Lots to do in Peru

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After the Galapagos Islands, I headed south through Ecuador staying in Cuenca for a week to learn Spanish, however I picked up a stomach bug the day before I was to start my first lesson! which made the whole experience even harder trying to study for 4 hours every morning and then returning home feeling shattered! From there I went to a place called Vilcabamba for a couple of days and then it was onto Peru!
I wanted to visit a place in northern Peru called Chachapoyas, a small town that is difficult to reach to say the least! What an adventure it was getting there I can say. Left Vilcabamba on Sunday morning to a place called Zumba, it took 5 hours of beautiful scenery in the National Park of Podocarpus. Arrived in Zumba ready to catch a colectivo, an open sided bus, to La Balsa, on the border of Peru. Met a French couple in the square of Zumba, us gringo´s stand out a mile and the locals all stare at you like they have never seen one before! The colectivo took 1.5hrs to travel approximately 10km! So you can imagine how rough and slow this journey was but it was a fantastic experience, you could reach out and touch the plants growing at the side of the road and look down at the 1-2000 metre drop you have if the driver mis judges the road! Had to go through a military checkpoint and fill in some details whilst armed soldiers watched your every move (they asked me what my profession was and I told them I was a computer! they didnt seem surprised!). Reached La Balsa, filled in a leaving form in Ecuador, walked across the bridge and I was in Peru! Hooray!! My second country in South America!
Went to the immigration and Poilce office´s there, very straight forward and whole thing took less than 30 minutes. Caught a taxi with the French couple to the nearest town in Northern Peru called San Ignacio. We were getting on very well by this point and having many laughs at the whole experience. There was 4 of us in the back of this old beaten car and 2 in the front, the other passenger in the back of the taxi was Carlos, a Peruvian DJ who works in a place called Jaen and had been to Ecuador for promotional activities for the radio station he works for. After an hour of very rough terrain and getting a serious ache in the rear, we stopped to pick up another passenger and her child! Couldn´t beleive that they could or would squeeze any more people in but here its either walk for 2 hours or sit on someone´s lap (the old man in the front seat seemed very pleased to have a young attractive woman on his lap!)? So now there were 8! Another hour and half and we arrived in San Ignacio.
Tried to catch the last bus to Jaen but it was full, so the French couple, Carlos and I found a place to stay for the night and relax. Woke up early next morning and caught a mini bus to Jean, 2.5hrs of rough terrain again, 18 of us packed into a tiny bus. Arrived in Jaen about 9.30am and it was hot, very hot. Carlos had offered to show us around the radio station as the next bus to Badia Grande didnt leave until 4pm. We dropped our bags at his apartment, had breakfast and then went to the radio station. We got taken around the whole place and introduced to everyone that works there, it was really cool and the French woman, Anne-Sophie actually spoke on the radio with Carlos for about 5mins about her experiences in South America so far (in Spanish, as her Spanish is excellent!). Went to a restaurant with Carlos and a friend from the radio station, my first taste of Peruvian Ceviche! Well, it´s very lemony to say the least but we had a real feast. Carlos then took us to the local park and zoo and then we had to return to the bus terminal for the next part of our trip.
There was much confusion about which bus, mini bus, taxi to catch, in the end we paid for a taxi to take us to Badia Grande where we were told we could catch a bus direct to Chachapoyas. Arrived in Badia Grande, a smallish town, but no buses were running, it was too late! Met an old Irish woman at the same taxi rank who also wanted to go near Chachapoyas and we negotiated a price with the driver to take the 4 of us. The Irish woman was called Irene, a nun from a local church in Lamud who had been living there for the past 25 years doing missionary work! Finally I had someone who I could speak fluent English with, although it was mainly about religion and "the bishop did this and the bishop said that" etc. but it was very pleasant and she knew alot about the area and where to eat and see. The journey took 1.5hrs to the first town, by this time it was about 7pm and dark, the taxi driver didnt want to go the extra 1.5hrs to Chachapoyas that we had paid him for already. We were just sitting there in his cab whilst he looked for another taxi to take us but no-one wanted too. We were getting a little agitated but Irene said for her to deal with the situation, I mean, who´s going to rip off an old lady right? So we left it to her and bit our toungues, although I wouldnt know what to say, not in Spanish anyway! She managed to persuade him to take us after 30 mins of just sitting there!
45mins later and Irene was getting off for her pick up to the "nunnery". Another man jumped in the cab and we were going to Chachapoyas, hopefully? The road was rough and it was pitch black, we couldn´t see anyone or anything, I was a little on edge, not knowing if they were going to stop somewhere and rob us, probably just me being paranoid, coming from the UK and thinking everyone are after something? (only kidding you Brits!)
