Baths and beaches

Survived the jungle and arrived very weary into Banos. Upon arrival into the hotel I was given a face mask and a leaflet explaining the different emergency sirens the town has. The Volcano that overlooks the town has been rumbling and smoking for the past week and if the wind changed direction we were all to wear our masks or risk choking on the fumes. Not the usual welcome gift you get in most hotels! Luckily for us though there was no erruption so we were free to explore this delightful town. Banos is famous for its naturally occuring thermal baths (that volcano again). I went along. The hot pool is certainly that. It was scaldingly hot - the temperature being in the very high 40's. The cold pool was icy cold. I only lasted half an hour and had to go home - these baths are not for the faint hearted. Alas Banos was my last stop in Ecuador - a country I have absolutely loved.
I crossed the border into Peru. The first thing you notice about Peru is the climate - northern Peru is a desert. I was not expecting that. We travelled to the western coast of Peru to spend a couple of very relaxing days at the beach at Punta Sal. The tents made their first (but certainly not their last) showing on this beach. I managed to spend three days doing nothing more taxing than playing cards and reading. Life is hard! There is only so much doing nothing you can do, so before boredom set in, the group moved further down the coast to another beach resort of Huanchaco. This town is still very much a fishing village and the locals still make individual reed boats out of tortuga reads which are left out on the beach to dry. I stress these really are boats and not giant pixie boats as someone on the truck believes! It is from our base here that I got to see the first ancient sites in Peru. The site of the Chan Chan ruins is spectacular. It is literally a mud brick city. We explored one of the palaces - it is so different from any of the other ancient civilisations I have seen so far. After the Chan Chan ruins we also looked around the temple of the moon, which is a site that belonged to the Moche - they predated the incas by about a thousand years and the murals on the side of the temple are still brightly coloured. Its been a while since I saw any ruins and these were impressive sites which have wetted my appetite before I reach Cusco and Machu Pichu. Only 2 weeks to go - so I suppose I should stop sitting about on beaches and go do something slightly more active...