Lima
We had no intention of visiting Lima. We had been told that it wasn’t that interesting and nowhere near as nice as Quito. We initially drove straight through heading for the South but events with our window conspired to put is in Lima again.
As it was late afternoon when we finished at Miyasato we decided to spend the night in Lima so we headed for the Hitchiker’s Hostel, pretty much the only place to stay in the city for overlanders. This is situated in the upscale, and very safe, neighbourhood of Miraflores. Miraflores feels a lot like a European city with lots of restaurants, boutique food shops and upmarket clothes shops.
The real down side of Lima though is the weather. The average day seems to be overcast – grey with a twinge of brown – and cold. Think London but greyer and smogier !
In the morning we thought we might as well visit the Historic centre of Lima and we hopped on a bus to get there. When we arrived we found that there was a cultural parade of dancers from all the various areas of Peru taking place. Its amazing for a catholic country how tarty some of the women’s costumes can be.
After seeing all the performers in the parade we walked around the centre of Lima, the area with the colonial building is pretty small and then headed back to Miraflores.
Not too far from our hostel there is a big, modern shopping complex on overlooking the sea called Larcomar. We visited this and indulged ourselves in a visit to the cinema there. We were delighted to find out that they were showing Batman in English ! I also finally managed to find a pair of hiking shoes to fit after searching in every Peruvian town we’d been in – size 11 is considered absurd in most of Peru.
The last thing that we did in Lima was visit the Huaca Pucllana. This is a large Adobe temple that was built by the Lima civilization, one of the many pre-Inca civilizations in Peru. It is right in the middle of the Miraflores district of the city, surrounded by houses. The entry fee includes a guided tour and again we were lucky that an English language tour was starting just as we arrived.
The pyramid itself has been extensively rebuilt using the original adobe bricks. Only around half of the massive pyramid has been excavated however.
Huaca del Sol y de la Luna
The first time we were in Huanchaco we skipped visiting the pyramids on the Southern side of Trujillo. There are two pyramids, just outside the urban area, and from Huanchaco this means that you have to take two collectivos to get there. It is well worth it as they are much more interesting than Chan Chan.
Both pyramids were built by the Moche culture and were substantially buried in sand after they fell into disuse. This, coupled with the layered building style – every 70 years a new temple was built over the previous one, has protected the amazing artwork in the Huaca de la Luna. The pyramids were built between 100-600 AD. The Huaca del Sol is the largest Adobe structure in the Americas.
Of the two pyramids you can only visit one which is the Huaca de la Luna, situated at the foot of the Cerro Blanco, and you must take a tour of the site. Fortunately for us an English language tour was starting just as we arrived. The tour lasts around 45 minutes. The Huaca de la Luna was the most important ceremonial structure of the Moche culture where the Huaca del Sol was the administrative and military centre.
The Site consists of a numer of interconnected patios which are elaborately decorated with murals and freiezes. The most stunning of which is around 50m long and 20m tall.
Near the site entrance is a very good museum, making the Chan Chan museum seem particularly amateurish.
Ladron
Leaving Huaraz we drove down a good road to the coast – albeit after climbing to over 4000m, on our way towards Lima. About 100km before getting to the city we stopped for the night at Lanchay National Park which is only a couple of KM’s from the PanAm. As you climb away from the desert at the coast stunted black and vivid green vegetation appears which was shrouded in fog/ low cloud. We spent a very quiet night in one of the campsites before leaving early the next morning.
We had decided to skip visiting Lima as it didn’t hold a lot of interest for us but we still had to drive straight through the city as the PanAm goes straight through the middle. The traffic was bad and pretty crazy but we got through and continued South.
200km past Lima we stopped at a town called Chincha Alta to restock the cupboards which were starting to look a little bare. The car park was too small so we parked in the street right in front of the gate – visible to the car park attendants.
When we returned to the truck we realised that the driver’s window had been smashed. Luckily the window was still held together by the tinted film that we had put on it in California and thankfully the thief had not managed to get in.
At this stage we didn’t realise how difficult this would be to sort out.
The first thing we did was talk to the car park attendants and ask if there was anywhere in town to get the window repaired. One of the guys offered to show us where and ended up taking us to 3 different shops, eacb one saying it wasn’t possible to replace, until finally one told us to come back the following day 11am. Result, we naively thought!
