a rotisserie. A quarter chicken and chips here might be the best you have ever tasted.

The chicken man at Chupaca market.

Ceviche - This spicy, aromatic fish dish is was what Peruvian food has become world famous for. I tried it in at a random lunch cafe and liked raw seafood a lot more than I expected.

There are basically five essential ingredients: raw, fresh catch of fish, medateranian onions, aji limo (andean chili), salt, and lime juice marinade. The Aji Chili is a bright yellow chilli is used in practically every dish in Peru and along with garlic and onions, it creates the “alchemy” at the core of Peruvian cuisine.

One that still matters - Ceviche was born in Lima, and Limenos of all walks of life are somewhat obsessed with finding the city's best. Established in 1905, the Bar Cordano is one of those establishments whose fading phtographs tell a good story and the old waitors serve up a good ceviche.

Hemingway's Ceviche Recipe

1 pound fresh cod, halibut, scallops or shelled shrimp

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

1/2 cup sliced red onions

1/4 tsp. chopped 'aji' hot pepper (or dash of Tobasco sauce)

Mix all ingredients together, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Ceviche can be kept for up to 24 hours, but it's best eaten within a few hours.

4 Servings

The fresh fish is first cut into chunks and 'cooked' by the acidity of the lime juice marinade. Sometimes a garnish is added with lettuce, corn, or potato. Be sure to not foret the 'leche de tigre' (tiger's milk), the leftover juice that you drink after which is said to give you lots of energy. You could also try the tiradito while in Lima. It's part sashimi part carpacio, with fish thinly sliced and marinated in ginger, lime and aji limon but with no onions.

Tacu Tacu - Similar to Lomo Saltado, except this heart attack features fried rice and beans served with meat and you guessed it, an egg on top.

Beans, Beans - Peru is also a bean-crazed country (this is where the name Lima bean came from). I'm not sure I agree with the American Moron name, however...

Papa Huancaina – boiled, thick-sliced yellow potato is topped with my favorite sauce in south america - a delicious cream of peanut, white cheese and yellow pepper.

STREET FOOD

We explored more markets in this country than anywhere else in the world and were rewarded with some of our most authentic experiences on the continent. Curiosities were up front in our faces. It was not unusual to see large pails of quails' eggs being sold as snacks from a tiny gas stove on wheels.

Corn may be second in importance only to the potato. On windowsills we saw corn in many colors drying in the sun. At every street corner we saw huge boxes of sweetened popcorn for only a few cents. This was a bit bland for me. I also tried a portion of steamed corn from a street bucket a few time but this was also a dissapointment. The luke war cob was just not as buttery or salty as I would have liked.

However my favorite street snacks were Humitas. These little parcels of corn paste, are mixed with cheese and then steffed into corn or banana leaf wrapping before being steamed. It's both flavoursome and healthy – quite the rare combination for street cooking!

More corn was on every restaurant table in the form of a salted snack called 'Cancha'. We soon noticed the frothy purple drink that every person in every restaurant seemed to be drinking.

Chicha Morada is a purple corn juice that is insanely popular in the andes region. It is a sometimes just a juice and other times an alcoholic corn beer.

The

tradition of making Chicha

from fermented maize

has for the most part been unchanged since pre-incan times, and was used as an offering to the gods in ceremonies as an alternative to, well, Llama blood.

Today a red plastic bag on pole outside a home means a batch of chicha is ready for the village to enjoy.

While we didn't try the popular anticuchos (grilled skewers of cow heart marinated in chilli, cumin, oregano vinegar and oil), we did try deep-fried mash potatoes called Papa Reillena. These glorious little savory treats were neither risky on the stomach nor hard to find.

Papa Reillena - Deep fried mashed potato occasionally stuffed with mince meat, egg, spices and or an olive.

Tombs and mummies and treasures of gold and silver...

It's not only the Lonely Planet who describes the Tombs of Sipan as 'maybe the the most important archaeological discovery in South America since Macchu Pichu'. We were intrigued, and set off further up the north coast to discover more...

To break up our week of rainy weather at the beach, Chris and I headed further north on a three hour bus ride towards Chiclayo - now home to the largest healer market in Peru. Chiclayo was actually founded by Spanish missionaries in the 16th century and has prospered ever since due to its situation at the hub of vital trade routes between the coast, highlands and deep jungle. But this wasn't the reason we'd come here. We were in search of tombs and mummies and treasures of gold and silver...

The Chiclayo Herbal Market - Where aisles and aisles of exciting and unusual items are sold and just about anything you could imagine a witch doctor would need. I was told by one guide that dead guinea pigs are even used as a kind of metal detector wand to scan your whole body. They are then dissected to investigate for signs of human sickness.

