Chan Chan

I did the Chan Chan yesterday, although that sounds delightful in a Moulin Rouge, Disney kind of way it is actually the site of Pre-Inca ruins dating back some 2000 years BC discovered on the outskirts of Trujillo. This I learned from my "Rough Guide", unfortunately the 5 hour tour didn´t supplement my knowledge.
This really wasn´t the fault of the Spanish speaking guide, occasionally she would explain some of what I was looking at in English. No, it was down to me being in the kind of mood where my mind wanders. I do this quite a lot, I often say "sorry I wasn´t listening can you repeat that". Obviously in my native tongue it´s easier to zone back in. However this is difficult when the person I´m "zoning into" is talking about ancient ruins, temples, rituals and all in Spanish. The guide seemed bored at times, I would be too if I was giving a tour for the 300th time or something.
I thought the tour bus taking us from one site to the next was on a metre, we dashed from one ruin to the next, we were literally running through ruins. Okay maybe that isn´t completely true, but everytime I looked up it was time to move on.
After a temple, a museum and a place I now realise I don´t actually know what it is, it was time for the final stop. By then I was just going with the flow, not too concerned what the next stop would be.
Ultimately I was surprised on the excursion billed as "your chance to visit the ancient ruins of Chan Chan", that the final stop was the beach. There were no ruins in sight, but I did see the cuious sight of a woman carrying a six foot pole with bags of candy floss attached. I suppose this is the British cultural equivalent of Hadrian´s Wall and Blackpool in one afternoon.
The lesson learned? If going to an ancient archeological site in Peru take a swimsuit.