We asked Jose (the friendly car park attendant who we were now on first name terms with) where we could park safely for the night and he kindly said we could park in the supermarket car park. We drove him back and spoke to the manager who agreed that we could park there but not until closing time (10pm). We parked in the street where the window had been smashed until then – with one of us sitting in the cab at all times
After driving in and settling down for the night around midnight there is a knock on the door and the manager is standing there. Apparently there was some confusion, we could park the camper there but we couldn’t stay there ourselves! It took quite a bit of persuasion as well as in inside inspection and copies of our driving licenses to convince him to let us stay but eventually he took pity on us and agreed (probably because when he came inside to take a look, Sarah was lying in bed half asleep!)
The next day we drove back to the shop that told us to come back at 11pm. Having been in Latin America for some time now we knew that 11am probably meant 11.30, maybe 12pm but by 12.30pm the guy still hadn’t appeared so we decided to try our luck and drive to the next big town about 100 kms away, called Ica.
After driving to Ica we asked at a few petrol stations where we could get a new window and after 3 or 4 attempts a truck driver gave us an address for the next day. We spent the night in a hotel car park and the next morning found our way to the Vidriria (window shop) and arrived for opening time. The lady in charge was very positive and told us of course they could fix our window – however they didn’t have Toughened glass only normal glass. In our naivety we told them to get on with it.
After about half an hour we had a pane of tinted glass installed in the window. Fantastic! We hopped in and closed the door and heard a loud crack, the window had split right down the middle. The guy who installed it got really arsy and said it was our fault for slamming the door too hard. This was not going well. We talked to the lady in charge who was far more co-operative and asked for them to try again, this time with the thickest glass they had. On the second try we closed the door gently and all was well. We were on our way again, or so we thought.
Five minutes down the road we stopped for lunch, closed the driver side door and all was fine. Phew! We then closed the passenger side door and there was a cracking noise, the driver side window had broken right down the middle again. Oh dear (were not the words that were said at the time) – time to head for Lima and try to get a proper replacement. I duck taped the window and off we went.
After stopping for the night in a petrol station we drove into Lima early in the morning and as luck would have it about 30km outside town noticed a building with three DAF trucks parked outside. We screeched to a halt and went to investigate. This was DAF’s Peruvian dealer and they could help us. But of course after the repairs manager was on the phone for half an hour he worked out that there was no replacement window in Peru.
Toughened Auto Glass cannot be cut and has to be shaped before the toughening process. We had two options: 1) Import a window which would take a month or 2) have one made for us which would take 2 weeks. So we opted for the quickest option.
The repairs manager arranged for us to go to the only company in Peru that could help, Miyasato right in the middle of Lima, next to the national football stadium. The only snag was that we had to go the following morning first thing.
Another night in a petrol station ensued before setting out for central Lima – and getting caught right in the middle of crazy rush hour traffic. This was probably the worst traffic we had come across so far with really aggressive driving. We spent 5 minutes stuck in the middle lane of a three lane road trying to the exit with cars just flying by.
Eventually we reached Miyasato, over an hour late, so pretty much on-time in Peruvian terms. It wasn’t in the greatest area but at least there was a policeman standing right outside. They immediately told us they could help but they’d need to take the opposite window to copy. There were two bits of good news though. Firstly it would only take 7 days and secondly they could put temporary Perspex windows on both sides to give us a modicum of security. After an hour they had both windows out and told us to come back in a week. The work was done by a really professional guy, and his co-workers delighted in telling us that he was nicknamed – Shrek !
We decided to head back to Huanchaco to wait out the week in the very nice campground there, with a pool and half decent weather as the plastic windows didn’t roll down (a real pain with all the tolls and police stops) or give us much security – you could basically push them out with your hand. Huanchaco was a full days drive away so we set off and arrived at midday the next day.
A week later we were back on the road to Lima. We stayed the night at Lanchay again – this time in beautiful sunshine and got to Miyasato around 11am, after a slightly later, therefore slightly better transit through Lima.
The window was ready and they reinstalled both in a couple of hours, even tinting the window to match the other one. When this was finally done we breathed a sigh of relief as we could now get on with our trip again.
We had had no idea that a broken window would be so hard to fix. We’ve also learnt how good the tinting film is at preventing a break in and would highly recommend it. All in all from start to finish the whole process took us 13 days – our Spanish in relation to windows is now much improved!