Chiclayo as a town seemed bustling and crowded and, dare I say it? Slightly 'dodgy' in a certain sense - it wasn't the most scenic of Peruvian towns we'd visited that's for sure. There was no-one in traditional dress and the sense of modernity was added to by the large number of chain stores, not least in the form of humongous fast-food restaurants and little mobile phone shops everywhere. This feeling of 'dodgy-ness' wasn't helped by our inability to find any accommodation within our budget that wasn't a gloomy cell in a seemingly dangerous area. In typical Steph-Chris style we, yet again, trundled round for the best part of two hours trying to find somewhere to stay. We finally settled on the most ridiculous place (easy to say in hindsight). We should have realised when we arrived, having walked up the marble stairs to a reception area that was gated off and having to rattle the gate for a good five minutes, shouting loud 'holas', before the man wandered nonchalantly downstairs saying he'd been fixing something and hadn't heard us. Luckily he had a lovely ensuite room with cable tv free - it hadn't been cleaned yet (it was already 6pm - goodness knows what he'd been playing at but we really should've known he'd be trouble) but he assured us that when we'd returned from dinner in an hour it would be clean and ready for us. We happily went off to one of the shiny, clean and modern food chains with a decent menu with the all important free wifi and a deal on Pisco Sours. We returned to the same restaurant twice during our stay in Chiclayo and every time, a Chiclayo gaucho (below) was in at the same time - we upset things one day by sitting in his regular spot, just to see what would happen, hehe. Of course, when we returned to the hotel at 10.30pm, the room still hadn't been cleaned but we weren't relishing the thought of wandering round dodgy Chiclayo at that time of night so had to stay put while the room was cleaned (after a lot of shouting and arguing IN SPANISH by Chris!)

The Chiclayo gaucho

Nearby to Chiclayo are the 26 crumbling pyramids of Tucume - this city was once the final capital of the Sican culture who moved their capital here in around 1050AD. We wandered around this dusty landscape with our guide, taking in what must have once been a bustling hype of activity. The views from the top of one of the adobe structures, Purgatory Hill (so called because the Spanish tried to convert local pagans to Christianity here by dressing as demons and throwing non-believers to their deaths!), were phenomenal and really gave you a good idea of how huge this city once was.

The Pyramids of Tucume

Chris: Mountains of Mud... Unlike the pyramids of Egypt, which were built as tombs, the mud-brick pyramids of northern Peru were more like a high-rise ceremonial complex. Built in stages, the pyramids grew as rooms, patios, and walkways were filled in and became part of the huge solid structure. Tombs have been found here but their main function would have been as ceremonial sites. Workers sealed the tombs with mud bricks and just kept on building on top of the past generation's structure - like cardboard boxes over one another.

After the impressive site at Tucume it was off to the incredible Tombs of Sipan. Only in 1987 when local archaeologist Dr Walter Ava realised treasure was being sold on the black market did he understand that an incredible burial site was being ransacked. Excavation began and the most impressive tomb since that of Egypt's Tutankhamun was discovered - the tomb of the 'Lord of Sipan'. To keep the locals happy - who would have otherwise earned a lot of money from selling looted stolen treasure - they were given jobs on the archaeology team as diggers. A great idea if you ask me.

Just like at Tucume, the pyramids here look like very normal mounds of earth - the winds and rains of centuries have eroded these impressive brick structures down to mere hills. Underneath the ground though and, no doubt, inside the remaining pyramid, the bricks remain in their original state. The most impressive thing however is not the bricks, but the fact that you can peer directly into the tombs left for the kings - archaeologists have worked on the tombs so that you see a complete reconstruction of how the tombs looked before they were closed up over 1500 years ago.

Peru really is a history lover's dream. Whether you're interested in the more famous Incan Empire of Cusco and around or the smaller but far more ancient empires from the North of Peru, a trip here is a must if you are any kind of history geek. You can get so close to the real life tombs - I doubt this is the case in Egypt!

Chris: Tumba del Senor Sipan, north near Lambayeque - considered to be the King Tut of the Americas.

Steph: In each tomb was usually found the lord or king himself surrounded by his wife and any mistresses plus a guard and even an advisor and most revered servants. There were also usually a llama and possibly a dog plus a huge amount of gold and jewels. When a king died, his servants had to be put to death at the same time (plus his wife and mistresses) in order to be buried along side him. Crazy.

The local workers would each make an individual pot or statue for their king

to take with him into the after-life

The kings were adorned in rich jewelry - for every gold object that the Lord of Sipan had (representing the sun), he had an identical silver one to represent the moon. Tides, and thus the moon, were very important to this culture whose main staple was fish. Museums hold the huge number of gold and silver jewels found in the tombs. Chris and I visited a number of museums during our stay on the north coast and were shocked by the immense value of the treasure in each.

Chris: From mummies we can see that ancient Peruvians had great teeth due to the seafood diet and natural flouride in coca.

In nearby Lambayeque the annual 'KING KONG' festival was occurring to celebrate the existence of this weird but wonderful cake of the same name.

Back in Huanchaco we had a final site we wanted to visit: the largest pre-Columbian city of the Americas and also the largest adobe city in the world, Chan Chan. Built around 1300AD by the Chimu people, there were once 60 000 people living here and when you realise how large this site - mostly yet to be excavated - actually is you can easily see how that is true. Chan Chan is just massive - it stretches across a whole highway. It's such a shame that so much of it remains untouched by archaeologists - there must be so much to still find and discover out there. The parts which have been excavated are impressive, especially the walls they built to represent fish nets. The Incas eventually conquered the city but the incredible wealth remained untouched until the Spaniards inevitably took it all away. Absolutely amazing, this place. Why oh why does Peru not get more international acclaim for all it's wonderful historic sites?!