So after another 45mins or so we finally arrived in Chachapoyas on top of a mountain, with hundreds of people in the main square with live music on stage playing! It was very welcoming (although they weren´t there for us I must admit!), it had a really good feeling in the square and the people were happy and friendly. At last after 2 full days of various transportation we had arrived at our destination in good spirits! Found a lovely hostal, went for some food and was informed that we had arrived at the 400th birthday celebration of Chachapoyas!! How about that for a finale? We listened to the music and then watched the firework display at midnight, perfect!
Chachapoyas and the surrounding area is an amazing place. Decided to do a 4 day organised tour with the French couple. We had a guide called Jesus who spoke very little English so I really had to learn new words quickly.
Day 1 we went to a place called Lamud about 1.5hrs from Chachapoyas. Here we visited one of the largest caves in Peru, Cavernas de Quiocta, with a shaman ritual to start with to warn off evils spirits (thats what I think anyway). The cave was only discovered 6 years ago, it was huge with remnants of previous people that had lived there.
Afterwards we then went to Karajia which is a mountain face with carved statues of people made by the Chachapoyans 400 years ago or so. They are still debating the purpose of these statues.
We then headed towards Valle Belen, a beautiful valley full of horses and cattle surrounded by mountains in every direction. We stayed in a very rustic cabin but it was stunning. There were no other people around, we had the whole place to ourselves. In the evening we had a fire outside and sat round telling stories (in Spanish of course) and drinking Licorice de Leche (whatever that is?), it was sweet and very nice. Then Jesus pulled out a bag of coca leaves which he explained is used for spiritual times in special places, and this was one of them. So we all grabbed a handful and stuffed them in our mouths and started to chew. The taste was not great,he also had a pot of something which he explained is a catalyst to help the absorption. We all chewed for 15 mins but by then the taste was horrible and so we spat it out. I did feel a bit more lively but I think that was moer the alcohol than the coca leaves (ps It is not illegal to chew the leaves in Peru).
Day 2 and we left early for Gran Vilaya, which took about 6 hours of walking through beautiful scenery. It was quite hard trekking but the weather was good for us the whole trip. We arrived at a family home where we were to stay the night. It had a large veranda overlooking mountains and had a small garden with chickens running around. For dinner we had a choice, tinned fish or chicken? We chose the chicken thinking it would be fresher and it was. The next thing we heard were the chickens being chased around the garden by the mother and father of the family. The dog also got a taste as it appeared from the bushes with feathers in its mouth. So the chicken was very fresh that night and tasted good.
Day 3 and we left on mule, which was interesting, not having ridden much, we had a 4.5 hour journey ahead of us. I called mine ´Rover´as it was old and slow, but very competitive (Im not saying the Rover car company was ever competitive!). All the mules were racing with each other not to be last, I think because they were whipped by a local boy who was walking with us the whole way to take the mules back home when we were finished. It was a bit painful sitting on the mule for so long but I felt more sorry for the mules who must have a very hard life, but they are so strong and are able to climb the steepest of mountains in any condtion. We stopped on the way to see various sites that have only just been found, normally by a local farmer who cuts down trees to grow crops and then finds stones in the shape of circles. They have not even been examined or researched yet so there significance is still debatable. That night we stayed in a place called Maria, 30 mins away from Kuelap, our last place to visit the following day.
Not knowing too much about Kuelap, I was amazed by the size of it. At 3200 metres high, this fortress has walls of over 20m high and is 500m long. It housed some 3000 people at one time and predates the Incas. Jesus, our guide, sometimes turned a blind eye and allowed us to go places where other tourists were not. We sat on top of the most northern point of Kuelap, the viewpoint and had astounding views of the area, it really gave us an insight into how difficult it was for people to invade this fortress (fortaleza). We were also able to see recent findings that are still being excavated but we were soon told that we shouldn´t be there.
After 2 hours of visiting Kuelap we had finished and had another decision to make; take a taxi to the nearby town of Tingo which takes 2 hours or walk to Tingo taking approximately 2.5 hours? The French couple were tired from the previous days riding so they chose the taxi, but I thought I would like to walk and see more of this amazing place. So Jesus and me set off hoping deep down to get to Tingo before the others. It was a quick pace and all down hill, and the sun was getting hotter by the minute. We only had a couple of mandarins and some Oreo biscuits to eat but plenty of water. After 1 hour we were feeling confident that we were making good progress and could beat them to Tingo. After 2 hours and 15 mins of breathtaking scenery we arrived in Tingo only to see the French couple sitting in the restaurant drinking. It was a bit of a dissapointment but we had a great day and we only had to return to Chachapoyas for a hot shower before we took the overnight bus to Chiclayo.

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Comments

[Liz]

All this and no Inca Kola, yet! Can't blaim you, coca tea tastes much better.