Blogs from Cajamarca, Peru, South America

From Cusco, I directly went to the North of Peru, where I had found a volunteering opportunity to work in a coffee plantation. I was thinking of stopping halfway to visit another place in Peru, but as the trek to Machu Picchu took me longer than expected, I took 2 different buses to arrive in Jaen. Peru is a big country, so it took me 44 hours in total to arrive at the coffee plantation. The first bus ride was quite an experience as I got to sit in the front next to the bus driver (there wasn’t any other seats available…). So, I could see how bus system in Peru (or at least this bus company) is like a big mafia: we were often stopping to take other passengers without proper tickets, who were paying ... read more

Vilcabamba, Ecuador...Ron Hello, folks! We are over the border now, in Ecuador, on our way to our eventual meeting with an airplane on Aug. 28th to carry us over the Pacific to the Galapagos! We flew out of Iquitos on thursday afternoon (Aug 15th), my desire to take another boat from Iquitos this time up river to Yurimaguas, having been out voted in favor of flying to Tarapoto, which is about a few hours past yurimaguas by bus. Tarapoto turned out to be pleasant and we stayed there 2 days at the El Mirador, which is how The Book describes it, although the rooms in the annex are more expensive than the older rooms. The desayuno, was wonderful, with a thermos of coffee, eggs, cheese and pan, along with fresh juice, too. All served on the ... read more

20.–24. mars 2012 Cajamarca. Som avslutning på året vårt som bosatte i Lima, er vi nå på en 6-7 ukers tur nordover i Peru og Ecuador som ryggsekkturister. Reiseruta er grovplanlagt. Vi har ikke bestemt akkurat hvor vi vil stoppe opp eller hvor mange dager en stopp vil ta. Det eneste vi vet sikkert, er at vi må tilbake til Lima for å fly hjem i begynnelsen av mai. Eventyret startet hjemmefra i Lima kl 03:00 for å nå flyet til Cajamarca kl. 05:10 (med LCPeru). Cajamarca ligger oppe i fjellene nord i Peru. Kvelden før hadde vi bestilt rom på hotell Laguna Seca (www.lagunaseca.com.pe), 7 km utenfor byen. Dette er et spahotell med varme kilder og ligger ca. 1 km fra Los Baños del Inca, det berømte badet til den siste incakongen, Atahualpa. ... read more

Après Copacabana et le lac Titicaca côté Bolivien, j'ai fait un long voyage pour me rendre de Copacabana à la frontière Pérouvienne, puis Puno, Arequipa, Lima et finalement, Cajamarca, et ce, sans arrêt dans ces villes, sinon le temps d'attendre mon prochain autobus. Soit, ce fût plutôt long. Pour l'occasion, je me suis offert la meilleure compagnie d'autobus de Pérou, Cruz del Sur, qui offre le meilleur service et confort, incluant même du wifi à bord de ces autobus. Quoi que la connexion fût plutôt mauvaise, j'ai du me résigner à ne pas en faire usage... Avant le départ, on vous filme à votre siège et vous demande gentiment de regarder la caméra pour quelques secondes, question sécurité.. En cours de chemin, on joue même au bingo.. idée d'occuper les passager un certain temps et de ... read more

South American Wanderings We left Galapagos a month ago now, semester ended, visas expired and we were sent flying back to Quito where the Andean climate was crisp and cold and beautiful…such a change from the humid sea level of the islands. Sad to leave but the time was right to move as I suspected I´d feel. After leaving we spent a week at the home of one of my teachers about an hour out of Quito. A beautiful German woman called Judith with a big mud brick home, horses, chooks, children. We spent our time debriefing about uni, discussing conservation and planning and dreaming future research ideas. Riding horses in the golden light of the late afternoons, cooking delicious food. One day we climbed to the first refuge of Cotopaxi mountain, Ecuador's highest volcano…at ... read more