South America (Part 6) - The end of Peru and the long road to Ecuador (please no more buses)

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Ollantaytambo

Patrick last left the blog on July 24 having left Machu Picchu to arrive at Ollantaytambo. No sooner had we arrived at our hostel (Hostal Chaskawasi, booked for the fantastic view of the Ollantaytambo ruins from the rooftop, otherwise just an ok hostel) when the owner rushed us off to join her at a traditional Quecha (indigenous population of Peru) wedding. We were especially welcomed when she saw we had a big camera as apparently she wanted to gift the couple a photo album, so lots of pressure on me to take some good photos (especially when I´m still rubbish with the thing!). Although it did give me the excuse to be able to take lots of pictures of all the different ethnic costumes people were wearing without causing offence!

Well unfortunately we missed the actual ceremony but were invited to join them for the reception which was just up the road from the hostel in someone´s courtyard and to my horror we were seated on the main table with the couple (and the godparents and 4 other gringo´s). That just seemed like hospitality gone a bit too far! Well luckily one of the godparents spoke good English so was able to explain some of the tradition in the wedding day we were attending (the celebrations actually lasts 4 days!). We started with some quite good chicken soup (I think!) and then the pork came out. Well traditionally the couple and the godparents all get a leg each, which for a pig is a ridiculous size of meat to try and eat, I don´t think any of them even got a quarter of the way through it. Luckily our sizes were a little smaller and very good. Then came the tradition of giving money to the couple. I´ve seen a lot of cultures where money is given to the wedding couple, but nothing quite as public as this where the amount each guest gave the couple was announced to all the other guests over loudspeaker. I guess it was lucky the amounts we were giving seem like a lot compared to the locals (and very sceptically of me probably one of the reasons they liked having so many gringos there).

Then the alcohol started, starting with some yellow shot (kind of like tequila), and then some other weird shot that was probably like 90% proof of something, then luckily some beer, but followed closely by some corn Chicha. Chicha is a home made alcoholic brew made from corn, which unfortunately is chewed before being spat into a barrel and fermented. Needless to say we didn´t drink much of that! This was followed by the cranking up of the music and some frantic dancing by the couple and godparents which I was roped into, Patrick using the age old excuse of a broken arm to be able to sit there and laugh at me trying to keep up with the locals without running out of breath!

So having had a surprising and quite fun afternoon we decided to escape before having to try any more concoctions of alcohol and went and chilled out in the hostel.

The next morning we ventured to the ruins at Ollantaytambo, our reason for stopping off here rather than going straight back to Cusco from Machu Picchu. Ollantaytambo was actually an Inca administrative centre rather than a town and although the ruins are obviously not as grand as Machu Picchu, they are quite impressive rising up the hillside from the town in terraces. On the ground level there were also the remains of a very impressive irrigation system, which permeates all inca ruins and terraces, ending in fountains which are still flowing today.

After visiting the ruins we relaxed with a good $2 set lunch overlooking the main square before heading back to Cusco in a taxi which we got for $14 which was a tad expensive compared to the bus which would have cost half that, but a great price we thought for the 2 hour journey without having to faf around with buses (and another taxi the other end in Cusco).

Unfortunately that wasn´t the end of our travelling that day as we headed for the Cruz del Sur bus terminal in Cusco for our overnight bus to Nazca, which was another hair raising journey winding through the Andes. These aren´t quite as comfortable as the journeys in Argentina and Chile which are generally on straight roads. The only good thing about the journey was for some reason we thought it was going to be 3 hours longer than it actually was. However meaning we arrived into Nazca at 5am, which was a bit early to be knocking on hostel doors.

Nazca

However knock on hostel doors we did. Unfortunately our room wasn´t ready like it had been on numerous occasions getting off night buses, so we thought we´d try and find a travel agent to get on one of the early flights over the Nazca lines. Unfortunately the earliest we could get was 9.30am, so we wandered the few blocks into town and found a restaurant to have breakfast. The normal breakfast in South America is bread rolls with butter and jam. We´re really really bored with bread and jam but then we saw in this restaurant what the locals were eating and I think I´ll stick with the bread and jam! I don´t think I could really stomach a full meal of chicken with rice in the morning, even at $1!

So bread and jam over we went back to the travel agent for our transfer to the airport for our trip over the lines. As soon as we arrived at the airport we were ushered through the security (there were even metal detectors for this tiny airstrip) and into our 4 man plane (that´s including the pilots in the front!). Patrick didn´t look too convinced as we were taxi-ing down the runway in this little tin can, but the flight was actually surprisingly smooth.

