Honduras immigration, I am so confused ...

Border Crossing: Nicaragua to Honduras

We checked the BNO official site and found Honduras is visa free to travel by BNO. We entered the country via Nicaragua crossing border through Canos Blanca and was able to enter the country just by paying some tax of Lp 60 each, with receipt.

Then we leave the country via Puerto Cortes to Belize by boat.  The staff at the Honduras immigration told us that we need a visa to enter Honduras (so why are we already here?) and he read us a table of requirement, proofing that the we need a visa.  The document is a list of visa requirements for various countries, that looked the same as the one we found from the Guatemala visa requirement page on their government official site earlier, (we found no such list on the Honduras official site!?).  The list is just a few page of printed paper, without headline.

Immigration Office at the Fishermen Market, Puerto Cortes, Honduras

We kept asking him if we need a visa to enter your country, how come we were already inside.  We showed him the tax we paid when we entered Hondorus and told him he should check with his colleagues on the other side of the border instead.  He made some calls and insisted that we need to pay US$30 each before leaving the country, otherwise, he will retrieve our passport and put us to jail! (this country don't have justice and order and will put people to jail right away!? -probably yes, they don't!)

Well, any country has the right to interpret and change their entry requirements, we have no choice but pay.

We are requested to photocopy our passport and the entrance form page (where on hell is the photocopier in the fish market?) but he asked the ferry staff to do that for us, no charge. We just waited in the office. Fine, as long as the boat was going to wait for us.

Then we asked for a receipt, the officer said we need to go to the bank to pay to get a receipt, we asked where, he said downtown, which is 20mins away! (and the boat is leaving any time!) We kept bugging him as said, if we pay here, we should get a receipt!  Then he said they could only issue receipt in downtown office if we insist. (Now what, Mister? Bank or office?)

Anyhow, he knew our boat was leaving any time and he gave every dumb reason in the world for not giving a receipt - that we all know why.

Well, we have no choice but to pay US$60 and the money went to the safest place right away - his shirt pocket.

Off we go, on a boat to Belize City

Then, we were set free!

Anyway, we are safe and sound now.

Interesting facts about sea turtles and ASTOP, Costa Rica

ASTOP office

We had a good summer week in Parismina, Costa Rica, working as volunteers at ASTOP (Asociacion Salvemos las Tortugas de Parismina, or Save the Turtles of Parismina) to help sea turtles in the natural reserve.

Here are some interesting facts about sea turtles and ASTOP (with reference to the ASTOP website and volunteer briefing/notes).


1) Every year, Leatherback, Green and Hawksbill turtles come to Barra de Parismina, Costa Rica, to lay their eggs on the Parismina beach from March to October. Poachers steal the turtles and their eggs to sell on the black market for profit. For instance, green turtle with their meat sold at the price of US$10/kg in the black market, used to be captured, tied up and carried around the village.  This is illegal but local were used to that until a group of young people from the local community decided to do something.

2) In 2001, a group of local teenagers who could not bear the fact that sea turtles and their eggs caught and collected illegally by poachers, started something to make their village a difference.  These youngsters started to parol at night while the leatherback, green and hawksbill turtles come to Barre de Parismina Costa Rica to lay eggs on the Parismina beach in the hatching season. They started the Association to protect sea turtles, developed volunteer plus homestay program and also arrange educational visit program of tertiary students from the US (charging three times more than volunteers) which not only finance the project, but also improve economy of the village as a whole, plus providing activities for village children.   Volunteers from all over the world came to help with the night watch, guard the hatching ground and learn about sea turtles preservation, while stimulate commercial activities of local, for instance buying food in the stores and paying for homestay or camping in the village.  ASTOP effort gradually gained support from their fellow villagers.

The night guard reporting cabin

3) Leatherback is the largest of all species of marine turtles. They can exceed 540kg and their eggs are most desirable, with the general belief that they have aphrodisiac power.

4) Green turtles are hunted for the meat and their eggs. The beaches between Parismina and Tortuguero in Costa Rica are believed to be the most important Atlantic nesting ground of these turtles.

5) Hawksbill are often hunted for their shells, which are the source of 'tortoiseshell' once prized for making accessories and eyeglass frames.  Luckily, it is now forbidden.

6) Turtles are reptiles, cold blooded and need to breath out of water for oxygen.  During hatching season, they will stay in the water surrounding the hatching beach and wait till dark before heading the beach to lay eggs.  Hence, some poachers will tie the turtles' legs when their appear on the beach with a long rope and floating ball and wait till the next day in looking for sea turtles in the ocean.

