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August 10, 2003
Huancayo - Peru
Hola, from Peru,
Have finally put the last of my Galapagas photos ( yes there´s more !) and Otavalo ones on the web. Haven´t found anywhere to download the next lot of photos, you´ll be relieved to hear. Cusco is the next likely spot , so you may get to see them in 2 weeks ´ish.
Since Quito I´ve headed ever southwards, spent awhile at Banos little town in the shaddow of the most active volcano in Ecuador, Tunguarahua. Wasn´t too worried as met the local guy whóse job it was to monitor it´s activity daily and found out from him all was quiet and i was staying in the safest part of town - well away from the river.
Then went to do the Devils nose train ride - this time it was a proper train with 5 carriages and hundreds of tourists sitting on the roof. Spectacular scenery and some excitement when one carriage derailed on a bend with a steep drop off down into the valley below. They managed to re rail that one and the four others too with most people still sitting on the roof.
Back to the safety of the buses and down to Cuenca before spending a few days chilling out in a hammock in Vilcabamba up in the hills. It was then time for the crossing into Peru. This turned out to be so easy , a 9 hour bus ride direct from Loja Ecuador to Piura, Peru. Quite a change going from the green hills of Ecuador to the flat dessert of northern Peru.
Quickly left Piura to travel south on the dead straight road through the sand dunes down to Chiclayo to see the pre-inca sites around. Of course they´d done their building out of adobe bricks in those days so the pyramids at Tucume looked more like mud hills. Still had the whole site to myself for the afternoon.
Next stop Trujillo, a town with brightly coloured colonial buildings, for more adobe pre-inca sites, Chan Chan - largest walled city, Huaca (pyramid) de la Luna - which is still being unearthed from the under the sand so is well preserved with clearly defined bricks and even paintings.
From here it was an early morning start 5am to try to catch a bus to connect with another across to Huaraz in the Cordilla Blanca via the cañon del pato. Me and 2 other girls got on the bus which then proceeded to crawl down the street for over half an hour. We soon wised upto what they were doing, they´d rev the engine and move alittle to convince people that they were just about to leave and so encourage them to get on. Needless to say the 8am connection was missed.
2 of us decided to go the next day so went to the next town to escape the smell of fish - plus our guide books had said it wasn´t a safe place to stay overnight. So made the bus the next day and had a spectacular 8 hour ride along a dirt track through narrow gorges with amazing rock formation.
With the change from 4m to over 3000m altitude it was time for a lazy day in Huaraz acclimitising followed by several hectic days to Chavin de Huantar (more pre-inca ruins) , walks around Lagunas de llanganuco and Laguna paron both amazing glacier lakes with snow capped peaks all around. Left my travelling partner in Huaraz to contiue to Lima. Celebrated our sucessful week with a Cuy (Guinea Pig) and Alpaca dinner , for those of you who had Guinea pigs as pets I won´t go into any more details...
Lima was hectic and covered in grey mist all day. I ventured from my quiet suburb of Miraflores to the centre, risking my life everytime i stepped into a cab. Became very picky as to the cabs i used - anything that looked as is it should be on the scap heap (there were lots of these) was ignored.
So left the bustle of Lima yesterday to come to here to Huancayo back up in the mountains - where again I have grey skies and rain too and it´s cold! Sunday market tomorrow before train ride to the next big town 5 or 6 hours away, which hopefully will still run after this rain.
Enjoy the sun I keep reading about on the BBC news page....
Hasta luega, Hazel.
Posted by hairymary at August 10, 2003 10:44 AM
Comments
Hi Hazel,
I live in LA, but was born in Lima, Peru. Every year I go visit my family for Xmas. I take advantage of my short stay to visit little towns. This year I am planning on visiting Huaraz or Huancayo. I'm not sure which one....what do you suggest since you seem to be a great traveler!
Posted by: Cecilia at October 26, 2003 01:37 AM
hi cecilia are u a heartbreaker i work with a lady from peru called lorena she is as mad as a buscuit are they all like that from peru
Posted by: pete at July 27, 2004 10:29 AM
hi cecilia are u a heartbreaker i work with a lady from peru called lorena she is as mad as a buscuit are they all like that from peru
Posted by: pete at July 27, 2004 10:30 AM