So, the only reason that anyone comes to Nazca is to see the Nazca lines. The Nazca lines are a series of animal figures and geometric shapes drawn across some five hundred square kms of desert by the Nazcas who lived between 200AD and 800AD. No one really knows the meaning behind the lines, but they are very impressive none the less. The flight (with Alas Peruanas) flew over 14 of the main figures, pointed out by one of the pilots as we went. It was difficult to appreciate the size of these shapes, they ranged from 35 to 300 metres. But 2 of the shapes are next to the highway where there is an observation point, and only then looking at the size of the people and cars do you really appreciate how huge these things are. Well it was a long trip to just do this flight but probably was worth it.

To break up our bus journeys we thought we´d stay a night at Nazca which was probably a mistake as by 11am we were finished with the flight and wondering what to do with the rest of the day. We went back to the hostel to check into our room and then wandered into town. Nazca is currently undergoing major road work everywhere so unfortunately the town looks a bit of a dump right now, which is a huge difference to the other beautiful towns in Peru. So at the moment it doesn´t have a lot going for it but I hope that improves once the roads are done. After a Chinese lunch (there are an unbelievable amount of Chinese restaurants in Peru for some reason, all more just fast food though than exquisite meals) we decided to walk the 10 or so blocks down to Museo Didattico Antonini, the archaeological museum. Well we really shouldn´t have bothered as it really wasn´t a very good museum, unless of course you´re well into archaeology and the details of a dig. The only interesting thing was outside where they had a few reconstructions of some tombs of the indigenous population and also a map of all the Nazca lines. Otherwise a very disappointing hour and $6, but then again what else were we going to do! We did have quite a good lasagna that night and watched a fight in the Chinese restaurant opposite where the guy involved finally voluntarily got into a police car to be whisked away.

In the morning we boarded our bus (Cruz del Sur again, probably the most expensive but known as being one of the most comfortable and safest) for the supposed 6 hour journey to Lima. Luckily, we though, we´d nabbed the front seats upstairs for the trip which actually wasn´t the best plan for me as it meant I got to see the hair raising winding (again) journey ending with something resembling stock car racing as we came into Lima. I had to cover my eyes a few times as cars changed lanes in front of us without any regard for anything else round them. We even nearly had an accident with another Cruz del Sur vehicle. Something I´d rather not repeat and I was glad to finally get out of the bus after our 8 hour journey.

Lima

So on the evening of July 27th we arrived at our lovely hostel, La Casona Roja, in the Barranco area of Lima. The hostel has only been open for a few months so had that nice new feeling, and was a big hostel with comfy lounge area, bar and kitchen to use. Highly recommended. Anyway, that night we just went to grab some traditional Peruvian food at Dominos Pizza (!) and called it a night.

The next day the main aim was no not to see the sights of Lima, but to get an x-ray of Patrick´s arm and buy him a new camera (the old one got stolen in Buenos Aires, having only bought it in NZ), both of which we actually achieved. Thankfully again we had an English speaking doctor at the clinic down the road, and got Patrick´s x-ray for $55, relatively expensive compared to the other few places (his arm is healing but still not quite there yet). Unfortunately the camera was a tad more expensive but we´ve been searching for this camera (a Panasonic TS2/FT2, a waterproof one) for ages now so I´m really glad it´s now been found so we can stop going in every single electronic store we see! We did do some sightseeing on the way as we had to go to the Miraflores area (the posh area of Lima) to find these shops.

On the way back to the hostel we popped into a very cool traditional looking bar for a few beers and got chatting to Enrique and his girlfriend and 2 hours later ended up with a lunch invitation for the next day! Very odd but he was a nice guy so we accepted.

I´ll mention here that it was holiday weekend in Lima to celebrate independence day (the 189th year), so there were a lot of parades going on in town so the owner of the hostel actually suggested we not bother going into town to get stuck in the crowds. So we were quite happy the next day just to potter around in the morning before going to Enrique´s flat, back in the Miraflores area, for lunch. Enrique, it turns out, is quite high up in an electronic company in Lima, and even appeared as president or something or other of the companies magazine. Lunch was good but even better was afterwards we headed for this really posh restaurant for dessert. It was probably the poshest place we had been since we started travelling and was a very nice treat, especially given I didn´t have to freak out about the bill as he paid. Overall it was actually a very nice afternoon and quite unexpected.

The next day (the 30th) we did actually head into the historic centre of Lima for some sightseeing. Lima has a new transport system of a bus which has it´s own dedicated lane, kind of like the tube but obviously overground. Quite a clever system which we would learn later was copied from Quito. Lima was founded by the Spanish in 1535 so like all these South American cities was full of impressive squares and buildings. Through our bad planning we managed to completely miss the changing of the guards outside the President´s palace which was a shame, but at the time we were eating some dumplings in Chinatown! We tried to go visit the Museum of the Spanish Inquisition but the queue was enormous (remember it was independence weekend) and there were no tours in English anyway. So eventually we got bored (I´d dragged Patrick round all the churches I wanted to see!) and headed back to the hostel. We were heading out on an overnight bus (again) at 8pm so we just hung around the hostel and cooked some dinner before we left.