7) Sea turtles always have tears in their eyes. In fact their eyes are always secreting mucus to regulate salt water level. If baby turtles unable to develop such function, they will die in sea water.

8) Female turtles do not nest in consecutive years. They typically skip one or seven years before returning.  So, it's not easy for them!

Sea turtle footprints on the beach

9) It is believed that green turtles return to the very same beach where they were born.

10) If female sea turtles come ashore but cannot find a satisfactory spot to lay her eggs, she will crawl back into the ocean and try to come ashore at a later time.

11) Sea turtles will leave their eggs on the beach and only return for another nesting. Some might nest up to ten time per season.

12) The sex of hatching depends on the temperature around their nests. The proportion of male hatching exceed that of females when the temperature is between 23.C to 29.C and reverse when the temperature is between 29.C and 37.C

The relocated hatching area with volunteers on duty

13) Only one in every 1,000 to one in every 10,000 baby sea turtles will reach reproduction age. Reproduction age is between 15 and 50 years depending on the species.

14) Sea turtle babies will wait for their batch of eggs of the same nesting to climb out of the sand. Staying together gives the stronger ones better chance to survive.

Baby sea tutles nest are arm-length deep, it's not easy for the sea turtles to climb out.  They need to encounter this first challenge in life before they have a better chance to survive in the even more challenging ocean.

15) These babies will be dehydrate and they need to drink a lot of water when they successfully crawl towards the ocean. Some might dry up along their way.

16) These babies have all kinds of natural enemies on the beach, including birds, crabs and ants. Not only poachers, dogs would be digging their eggs and human on the beach might be stepping over their nest, making the sand compact and hence, they suffocate before even climbing out. Or even people might be stepping on them, when they crawl out, without knowing - they are really tiny when newborn.

17) Despite all the threats, in fact, poachers are not the main threat for turtles, but global warming and commercial fishing. Beach with temperature too high might kill the eggs, whereas fishing nets might accidentally caught sea turtle.  Unable to breath above the sea level, without fresh air, they will die.

18) To slow down global warming, we might help by consuming more local products to keep carbon emission lower.

It's definitely a good lesson to learn about these beautiful giant creatures.

National Geographic Live: Witnessing Birth of Sea Turtles

Never in my life have I seen a living sea turtle, needless to say witnessing a mother sea turtle giving birth, except in Animal Planet or National Geographic Channel, but then, we saw it! And for 96 times on our first night as volunteer of Asociación Salvemos Las Tortugas de Parismina (ASTOP), 
http://www.parisminaturtles.org/  with the task to protect the endangered sea turtles by patrolling with local turtle guide at midnight until 4am!


Set in Northern Carribean, a small town with only around 500 inhabitants and surrounded by jungle rivers on one side and Carribean sea on the other side, Parismina is only accessible by boat and is the nesting ground of three kinds of sea turtles, including green turtle, leatherback and hawksbill sea turtle. Well, July is one of the peak month for nesting of green turtles and we are on time.


No wonder it's said to be the wettest place in Costa Rica, the village roads are covered with dark sand and water. And it rains everyday.




We took a bus in San Jose at the Caribe terminal to Siquirres, which took us almost 2.5 hours, had a short walk for 5 minutes before getting on another bus to Cano Blanca . A good 2.5 hours along banana plantations, we finally reached the pier. Then we waited for a small boat for 18. In 15 minutes, we arrived Parismina, finally.


Being a volunteer cost us US$75 each (US$35 for registration and US$10 daily for participation with a minimum of 5 days, but we asked for 4). Then we have a choice of home staying (which cost US$27 per person per night) with villagers or camping. The camp site managed by Alex, was quite nice, costing around US$5 per night, per person, and there are cabins too. Since no one staying in the campsite and it was raining all the time, we finally settled down in the cabin. Alex got us bed linen, fan, stove, gas, cutlery, dishes, plates, cup, unchained the fridge and we got the long abandoned kitchen and our room nicely setup.


At the ASTOP office, we got a short briefing, a set of notes and was told to patrol at 1200-0400 that night. Two local girls walked us around the small village and we had our own time thereafter.


The village got a lot of coconut but looks like everything were brought from outside. Food are extremely expensive! A pack of half kilo frozen chicken cost almost HK$80! We finally settled for some eggs. one onion, some tomatoes, some really artificial sausage and some rice.