We’ve since heard of three other trucks that have had a window smashed in Peru. The supermarket in Cusco is a prime spot apparently. So if you are in Peru be very careful where you park and consider when there isn’t a guarded car park having someone stay in the camper while you do your shopping.
Chavin de Huantar
While we were in Huaraz we decided to have a break from driving ourselves everywhere and pay to go on a tour. It probably worked out cheaper than driving anyway if you factor in the cost of the diesel. The tour we went on was to the ancient ruins of Chavin de Huantar which was the centre of the Chavin civilization. The Chavin civilization was one of the most influential of all the Peruvian civilizations and its iconography spread across much of Peru.
The drive to Chavin took about 4 hours in a bus (not driven quite as crazily as some) with a stop of at the high altitude Lake Querococha for 15 minutes. Chavin is on the East side of the Cordillera Blanca and the route involves taking a high pass over the mountains.
Once at Chavin we had a pretty average meal at a restaurant where Sarah tried Chicharrones for the first time and was seriously put off by a plate of overcooked pork knuckles. Then it was onto the temple itself where our Spanish speaking guide showed us and the 30 others on the bus around. We wandered in and out but we only understood around 40% of what she was saying !
The highlight of the site are the underground passages which the temple is riddled with. One of the underground areas is rigidly controlled and you are only allowed a few seconds to view the Lanzon, a 4.53m carved granite statue that represents the Chavin god.
Archaeologists believe that the underground passages were used to awe non-believers with a confrontation with their god. They were made to drink San Pedro (an hallucinogen made from San Pedro cactus) and were pushed into the dark tunnels. Once there the priests blew on echoing trumpets, reflected sunlight through ventilation shafts and amplified the sounds of water by diverting it through special channels. All of these created a frightening environment so that when the non-believer came face to face with the statue of the God they would be suitably impressed !
There is still a lot of archaeological work going on a the site and we saw a skeleton being unearthed.
After the site itself we were taken to the museum which is a few km’s away. This is a good museum with a lot of interesting carvings from the temple itself.
We spent about 45 minutes in the museum and then were herded back on the bus for the long haul back to Huaraz which we didn’t reach until about 8pm. It sure was nice to have someone else do the driving for a change.
Huaraz and the Way Inn
After leaving the Llanganuco Lakes area and driving back through Yungay we headed up the main road through the Callejon de Huaylas to the town of Huaraz. This is the biggest town in the valley but still not enormous.
We had planned to spend a night here but were unable to find anywhere to stay in town, so we decided to head for the mountains above town, to a lodge that had been recommended to us, ‘The Way Inn’.
The road to The Way Inn is another dirt track that stretches 25km into the mountains up to 3700m. At times the track is pretty narrow and passes through a couple of villages meaning that you have to be on the ball the whole time. Fortunately there isn’t much traffic so passing places weren’t too much of an issue. We did have to stop in one village to ask a couple of drivers to move their parked cars so we could get past but this is pretty normal for these back country roads.
The Way Inn is a gorgeous little hostel perched high on the mountainside, pretty much above the treeline, with some awesome views. This is a great place to stay and they do a brilliant 3 course dinner every night for 30 Sols per person (USD 12) which not only tastes great but is a really social occasion as well. Just take note if you want to stay here that they run periodic Ayahuasca retreats which last up to 10 days and they close the lodge for these. The guy who runs the lodge, Alex, is a real character with a few wacky ideas ! If you need to stop and ask for directions say you are looking for Alex’s place, the locals don’t seem to understand when you ask for The Way Inn.
On our first evening while we were having dinner, there was a bit of a commotion as a farmer appeared at the door clutching a plastic bag with the remains of a dead baby turkey in it. Worse still, he was accusing us of having killed it! Now we were pretty sure we hadn’t run over it and it didn’t look THAT flattened to have had a run-in with the Beast, but he was pretty insistent. With the help of a member of staff whose Spanish was far superior to ours it was eventually agreed that a replacement chick would be bought (for S15) and his initial (rather steep) demand for S60 was thankfully forgotten.
