El camino real: Road trip @ Parque Nor Yauyos Lochas


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South America » Peru » Lima » Cañete
December 31st 2010
Published: January 2nd 2011
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Hello my dear !

Wednesday 29th we left LIMA at 8.30am for a 3-days-road trip to the Parque Nor Yauyos.
Welcome to the wild andean area !

Team:
- Mateo, el guia/piloto. Ready to explore the smallest parcel of the parque and play "je viens dormir chez vous" in his typical Reumaux-esque style !!
- Laurent, aka Lorenzo, el gringo. Ready to follow any directions and discover the far side of Perù.
- The ride, a 89´Lada 2104. Ready to demonstrate the abilities of the sovietic engineering

Destination:
- 1st stop in Yauyos, the main city of the state. About 250km from Lima
- 2nd stop: Where our ride will bring us

To make sure we will spend most of the time in the Parque, we set the time of departure at 8.30.
The luggages are ready, we bring several jackets and sleeping bags, as well as flip-flops and swimsuit. Gods knows what Mateo has in mind and what kind of weather we will face. In both case I am a bit concerned. I know this guy can be very pushy when it comes to the "wild&roots" experiences and I know that Peru can be damn cold in the Andes. Can´t we stay on the beach at Punta Rocas ???
Driving to the South on the Panamericana until the city of Imperial, everything goes smoothly. The sun is burning, the Lada is snoring, the team is starving. We soon stop for a plate of chicharon and we refill the tank of the car, and 3 plastic bottles of 2,5L each to make sure we won´t be short of gasoline. Well, we are not sure there will be a petrol station further on the road... The website said this area of the parque got less than 500 tourists last year.

Imperial is the point where we leave the Panamericana to enter the countryside, after about 130km.
The landscape already starts to change dramatically. We are surrounded by dunes. This lasts about 30min until we reach the Rio Caniente and the Andes landscape. It is just unbelievable. The road starts in the valley, with mountains all-around and the river next to us. It is a mix of huge rocks, dry soils and big plantations (cactus, bamboos, ..). Very strange.

The Lada is in perfect shape, we drive until Yauyos without any sign of troubles or breakdown. And the seats reveal a comfort you couldnt imagine. Some said the car wouldnt reach Yauyos. They were far from the truth... Yauyos was just a training.
So, Yauyos. The "capital" of the state. Not that easy to reach. This is basically a pueblo of 1000 inhabitants with 1 hotel and 2 bodegas on the main place (kind of restaurants) and some small night-shops-like. You can easily imagine there is not much to do...
Anyhow we found THE hotel of the town and got a room. 10soles/bed, with shared bathroom and cold-water. But when I say cold, it is cold. Acceptable in summer, a bit less when it max 10degres outside. At 8.00pm we have finished dinner (in the only opened bodega) and discussed the tenant. This is here the ultimate expression of simplicity. One dish available (chicken/rice/fries/salad), one cerveza. (For Ondrej, a 650ml beer costs less than 1USD).
No pub around... well, let´s go to bed !!

30th of December, wake up at 7.00am to further explore the Parque. Because up to now, we are not in the parque !! The road is more and more narrow. There is no way to cross a car without stopping on the side, without hurting a rock and without falling in the ravin... We got some sweats when came a bus, and then a truck in a pretty well hidden curve. But again, the brakes of the Lada were simply amazing. Man, this car is surprising me !

After 3h, we reach the pueblo of Huancaya. Despite the cute little church and plaza, the city itself is not very exciting, the best is the surrounding. Waterfalls and so. We struggle to find a bodega able to feed us. Most of the places are out of food, only one can serve. It is fried chicken or fried meat. And it comes with rice again.
Now it is time to go for the real trip, and go out of the beaten paths. And the paved roads !
So we start climbing the mountains. And the vegetation is just unbelievable. The ground is very dry soil, it looks like we are in Africa !! But the mountain around are very green and rocky. It sometimes feels like New-Zealand !! We seriously go hrough many various landscapes, and we dont know where we are: Ireland, Alpes, Kenya, ..
The roads are just mad. On the edge of the cliffs and moutain, made of sand and stones, but not enough to stop our russian delight.
Mateo 1st thought we would stop at Huncaya, but we decided to go to Vilca and stay there overnight.

Vilca: A pueblo of 250 inhabitants. The end of the world. Totally hidden in the valley. At 3800m of altitude.
We do not know what to expect. But a guy told us we can find an hotel there. When we arrive, we are basically the only car ! And the main plaza is pretty easy to find.
The hotel is actually the 1st floor of the only one store. It consists of 5 beds and 2 broken windows. Dont even ask about cold water because there is no water !! Heater or chimney ? you must be joking guys !! No watertap in the house, the source is the river !! Now I feel like experiencing the really tough life of andean people.
We meet Percy, a very cool guy. He wants to know everything about Europe !! And he has many ideas for us for businesses in Perù. Example: buying a cow, roughly 1000USD. With a price of 7USD/kg, I could be rich !
After some beers with Percy, we go for dinner in the only place opened (owned by the same owner of the only store and the only hotel). Man, the place is soooo cold ! I wear 1 jumper and 2 big jackets ans still I am shaking like I have Parkinson. Dont ask for the menu, today is sopas & truchas and that s it !! At 8pm, dinner is over. The lady simply pushed us out. Basically it is time to sleep here. With 6 layers, I feel quite ok to fight the cold for the night.

December 31st. Waking up in Vilca is totally surnatural. The town is empty, only 3 sheeps and a pig are passing by. We start the day with a mate de coca (tea of coca leaves) to warm up and then we go to a laguna for a little hike. We visit some places, loose our eyes on the landscape and finally drive back to Lima for the NYE.

Well, I was obviously impressed by this trip, and for many reasons:
- the life of people there is just crazy. There is no phone, often no running water and for sure no heater ! Distances between villages are out of reach for normal people. It feels like the countryside in Europe some 50 years ago. Only Poland gave me the same feeling.
- we drove from 0m to 3800m "a flanc de coteaux" on spectacular scenic views
- I slept and ate in places that I would have never considered without Mateo. It was just unbelievable.
- Forget everything you hear about LADA. The car was perfect all the way. Even at 3800m, it would start. And we enjoyed super tough roads with a good pace, without loosing traction or ground clearance. Roughly 700km in total, a perfect ride. I am really impressed.




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10th January 2011

Bonne Année et....
Bientôt 1 an de plus au compteur

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