After having dinner, we took a nap and headed for our first night of patrol.


It was raining heavily. We arrived at the patrol station almost 15 minutes ahead. There were already 2 people there, Miguel and Jennifer. Then 2 more guys came along.


We followed Miguel along the way. We had a really long walk along the dark soft beach, they prefer walking without light or turned on their red light torch once in a while.


I was holding Adley's hand tight as I was not used to the darkness, walking in haste and occasionally kicked on some woods along the beach.


It was almost 1.5 hour south before we met Jennifer and her partner again. They found a sea turtle! The trace was like tires on the sand, clear parallel lines of flaps moving upwards towards the shore. They was discussing in Spanish and we didn't get anything. We stood there waiting under the rain while dozing off standing and getting chilled.


Then Miguel asked us to move forward, and there she started! We all stand behind the mother turtle and Jennifer was kneeling on the sand, crawling down to catch her eggs in the arm length deep hole, with gloves and plastic bag ready.


This green sea turtle made a nest in the sand by her flips and when she thinks its deep enough, she started to lay eggs. 

Because we cannot use flashlight, we cannot take photos, but the following youtube was quite the same as what we saw.

Mother turtles might crawl up the beach and return to the ocean right away if she thinks the environment is not most appropriate, like having dogs around, human with strong perfume or mosquito repellents. Her hearing is excellent but shortsighted, hence, we are advised to wear dark clothes, refrain from using perfume nor mosquito repellents and no photographs nor video. But green turtles have an instinct to return to their own birth place to nest their eggs. Amazing!


The eggs comes one by one in varies pace. We were standing right next to her, at her back, seeing the eggs coming out. And there were 96 of them!


Jennifer and her partner took the eggs to the ASTOP guarded nesting ground, to have the eggs on watch, so as to avoid dogs and poachers. While we stayed with Miguel waiting and overseeing the mother turtle returning to the ocean before we go. Since green turtles are considered local delicacy but illegal for hunting. to make sure she is safe, we stayed to make sure she went back to the ocean.


Then our guide grasped me to somewhere nearby, while Adley watching over the mother turtle. There was another bigger one! But she walked up and returned to the water again.


We returned to the patrol base and on our way, discovered another turtle trace.


Mother turtle was already gone but our guide managed to find another pile of eggs. There were 85 of them.


Our guide carefully put them in a plastic bag with gloves and we took them to the guarded hatching ground, by burning deep into the sand.


That was a fruitful night and we returned all wet for another cold water shower and good sleep.

有腳識自己行嘅地們香蕉

在往加勒比海岸尋訪全球其中一個最多靑海龜出生的沙灘Parismina的途中，我們遇上會過馬路的香蕉。


從哥多黎各San Jose坐2.5小時巴士到Siquirres,再轉車到Cano Blanca的路上兩旁滿是綿延的香蕉樹，不知有多少公頃，但車走了一小時仍是香蕉園。


香蕉全用藍色膠袋包裹，好像是從蕉樹開花起已被包住，可能是為了催生。


車行之處，怱見一香蕉工場，一串串香蕉懸掛其中，然後是Del Monte的大招牌及一條機場跑道，又是地們的。


路上行車不多，但巴士忽然停下。原來是讓香蕉過馬路。左右邊邊的果園被車路分隔，但路上有三、四處相連的架空路軌，讓整串的香蕉吊在上面，一批批的運往工場集中處理。而車行之時，工人便會攪起那路軌，像古堡入口的吊橋一樣，讓車倆通過。


從未見過這樣大型的香蕉園，但這可能只是供應全世界的其中一個香蕉基地。

Hot Spring in Colombia

After waking up in our host little farm (with a horse, a duck and a bunch of chickens) in Pereira, we made some arepa (corn cake), juice and played with the 3 months old energetic little black cat, we set off to Santa Rosa Termales.


(Note: termales is hot spring, but tamales is typical local food, corn flour dough wrapped by corn ear and steamed, with chicken and meat inside, taste and looks like Chinese rice dumpling).


We reached the bus terminal by bus, then found a van heading Santa Rosa de Cabal, an one hour scenic ride to the countryside. From somewhere near the market, we caught a chiva (amusement park kind of bus with long wooden bench seats and need to climb up from one side), which cost us COP$2500 each (HKD 12). .


The chiva drove pass the plaza as well, guess it would be easier to find from there. We just saw it on the street and ran to catch it.