The Way Inn has a list of hikes in the area – of which there are a number – and we chose to hike up to Laguna Churup, a lake at 4500m. The start of the hike is across some farmland before you head steeply uphill. Not long after setting out we managed to take a wrong turn and ended up hiking over some fairly uneven ground. We were still going roughly in the right direction but we ended up adding around 2km extra to our hike which at that altitude was a bit unwelcome.
For much of the hike a dog from the hostel joined us – although he was a bit of a tart because he left every so often to join another group of hikers behind us. He came back to us but we lost him just before the top. I’m not sure if he’d had enough or found someone with tastier sandwiches!
When we got back on track we were walking along a ridge towards the waterfall which comes out of the lake. At the foot of the waterfall we looked up at a near vertical cliff with a steep path making its way up – however there were three sections of path so steep that some scrambling was required and steel ropes were fixed to the cliff to help with this.
When we finally reached the top it was pretty cold and we didn’t hang around too long before heading back down.
After a couple of nights at the Way Inn we headed back down the mountain (without incident this time) to Huaraz and managed to find a hotel on the outskirts of town with a big car park. They were happy to have us camp their for a couple of nights and even allowed us to use showers in one of their empty rooms (Gran Huascaran Hotel).
Llanganuco Lakes
One of the top destinations in the area is the Llanganuco lakes. These are three high altitude lakes on a pass across the mountains. The road to the lakes leaves from Yungay which is between Caraz and Huaraz. The road itself is not challenging as it is a wide gravel road with plenty of room for passing but it is in bad shape and a pretty rough surface. There is also a surprisingly large amount of traffic on the road.
It was fairly late in the day when we reached the edge of the park and we decided to camp for the night at a restaurant just 1km before the park entrance gates. We had discovered that camping by the lakes was 65 Sols (around USD 25) but it was only 5 Sols each for day use – therefore camping for free just outside the park seemed a good idea.
After a nice trout dinner at the very friendly Restaurant Campestre Llanganuco we had a very peaceful night and then in the morning we set off for the park. As soon as you go through the park entrance gate the road deteriorates from bad to worse and it was a pretty bumpy ride to reach the first of the lakes where it then improves dramatically.
We drove right past until we reached the parking area at the back end of the third lake. From here there weren’t any obvious hiking trails but we decided to follow the river up the valley for an hour or so and return to the truck for lunch. As a result we didn’t take any food or much water with us.
As we hiked along the river we came across a staging area for multi-day hikes and discovered that there was a trail to a high altitude lake called Laguna 69. The valley that we were walking up was very pretty and we could see a number of snow capped mountain peaks as we walked – including the mighty Huascaran mountain, the tallest in the Cordillera Blanca at 6768m).
As we walked we met an Arriero (mule driver) who was looking for his donkeys which had strayed overnight. We kept on bumping into him and he wasn’t having much luck finding them !
As we reached the head of the valley there was an imposing rock wall, with waterfalls covering the face, so we debated whether we should turnaround or keep going. Well my argument that we needed to acclimatise so should head on up won the day – maybe a pyrrhic victory given how hard it was climbing up the wall.
At the top we reached a small lake and could see the route to Laguna 69 – another 200m or 300m of climbing. Well given we by now had no water and no food and were breathing in short gasps at around 4400m we decided that heading back to the truck was the best option.
Our 1 hour stroll had turned into a 5 hour hike which we just didn’t expect and hadn’t prepared for. The views were magnificent though ! On the hike we met a number of people who had turned back before reaching the Laguna – altitude sickness had broken them. For this sort of hiking you need to acclimatise for a few days first !
Once back at the truck we drove back to our restaurant campsite for a very good nights sleep !
Caraz and Laguna Paron
Our first stop in the beautiful Callejon de Huaylas was the town of Caraz. None of the towns in the valley have old colonial buildings because of a massive earthquake in 1970 which destroyed most of the buildings and killed over 70,000 people. Caraz feels like a proper mountain town as you can see snow capped mountains from the main square.
However Caraz is a small, relaxed town with a really nice vibe. The evening that we arrived was a fiesta which involved a procession through the town. It started off with different groups of indigenous people celebrating their history and culture and was followed by groups of school children from the surrounding area who looked like they were having a great time.
We spent a day relaxing in Caraz but then it was time for more adventure. In the mountains above the town is a beautiful glacial lake called Laguna Paron. We asked around and did some internet research to find out if the road up to the lake was good enough for the truck. There was nothing conclusive either way, although we knew it was going to be a narrow, windy, dirt track – well we thought, we’d give it a go.
