A run of bad luck, but a fresh start in Peru

South America » Peru » Lambayeque » Chiclayo
March 30th 2007

Published: March 30th 2007

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Elaine Struthers

Riikka and me in the Jungle

Despite the bag fiasco, Riikka and I were determined to carry on enjoying ourselves, so we took a day trip into the jungle near Puyo with guide Patricio to see the flora and fauna and visit an indigenous community. After a flat tyre and some injuries from near-miss falls we were beginning to feel a bit jinxed so managed to arrange a “cleansing” by the Shamen in the local community. A very interesting experience, involving cigarette smoke, stones, magic leaves, special perfume and lots of chanting. Unfortunately, we seem to have got a shortened version (without the guinea pig “x-rays”) and despite the Shamen’s claims that the negative engeries (lots apparently!) had been eliminated, and that we would get our bags back in 3-4 days, the next few days weren’t the best - and we’re still waiting for the bags!

So the delights of the next few days included:

Terrible weather for the first half of the Devil’s Nose train ride, which isn’t the best when you don’t have proper warm clothes or wet weather gear and are going to be sitting on the roof.

A extra 10 hr round trip (plus overnight stay in the

Up on the roof

Kitted out in the latest outdoor gear...on the roof of a train...at dawn...in the rain. Were we mad?

middle) as in my newfound paranoia of losing anything else I hid some things in my hotel room in Puyo, in fact hid them so well I forgot I had done this, and had to go back for them.

Camera problems

A chest infection.

A terrible hotel in Loja, thanks to the taxi driver dropping me off in the wrong street in the middle of the night and me being too knackered to start wandering around looking for another taxi. (By this time I was on my ownsome, having said goodbye to Riikka in Cuenca as she needed to head back to Quito.)

A missed bus to Peru as the woman at the office in Catacocha gave me the wrong information, later sent me off in a taxi on a wild goosechase to try to catch the bus, and then had conveniently disappeared by the time I was back in the office and on the warpath.

BUT

Somehow everything changed when I reached Peru.

The unplanned night-time border crossing was smoother than expected (although a bit slow thanks to the sleeping customs officials and couple of middle-aged Germans who couldn’t speak Spanish

Catacocha 1

Catacocha, with viewpoint "Mirador de Shiriculapo" - apparently a local lovers' leap - in the background. My bus to Peru would have been passing by around now. Grrrr!

or English and were struggling to fill in the necessary forms - lots of pointing and hand signals here as my German amounts to the numbers 1-10 and “I am drunk”)

I stayed in a very friendly hotel in Chiclayo, from where I did some more much-needed clothes shopping and ventured to Tucume (Valley of the pyramids) and a couple of other museums. The highlight of the museums had to be the fascinating Museo de las Tumbas Reales de Sipan, where the findings of the first scientific excavation of a tomb of its kind (i.e. the first one which hasn't already been looted of its gold by the Spanish or more recent bounty seekers) are on display. Funnily enough I bumped into the Germans again there. This time they were with a dutch couple who were able to translate!

The next evening I took an overnight bus down the coast to Lima (a very nice bus and, taking no chances, I even paid the extra Â£4 to upgrade to first class). From there I was going to start the organised part of my trip. And, despite my initial reservations about being confined to a group instead of travelling