After almost 45 minutes ride, passing a lot of hostels and restaurant promoting their chorizo santarosana, (which I really wanted to try) we arrived a termales, which looks like a theme park. Costing COP$30,000 each.


The driver told us the returning chiva will be 4pm and it was already 1pm. Wanting to find something cheaper, Adley insisted walking on. It was a wide rocky path uphill and after 15 minutes, we arrived a hotel complex with hotspring.


It cost us COP$40,000 (even more expensive) but we were attracted by the fact that we could pay credit card (with better rate than our ATM cash) and the termales got some very nice waterfalls of hot water faling to the pool!


We checked that there will be a return bus at 7pm, costing only COP$1,200@ back to Santa Rosa town and thought we could just soak in the pools for the whole afternoon! So, we entered!


The hot spring was wonderful! Though there was only one big pool for spa guests, it was wonderfully set next to the cool waterfall. And on the other side, another artificial waterfall that gave hot water. In addition, there were 3 others smaller pools for hotel guests only. I didn't know that and soaked in one of them and the staff told me apologetically that I should leave...errrr ok.


Those two waterfalls are really nice though, we could soak in the hot water, then get the refreshing waterfall shower for a change.


They got massage service and catering as well, some guests would be drinking cold beer, cola, icecream and having a head massage while soaking in the steaming hot pool.


We were a pair of poor backpacker with no money to enjoy such luxury. But, we went up to the source of the waterfall, which is really scenic. We also got some fresh cold water from the waterfall for drinking, which is equally refreshing. It was a 10 minutes mini hiking track but nice and quiet, with different kind of beautiful birds around.


Night fell. After soaking and resting in this little paradise of steam and heat for almost five hours, we caught the 7pm bus, occupied mostly by staffs. (Most locals came here by driving.)


The bus passed the town but not the central plaza. We were confused and waited till the last stop, however it was on the other side of the town of Santa Rosa. A taxi driver stopped us and told us that we better took a cab as it was dangerous to walk there at this time. We ignored his advise but walked rapidly across the valley. It was a long ten minutes walk, which felt like ages, but we managed to reach the main street safe and sound. We found a little shop that soldl chorizo with arepa. Our host in Pereira told us not to return without enjoying the sausages. And its the most famous chorizo in Columbia. It was very heavily marinated and rather salty. We managed to find a carnerceria and got some home to share with our couchsurfing host, Lina and her family.


Something interesting happened when we were in the small shop having chorizo con arepa, a young girl approached us, asked where we were from and said she wanted to show us something. She asked for my hand to tide a bracelet and asked me to make a wish before tiding. And said the wish will come true. A lot of south america normad were making those friendship knots to sell for money, but she seems to be friendly and I didn't know how to say no to her.


Then she asked, ' now you need to give me something, as exchange'. She wanted to give one to Adley too, which he refused. I was thinking to offer my single earring (which the other one was lost somewhere earlier) but Adley was quick in offering a bookmark from Ecuador and gave her a long beautiful description.


She smiled with thanks but folded to bookmark in her palm in no time! (oops! Sorry darling!)


Then a bunch of kids approached us selling some fruity ice in straw for COP$100@. We refused but they curiously surrounded us and wanted to know where we were from. We asked their names and wrote them the Chinese translation. They were crazy about traditional Chinese writing and request us to write on their arm like tatoo! Suddenly we were surrounded by them queueing up for the quick tatoo! It was so much fun.


Afterwards, we went elsewhere to eat grill pork in stick and a sauteed meatball with an egg inside. They were nice. It's a pity that we are short of cash to get some beer.


We caught a bus back to Pereira easily on the mainstreet and went home to grill the sausage with some potato, then went to salsa with Lina until middle of the night!


It was a salsa club with only salsa music and nothing else. We bought some aquardiente (Columbia alcohol with Anis, taste like herb or medicine and drink in a small shooter glass, straight) and local rum to get drunk and dance the night away!

Hotspring-ing in Oyacachi

Thanks to Carla our host in Quito, Ecuador, we knew a hot-spring near the city. It is in Oyacachi, a small village among mountains of over 3000 meters high. She said there are not many people going there. So we go.