The road up to the lake starts in the town of Caraz and although its dirt from the start the first few km’s are in good condition and the road is fairly wide. We did hit a small snag when we came upon a team grading the road who had dumped piles of gravel in the middle of the road. Engaged low range and ran straight over the top of them ! The Beast was at a fairly alarming angle but no problem.
With just over 10k to go we reached the entrance station to the National Park and had to inch through the entrance gate which had a couple of inches clearance for us. This is where the road got interesting. Very tight switchbacks up the side of a canyon many of which required a three point turn to get round. There wasn’t any room for something coming the other way but we were lucky and didn’t see any other vehicles.
When we got to a plateau near the top we thought we were through the worst, the road definitely improves but unfortunately it becomes lined with low overhanging trees. With patience and a bit of determination we managed to fight our way through. With a broken mirror , a few scratches and a tonne of foliage attached to the roof we finally made it to the top.
At Laguna Paron we were greeted by an emerald green lake surrounded by snow capped peaks – the drive had definitely been worth it. We were a little breathless though having driven from Caraz at 2300m to the Laguna at 4200m.
We set off on a hike along the lake-side path , which fortunately was fairly level as I am not sure our lungs were up to much climbing. The path stretches down the full length of the lake and then into the valley behind. The lake is longer than it looks though so we didn’t get far into the valley before we had to turn around to get back to the Beast before dark. We did see some Viscachas which are rabbit like creatures on our walk back.
As soon as the sun went behind the mountains the temperature dropped like a stone and the night was sub-zero. We had a terrible nights sleep because of the altitude – serves us right for not acclimatising more slowly !
In the morning we started to head down the canyon back to the Callejon de Huaylas – the journey down was a bit easier as we knew what to expect. However we came across a bridge which we had crossed without too much problem on the way up. This time as we went across there was a sharp cracking sound and we lurched to one side – I gunned the engine and we made it across. That was a close one !
Canon del Pato
There are two ways to get to the Cordillera Blanca – the easy way and the fun way. Well the easy way is pavement all the way and that’s no fun. The fun way follows the Rio Santa up through a canyon known as Canon del Pato (Duck Canyon). The actual Canon is the final section of the total canyon that stretches for around 80km or so of dirt road much of it very narrow.
The total route involves over 40 tunnels, most of which are one lane and rough cut through the mountainside. The road rises from 500m to over 2000m as it is the route to the other side of the Cordillera Negra and the access to the Callejon de Huaylas which provide access to the snow capped peaks of the Cordillera Blanca.
We left Huanchaco first thing in the morning and by lunchtime we were approaching the start of the dirt road. However we decided to stop at the side of the road for a bite to eat. A few minutes after we stopped a police car pulled up alongside and started whupping its siren to get our attention. I went outside to see what they wanted. The police told me that we were stopped in dangerous place and that there were armed robbers around ! It didn’t take long to finish lunch and get going !
After driving down a fairly narrow paved road for another 50km or so we arrived at a police checkpoint. I think we woke the policeman up but he rushed out and lifted the barrier for us and we hit the dirt. The dirt roads in Peru are in generally in good shape and this was no exception with a reasonably smooth surface.
Shortly after hitting the dirt we bumped into Cas Gilbert , an adventure cyclist who is riding the length of the Americas by dirt roads. We’d met him a month ago in Ecuador. It was getting late and we arranged with him to camp at a place 10km up the road where there was room for us to get off the road and him to put his tent up – both without risk of rocks on our heads, pretty rare on this road. We invited him in for dinner and had a really nice evening chatting to a fellow Brit.
The next day we continued on our way and the road got narrower and narrower with a succession of one lane tunnels. These were handcut out of the mountain and some of them were very narrow, needing a steady hand on the wheel to negotiate. Fortunately we only met a couple of vehicles coming the other way and none in the tunnels themselves – there are passing places outside each tunnel.
There were a couple of hairy, narrow bits on the road but really nothing like the road we’d done from Chacapoyas to Celendin.
When you exit the canyon at the top you get your first glimpses of snow capped mountains, you hit paved road and its an easy cruise into the town of Caraz.
