The North of Peru - Los Órganos, Máncora, Huanchaco

We arrive at the small airport of Piura, check into the hotel briefly, and treat ourselves to a delicious dinner. The next day, we continue by bus directly to Los Órganos, passing through dry landscapes because it hardly rains on the coast of Peru. Since there isn't much to see here except for whale watching, which we have booked for the next morning, we spend the rest of the day strolling along the beach and ordering food to our hotel, which is located slightly outside. Unfortunately, the ordered fish is not fresh, and Carsten doesn't feel well for the next 2 days.

The whale tour starts early in the morning at the pier of Los Órganos. The first surprise is a large turtle in the water right at the pier as we board the relatively small motorboat. We only drive 5 minutes out to sea until we spot the first whales. Right away, a female humpback whale with her calf. The humpback whales come from the South Pole to the warmer waters off South America every year to give birth to their young. We receive this and many more pieces of information from the experienced guides of Pacífico Adventures. We can highly recommend this organization because they handle the whales very responsibly. When they notice that some other boats are not behaving in a way that does not disturb the whales, we leave the group and continue searching for other whales.

Eventually, we spot two more adult male whales far out on the sea. They repeatedly dive up and down and slap their tail flukes on the water to communicate with their fellow whales. We can get quite close to them, which is truly impressive with these large creatures! The male whales sing the well-known whale songs, which we can even hear with an underwater microphone up to a distance of 7 kilometers. Back on land, we receive a tour of the museum of Pacífico Adventures. They conduct sustainable research on whales and other marine animals, which they can finance thanks to the income from tourists. They can answer almost any question about sharks, turtles, and whales.

Next, we head to Máncora, another small coastal town that is said to have the most beautiful beaches in Peru. We are not so convinced by the beaches, but there are some nice waves for surfing and plenty of wind for kite surfing, which Carsten takes advantage of.

In our beautiful hostel (Casa Maracuja), we feel very welcome by the hosts and other travelers, so we stay a bit longer than planned until we take the overnight bus 10 hours further to Trujillo and Huanchaco on September 30, 2022. There, we meet Lucas from Canada, with whom we will do even more activities in the following days. However, the ride in the crowded and rickety bus is much less comfortable than promised, and Tina can hardly close her eyes.

After a very good breakfast and a short power nap in the afternoon, the world looks better again, and we make our way to Chan Chan, the largest pre-Columbian city in Latin America. The ruins between Trujillo and Huanchaco are only a small part of a huge area with several settlements of the Chimú people. They lived in Peru from 850 to 1470, before the Incas. The 26 square kilometer Chan Chan was built around 1300 and is the largest adobe city in the world.

Unfortunately, the weather and the resulting erosion are increasingly destroying the city. The Temples of the Sun and Moon, which are about 700 years older, were unfortunately closed due to the elections taking place that day, so we drove 2 hours from Huanchaco for nothing. But since we were already there, we took a look at the city center of Trujillo, which looks well maintained around the Plaza de las Armas but unfortunately is very littered and dirty behind it.

Huanchaco itself, where our nice little hostel with plenty of cats (Punto Huanchaco) is located, is a charming coastal town and nicer than Trujillo. Here, too, you can surf beautifully and stroll along the promenade.

Due to the elections, where half the country is traveling by bus, we can't find a seat on the overnight bus to Huaraz and only continue during the day on October 3, 2022 - The mountains are calling!