Going there is not easy, Carla had learnt the hard way of going there by truck from a crossroad and it was not cheap (more than USD 10 one way). We searched on internet for cheaper way by taking public bus and there was only one bus per day supposedly starting from Cayamba (1.5 hour from we were) at 7am. That means we had to wake up very early.

on the crossroad to Cangahua, on the way to Cayambe,

So we woke up at 5am, took off at 5:30, 15 minutes walk to the bus station and got a bus to Cayambe at 6am. Seeing that we may miss the 7am bus, we took off a few kilometer before Cayambe, on a cross road to Cangahua and caught a bus into the smaller town Cangahua.


There we realized that the bus to Oyacachi took off actually at 8am on Sunday. Therefore we went with local people with that bus (which was cheaper, only USD 2.5 from Cangahua), to the hot-spring. On the way, there was beautiful scenery of the snow-capped mountain and fields. After two hours we were in the Oyacachi village.

It was Sunday, so there were many families going to the hot-spring for a day of dip. So did we but just for the morning because the public bus going back would leave at 2pm. There we had at least of three hours of hot-spring, which was quite enough for us. The weather was cool; we where among the green mountains with fog and cloud. The hot-spring was next to the river where people can fish trucha (trout). The entrance fee was cheap (only USD 3 each, the cheapest we had in South America so far).

There were many pools for the cloud and place for camping. We would have done that if we had enough time to plan (maybe we shall go next time). There was even a family doing barbecue there. It is a good and cheap resort for Sunday family activity.


After three hours of dip, we had some lunch and enjoyed the view around. Then we walked around the small village, where there was some sustainable tourism facilities, like local trout and cheese production. We bought a locally-made cheese. There was also artistic wood-carving showing the local talent. We were also introduced by the tourist information about a local trek, as part of the sustainable eco-tourism project, in which people can hire a guide for a two-day jungle trek or just one day hike without a guide. There are so much to do that our morning was not long enough to enjoy the nature and scenery.

the lovely calf we met in the village

We missed the village when we left, with the hope that one day we shall be back to enjoy it more.

Couchsurfing in Quito

Painted by Carla, very talented

After a night of comfortable stay in the hostel, we went to our first host in Ecuador. Carla lived in the northern part of the city Quito. She likes Japanese culture and speaks good English. Maria has a good time with her exchanging Japanese and its culture. It is our pleasure to meet an energetic lady like her. She helped us know Oyacachi the hot-spring where we had a good time. Her place was also convenient as it was near the transport hub to go northernly. We wish to keep in touch with her and one day hope she would come to Hong Kong.

our "couch", very comfortable indeed. Thank you.

Missing the animal sale in Otavalo, but an afternoon of handmade product market

Thanks to the bus operator, we missed Riobamba and went all the way to Quito after crossing the border into Ecuador. In the hostel of Quito on Friday we knew about the trip to Otavalo, which was famousack  for the Saturday market. However, from the hostel it costs USD25 per person with shared taxi. Luckily, our next host Carla was near to the bus station from which bus to there only cost USD 2. Therefore the next day we went to Otavalo immediately after first meeting Carla.

We would try to go early because it was said that an animal market opened from 6-10am. However, when we went to the northern terminal of Quito, there were many people and tourists queueing up for bus tickets and the bus. When we arrived Otavalo after two hours of bus journey, it was 11:30am and we just saw some people selling chicken. Therefore we went to the main plaza where handmade artesian products were sold. I was also looking forward to costume for marathon run.

There are many stores along the way, but not long later I was bored by the limited variety of souvenir. Some were even repetitive such as llama blankets and bags, wood carvings, knitting works etc. I like one headmask of knitting for running the marathon but it would be too hot. It was not cheap (USD10) too, so I dropped it reluctantly.

We also went to the central market to have lunch, we just found that roasted pig and tried it. The skin was crispy and the meat was a little salty. It should match well with beer. The young woman (called Anita) who sold us the dish was very curious of where we come from. With some English and we with some Spanish, we talked a little.

the ice-pop we tried

On the way back we bought a lot of vegetable and spice to make curry for Carla. This day became a touristy shopping day and we bought vegetable instead of handcraft.

Mistakenly in Quito, too early ...

We took the overnight bus from Trujillo to Piura of Peru. At 6:30 in the morning we were in Piura. With tired bodies out of overnight bus (though we could still sleep in the comfortable Cama bus, six hour was too short) to Loja, we dragged along the street to another bus company to catch a bus crossing the Peru-Ecuador border. In the three hours of hanging-out we had our breakfast in the bus station, cleaning ourselves up briefly. Maria had a good time shopping for food and fruit in the nearby market for our coming daytime bus journey. We later went to the same market to pay a shoe-maker for repairing my nearly-falling-apart hiking shoes.