This time the overnight bus was to Trujillo. We managed to get downstairs seats this time so hopefully the effects of the winding roads would seem less, they kind of did, ish.

Trujillo

So again arriving early we went to find a hostel and this time could check in straight away, although we both slept ok this time so headed out to find out about tours. There are more ruins up this way, this time pre Inca ones which is the reason we stopped here. So after we worked out how we were getting out of Trujillo up to Ecuador and bought our bus ticket (yet another overnight bus), we headed to a travel agent and booked us in for an all day tour of the ruins.

The morning tour was out to the Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna. The complex was believed to be the capital for the Moche culture between 200 and 800 AD. The Huaca del Sol (Sun temple) has not yet been touched by the archaeologists (due to lack of funds, they are applying for UNESCO status which will bring more money) and on first sight frankly just looks like a pile of mud. But they began excavating the Huaca de la Luna (Moon temple) in 1991 and is really quite something. The moon temple actually consists of 5 different temples built on top of each other. When there was a flood or earthquake and one temple got damaged, they would fill it in and build the next temple on top of it, each temple was used for about 100 years. The building material were mud bricks but the most impressive thing was the carvings and the colours used on the carvings that the archaeologists have managed to preserve. They are still excavating the temple and the area surrounding it where they have found the dwellings of the Moche people. Seriously impressive and I expect will be worth seeing again when they have excavated more and when they have UNESCO status.

The afternoon tour wasn´t quite as exciting. It was to the Chan Chan complex which was the capital city of the Chimu empire which appeared in about 1100 AD (probably descending from the Moche people). Actually the complex is enormous and we only visited one of the Palaces (Nik An Palace), there were about 12 more I think but again a lot of it hasn´t been excavated yet. Nik An Palace was quite impressive but I think we were a bit tired by this point to be enthralled by it and a lot of it has been reconstructed which always puts me off a bit. Still, given the complex is quite old I guess it has to be appreciated. That night we visited a few bars but conked out quite early due to the early start.

We should have maybe planned a little better as the next day we found we didn´t really know what to do with ourselves given we had until 11pm to wait for our overnight bus. But we found the local cinema and watched Eclipse, which I really didn´t think was very good compared to the first 2 films. But it killed some time anyway and we spent the afternoon in various restaurants publishing the last blog. I again had eaten something dodgy somewhere and my stomach wasn´t the best so I really wasn´t looking forward to the journey ahead.

The nightmare begins

So we boarded our 11pm bus to Piura, in northern Peru and tried to sleep for the 6 hours. We arrived in Piura at 5am and got a taxi to the Loja International bus office where repeated banging on the door did nothing so ended up sitting on our backpacks outside for a while, together with another gringo. The reason for this was because we were going to catch the 9.30am bus up to Loja in Ecuador, which we´d researched was the best and quickest way to get over to Ecuador, rather than going up to the border at Tumbes, which was another 6 hours away and apparently a bit of a nightmare crossing. It was also better than the $70 direct bus touted by the Ormeno bus (from Trujillo to Guayaquil) which was a bit expensive given we finally did this journey for about $30 each. Finally at about 6.45am the security guard raised his head off the chairs and let us in, so we did manage to have a lie down on the chairs for a while. Finally we boarded the 9.30am bus and headed out for the 8 hour journey to Loja. To be fair the journey was ok, and the border crossing was unbelievably easy (2 little offices separated by a little bridge) and actually the scenery was quite amazing.

However not content with a mere 19 hours travelling, on our arrival in Loja we immediately booked a 4 hour bus journey up to Cuenca. Unfortunately now we were quite pushed for time so we needed to push on as we had to be in Quito for our Galapagos trip on August 9th. We finally arrived in Cuenca at midnight and had to wake up the hostel owners to get in. But thankfully we were there and although I haven´t really made it sound bad, it really was, and I really don´t want to be on another bus for a while thank you very much. Buses have to be the way to travel in South America as it´s too expensive to fly all the time, but the distances are quite large and most of it is through the Andes so unfortunately it´s not the most comfortable experience but hopefully that´s the end of our buses for a while. I hope.

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Photos

The Chicha bucket
Yes, mmmm.

The astronaut or owl man
My favourite! 35 Metres

The hummingbird
97 metres long

The hands and tree
50 metres and 70 metres respectively, compare that to the observation tower and the cars

Enrique´s dog
Even Patrick thought he was cute by the end of the afternoon!

Huaca del Sol
Yes, see just a mound of mud right now. A very big one though!

Huaca de la Luna
Here we can see the 4th and 3rd temple below

Welcome to Ecuador!
Taken from Peru!