Blogs from Amazonas, Peru, South America - page 14

I turned up into the mountains once again, heading for the little-known or at least lesser-known-than-Machu-Picchu ruins of Kuelap, ancient capital of the Cloud Warriors. The main town in the region is called Chachapoyas - my final choice as my favorite town in Perú. This decision was made as I groggily opened my eyes to a 5am entrance into the downtown area - and thought I was back in Cusco! The buildings are the same gleaming white with elaborate wooden balconies all along the second floors. Only, as I quickly realized, this town is much too small and friendly to be Cusco... When I got off the bus I saw the one other gringo asking advice of a bus station man. I inserted myself into the conversation, and we walked downtown together (after genuinely enthusiastic greetings, ... read more

Tatatam, qui l'aurait cru lustucru? Salut tous les gens!! Et voilou je me lance à mon tour dans un blog, après moultes réflexions car ce n'est pas rien quand même!! Alors je tiens à vous prévenir que je ne suis pas sûre de tenir le coup, mais je vais essayer! C'est vrai que c'est une chouette idée, autant pour moi que pour vous, alors c'est parti! Enfin ca fait 2 mois que je suis partie déjà... Je vous évite le résumé de ce qui s'est passé jusque là hein...? Donc sur la route de l'Equateur (j'espère y arriver un jour...hi), me voilou à Chachapoyas, en pleines montagnes nord-péruviennes. Car voilà, je voulais au départ tout simplement remonter la côte jusqu'à la frontière, mais après une semaine passée à Huanchaco me saisi un besoin de nature ... read more

We made it to Peru! We´ve figured out by now that pretty much the only way to travel in Peru is at night. Any trip longer that 7 hours usually only goes at night. We made our way easily in the middle of the night through Ecuador to Peru. Spent a night here and there until we got to the central north area, a town called Chachapoya. We stayed in a hotel right on the main plaza- pretty much every main plaza in every town in called "Plaza del Armas." We planned a tour to the ruins of Quelap the next day. Our day began about 7 in the morning with a 3 hour ride in a taxi winding through the edge of mountains on a small dirt road. Mind you, in many spots the road ... read more

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 ... read more

I got a room at El Rey hotel in La Merced, a small jungle city in the eastern foothills of the Andes mountains. At 3:30am, after a quick nap under a slow moving ceiling fan followed by a refreshingly cold shower, I grabbed my backpack and hopped on a motor-taxi to the truck stop by the river. Maybe I should have been nervous about traveling alone, especially as a young American female now surrounded by rugged looking, 40-something Peruvian men wielding machetes, but I was too excited to feel any other emotion. Next I was being ushered into the tarp covered trunk of a pick up truck by a small,, dark-eyed man chattering things that could have been complete nonsense. I sat down on the wooden plank over two buckets that would be my seat for ... read more