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Published: August 23rd 2007
Traffic Jam
This is what made our drive 17+ hours longThe places I went on my four day weekend are not those normally visited by tourists; in fact, TravelBlog doesn't even have them listed as cities in Peru.
The first day of our trip, we left Lima at 8am and headed up towards the Andes. We heard there was a roadblockage caused by a post-earthquake (terremoto) landslide, so we stopped in a little town along the way, Chosica, to walk around (see picture). About twenty minutes up the road we were stopped by traffic... for 12+ hours. We would move in 15 minute spurts; 15 minutes of driving, 1 hour and 15 minutes of waiting. Everyone in all of the cars just came out and hung out on the roads, talking and meeting other travelers. The views of the Andes were AWESOME, but the extreme heat followed by extreme cold as soon as the sun set was not so awesome. And, like houses, the bus didn't have heating or air.
We finally reached Tarma, our first destination, at 2:30am. Our beds had rubber bags filled with hot water in them, so I was finally able to warm up and get a good night's sleep. We left early the next
Chillin
Peruvians hanging out on the side of the road; what better time to meet new people than in the middle of a traffic jam? morning to head to a small town in the jungle; the altitude change was something like 4500 m to sea level in a little over an hour! We got to Pichanki, had a quick lunch of tamales (not a fan), then went to a local grade school to hear about the school dynamic and talk to students. It was enlightening to see the similarities and differences in problems students face. Most students live alone, supported monetarily by their parents, from age 6 because farmers can't drive 2+ hours to school and back daily.
After that meeting we went to another jungle town, Satipo, where we were to spend the night. There was a protest in the central square over some land redistricting, but it was not at all violent and was pretty interesting to watch. Our hotel was pretty nice and had hot water!! (very uncommon) I did, however, manage to get 7 mosquito bites even though I put on bug spray with DEET at least three times, sigh.
The next morning we went back to Satipo and had an AMAZING feast of a lunch, complete with fish, potatoes, yuca, avocado, tomatoes, some rodent meat (it was pretty
Andes
Gorgeous view of the Andes during the traffic jam delicious), blue corn juice, some other fruit juice (tasted kinda like pineapple), and lots of tasty dips. We then went to a farm to meet with a fruit farmer which required a bus ride, boat ride, and car ride. It was soo interesting to hear how they farm and how things like irrigation are really cutting edge technology for Amazonia farmers.
That night we went back to Satipo (after a 1.5 hour tractor ride, boat ride back across the river, and bus ride) and out to a discotech (much like a club). It was fun to dance, but I'm pretty sure most of the people there had never seen a white person before, especially a group of white people trying to dance, so we were stared down the whole time. It was still pretty fun, though. We had a few beers (there are three main brands in Peru - Cusquena, Pilser, and Cristal - they all taste the same to me) and headed to bed by 11pm.
We woke up at 11am on the final day and headed back up the mountain to 4000+ meters. We went to the Temple of Muruhuay (a pagan manifestation of Christ for
Breakfast
Cook at the hotel in Tarma transportation), ate a pachymanka (food cook in leaves in the ground with hot stones), went to an Andean market in Tarma, then rode out to the Stone Forest. The Stone Forest is an awe-inspiring area of huge rock formations that were naturally formed by weather. Look at the pictures, it was unlike anything I have ever seen.
We finally got back to Lima around 2am on Sunday night/Monday morning. It was a long, tiring trip, but an absolutely amazing experience.
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