9:30 we were on the bus crossing the border to Ecuador. When we arrived Loja in the early evening and we were greeted by a rainbow. What a good welcoming from a country less known to us. Loja was a small nice town with a European feel. Before the bus in the direction of Quito (but we supposed to take off in Riobamba and then Bano for the hotspring and the Volcano there) starting at 10pm, we had some time for dinner. Here like Ecuador and Peru, most restaurants served fried chicken or salty steak (asado as they said) and it was getting too boring for us. As we were a bit hungry and we just went to one family restaurant for a chicken menu (costing USD 2, here in Ecuador people spend US dollar, which was a problem fror us due to the high rate). The soup and the chicken rice were less salty as expected and tasted soothing.


We walked a little of the downtown at night. There was a European city gate which was also a gallery and restaurant. Then we went to the bus station for the bus.


Too bad, when we woke up, we were in Quito. The bus ticket that we paid (USD 13) actually was enough for Quito and we would be losing the value if we took off at middle. However, we missed the mountain and volcano; and went into a big city that we always want to avoid.

Too early in Quito, also too early in the morning. We took some time to find a less-expensive hostel. The first one was USD25 for two of us with private toilet, it was a little expensive and the next one we found was USD20 for two of us with shared toilet, wifi and shared kitchen. Then we started finding a couchsurfing host, or else we shall leave next morning due to the high cost of living.

Afterward we went to the downtown for some museum and church visits. At first we went to the central food market, where we bought shrimps and vegetables for our dinner, then for lunch we had roasted pork and juice. We also bought some cookies in a nearby bakery; they were so crispy. We kept eating by trying a maze cake with coffee. Then we went to the center of culture where there was some contemporary art exhibition and photo exhibition about events happened in Colombia. That took us a whole afternoon.


Before dark we went back to our hostel, where we made fried eggs with shrimp and zucchini with chocolate mousse for dessert. That ended a comfortable day in Quito

Ruins other than Inca : Chan Chan

Chan Chan is a much larger and earlier ruin site than Machu Picchu. It is composed of so many structures including palaces and temples of the Chimor empire which was later conquered by Inca. The site was still being evacuated. We took a mini-bus from Trujillo downtown to the site. As we were back to the Pacific coast, the sky we saw was the same cloudy gloomy as it was in Lima. The first thing we saw was the high sand walls standing out of the deserted land. We kept walking around outside the walled city and saw workers evacuating the inhabitant areas outside the wall. Walking back to the main wall city, we were amazed by the vast structures, including a pone inside, and the different patterns (fish, bird, stairs etc).

Then we visited the museum. Before that we walked on among the fields and had been warned by a passing-by tour guide about the ease of robbery in that area. Luckily we were safe walking on the short-cut. In the museum, there were English descriptions about the Chimor civilization: their class system and cosmic views. They believed that they were the descendants of the four stars: those from the brighter two were in higher classes of noble people; those from minor two starts were of the common people and slave. In the beginning of time the world was in complete darkness. There were four divine characters in confrontations, when the light was created. The two main characters were Rem (the order, represented by the moon) and opponent Ramar (the chaos, represented by central star of the constellation of Orion). The latter was crude and gross, the other three organized themselves against him. Rem illuminated the darkness and became the moon. The trio decided to create human and Ramar was against that, then the opposition between Ramar and Rem continued. With creation of human, for permanent presence of light, Rem created Han (the sun). The process of creating human occurred when Rem the Moon God sent his fertilizing liquid to Nii (sea) through the previously mentioned four stars. When Taicanamo, the founder of the dynasty of Chimor kingdom, came to the land from the sea, enlightenment occurred. He directed the immigrant from marine to the beaches on the Moche Valley, placed a stone representing Rem his lord and father. Chan Chan was founded; the cosmic order was defined and the Chimor dynasty began.

 After Chan Chan, we went to a Chimor temple near the Trujillo downtown. La Huaca Esmeralda contained better patterns on the walls that were not re-created as Chan Chan and showed better originality. We also saw the Peruvian hairless dogs, of which the body temperature is higher than normal dogs and therefore it was used traditionally as body-warmer for people with arthritis. We ended the Chimor journey with our first trial of Peruvian beer and less costly cheviche (after much diarrhea and flu in earlier part of Peru trip).