Huanchaco
The drive from Cajamarca to the coast is on a good paved road the whole way and despite having to drive from 3000m down to sea level we made good time.
Huanchaco has one of the nicest campgrounds in Peru in a grassy lot with a swimming pool behind the Huanchaco Gardens Hotel. There were 2 peacocks living right by where we were parked and we got used to peacocks under our truck ! On arriving we were surprised to find three other sets of overlanders there. After we had been there a day another overlander arrived, this time someone that we had met about 6 months earlier in Mexico.
Huanchaco is a relaxed sea side resort which is a great place to kick back for a couple of days. The surfing is great but the water is a bit on the cold side. There are some good restaurants – on the expensive side though – apparently including the President of Peru’s favourite. This gave us the oppurtunity to have our first beers in Peru.
Between Huanchaco and Trujillo is one of the most important Pre-Incan cities, Chan Chan. Like we had discovered at Tucume the adobe walls of the city had been severely damaged by the rain over the years. Unlike Tucume however there has been a large amount of rebuilding and restoration at Chan Chan.
Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimu empire which came to pre-eminence around 1100AD. The Chimu were masters of irrigation and set up a series of aqueducts that brought water from the neighbouring Chicama valley to enable them to live in the desert. This was to prove their undoing as the Incas conquered them (in the 1470s) by cutting off their water supply and eventually peacefully conquering the city and leading to its demise.
The striking thing about Chan Chan is the sheer size of the city, although much of it is outside the actual park area and is just crumbling walls in the desert.
While we were in Hunachaco we met up with Stevie and Tree, www.sprinterlife.com, and their famous dogs Kiki and Mongo. It was great catching up with some fellow overlanders and we wish them loads of luck with the next phase of the lives ! Out truck is a bit bigger than their Mercedes Sprinter.
Cajamarca
Just outside the town of Cajamarca is the small spa town of Banos del Inca. Cajamarca is a big a busy town whereas Banos del Inca is quiet and relaxed. We decided to stay in Banos del Inca and found a small parking area right on the main square of the town. We spent two nights here. The first was blissfully quiet but unfortunately the second, a Friday night, was pretty noisy with a band playing in a nearby building until 2am. Our third night in the area we moved to a Hacienda in the countryside between Cajamarca and Banos del Inca.
After our epic journey across the mountains we spent our first day in Banos del Inca relaxing. We went to the baths – there are lots of different options. It was really hot so we just went for a swim in the big swimming pool – the water is from the springs and meant to be good for you but it felt like normal water to me.
Banos del Inca is famous for its baths which have been in operation since Inca times. In fact this town is famous as the location where the last Inca lord Atahualpa was bathing when he heard news that Pizarro had arrived in town.
Atahualpa was captured by the Conquistador Pizarro in the town of Cajamarca. Pizarro had only 62 horsemen and 106 foot soldiers and there were between 30,000 and 80,000 Inca Warriors in the area. Pizarro laid a trap in the plaza of Cajamarca and waited for Atahualpa to arrive with only 5,000 men. They attacked with such aggression that they managed to Capture Atahualpa without a casualty. The Incas had badly underestimated the steel swords, muskets and horses of the Spaniards.
The Ransom Room with mark on the left hand side showing where the gold had to be up to.
Pizarro held Atahualpa for ransom and demanded that a room (since called the ransom room) be filled with gold up to a line on the wall for his release. The gold was delivered and Pizarro held a trial and then executed Atahualpa.
Cajamarca itself is a really busy city but it has a beautiful colonial centre which is worth walking around. After visiting the Ransom Room we went to the Belen complex which includes a number of buildings which are filled with works of art, the Archaeology and Ethnography museum and a church, Iglesia Belen.
A few km’s outside Cajamarca there is an ancient burial site called the Ventanillas de Otuzco. This is a huge necropolis where the dead chieftains of the Cajamarca culture were buried in niches carved into the volcanic rock.
We were seriously low on supplies when we got to Cajamarca so we headed for the local mall. We were pleased on arriving to see a big outdoor car park with plenty of space and no height restriction. As we pulled in three men jumped out and told us to stop. We though they were just going to take our numberplate for security purposes. However they told us that we couldn’t park here – we argued for a few minutes with them explaining that we were already in and there was plenty of space. All to no avail so we had to do a three point turn and find somewhere else to park.
FromAtoB 