13/07/2019 – Chan Chan, Huanchaco, Peru

We got up slowly, had breakfast in bed - cereal, yoghurt, fruit and coffee. We left and went to the beach where we found a little collectivo minivan heading past Chan Chan to Trujillo. We hopped in and drove out of Huanchaco, hopping off the bus onto the side of the road when the driver shouted ‘Chan Chan’ at us. We walked a good kilometer off road up a dust path, to get to the ticket office and into the main ruins of Chan Chan.

Jen at the entrance to the Chan Chan!!

Chan Chan is an archeological site of old temples, palaces and tombs, and the largest adobe (mud brick) city in the world. It is estimated to have been built 850AD, and housed a population of 40,000 to 60,000 people. We bought our tickets (my student card is coming in very handy for these excursions!) Then took ourselves around the ruins. They were very grand and the bricks and detail were very well preserved, reconstructed in some cases so as to give a better impression of the grandeur. After walking around the ruins we went to the museum and saw some jewellery, ceramics and artefacts that had been recovered in the ruins.

Then we managed to thumb down a local bus heading back to Huanchaco. We got off the bus and went straight for food. We headed to a Middle Eastern restaurant called Ali Mama, recommended on trip advisor. We only had a large 200 sol (£50) note with us, so, as no one here ever seems to have small change, explained this before we ordered our food. After calling the boss to check, the waiter said it was not a problem, so we continued to order a lot of food (we were very hungry, it was quite late in the afternoon!) Whilst we waited for our food I beat Josh at connect four 4-0 which was quite satisfying! We happily tucked into falafel and rice, pitta and hummus, coffee and chocolate brownie. When we had eventually finished we handed over the note and the waiter took it outside to the owner, who was perched on his pedal bike outside. This is where we took our eyes off the money, and then two minutes later the waiter came back with our note, but ripped in half. We looked at him a bit bewildered, and he explained that he had never seen a 200sol note before, but the owner had told him the note was fake as it had ripped when he tested it. We were a bit confused as we had not heard of the tearing test, but fake money is a real problem in Peru. We had no other change on us, so they gave us the ripped note and told us to come back later to pay our bill. We walked home a bit confused, a few different scenarios running through our heads. Maybe it was fake, in which case a real bummer and there would be nothing we could do about it, however it had come from an ATM so this was unlikely. Maybe they had swapped our real note for a fake note as we hadn’t watched it happen? Maybe it was real and they had accidentally ripped it? We went back to our homestay, and spoke with our host. She speaks really good English and said she has a friend (Pablo) who works in a money exchange who we can go and see tomorrow. Pablo will be able to tell us if the money is real. If it is real he can replace it at the cost of a few sol, as he can then take the torn note to the bank and get it replaced. If it is fake, there is not much we can do. We spent the rest of the evening researching and planning our onwards trip. We popped to the local shop and bought some groceries, and made some marmite sandwiches as a little dinner before we went to bed. Marmite is sooooo good! There was a group of young Peruvians staying, who didn’t leave to go out till 0200 and came back at 0500 and continued their party, so it was a broken sleep for everyone here!