From Lima (Peru) to Guayaquil (Ecudor)

Route

Hola Amigos,

Another three weeks in Peru where I spent a few days in Lima (1), that turned out not to be as horrible as I first thought, then I traveled to the beautiful Cordillera Blanca (2,3), where I also visited a pre-Columbian settlement Chavin de Huantar. The Cordillera Blanca is certainly a highlight of Peru and one of the highlights of my trip. The cordillera Blanca ends with the most beautiful canyon I did during this trip (the canyon del Pato). After this I spent time on cultural stuff around Trujillo (5) and Chiclayo (7), where Chanchan and the temple de la Luna where very interesting to see. In this period I traveled in a camper with Antonio (Wolfgang), Charlie, and Luigi, and spent a week in their company. I really had a good time, and I certainly will see them again. When I left them I went to Chachapoyas (8) to see the ruins of Kuelap, another impressive remnant of cultures that were in South America before the Spaniards came into this continent. In La Balsa I crossed the border into Ecuador to end in Loja (10) where I meet my German friends again. In Guayquil (14) i was very lucky, read further down and you know why!!!

Lima

When I arrived in Lima first, I thought it wouldn't be for a very long time, because I arrived in Miraflores, the yuppie part of Lima. This part is not interesting for me, because it is modern, western and loaded with malls, Kentucky Fried Chickens and McDonalds.

However if you go to the centre, there is a lot to see, and so I spent another three days looking for the cultural stuff. Highlights of Lima are the Plaza de Armas, which is spacious and nicely restored after many earthquakes. It is one of the best plaza's I have seen in South America. Around it are the cathedral, wherein are the remains of Francisco Pizarro, the Palacio de Gobierno and many old colonial style buildings with wooden balconies.



Lima Plaza de Armas

For me one of the highlights of Lima is the San Francisco with its monastery. The convent contains many works of woodcraft in a peculiar style, strange architecture and a lot of art. Although it needs restoration it still can be seen that the Franciscans had a good taste, and in those days were quit rich.


San Francisco monastery

Woodcraft

Under the San Francisco church are the catacombs and visiting them is certainly an experience. In it they say (because I didn't count them) are the remains of 70000 people. They are not scattered around here and there, but the bones are neatly sorted. There is a well which is 30 meters deep (unless I didn't understood the Spanish). A disadvantage here is that you have to follow a guide to see the convent so after 45 minutes I'm out again. You easily could spend a few hours here.


Fountain of youth

The nicest church in Lima is the San Piedro. In this church they have wood carvings more than 20 meters high and again the gold and silver here is breathtaking. From this and all the other treasures in the city you can see that Lima once was very rich, and why it was called the city of kings. Now Lima is a very big city with more than 8 million people, a lot of traffic, and even more pollution. Compared to La Paz Lima is very western where many people dress up that way, and you hardly see women dressed in traditional clothes.


San Piedro

The highlight of Lima for me is the Museo Nacional de Peru. In this museum you can find lots of information about many cultures that live in South America before the Spaniards came. They show maps, pictures and models of many sites, and there is a huge collection of beautiful ceramics. It is amazing to see what people already where able to make 1000 years before Christ. Again the symbolic language of the cultures in South America strikes me as very rich and intriguing.


Pottery Museo Nacional

On my last night in Lima in a pub I meet Sean, the Belgian again who I saw earlier in Torotoro (Bolivia) and who now has only one month to go. Unfortunately I have to leave early the next day so I only speak him shortly.

Just before I leave I discover that somebody has stolen my walking boots. Some people are really pathetic. To steal not very fresh boots, which also aren’t completely undamaged, ………………..


Huaraz (Cordillera Blanca)

Huascaran seen from Huaraz


Huaraz is a nice town of ca 80000 inhabitants, surrounded by the mountains and it is situated in the Cordillera Blanca. I wanted to go to this place mainly because I wanted to go to Chavin de Huantar, one of the oldest pre-Inca settlements in South America, and not because of the landscape, which are mountains and mountains. I thought I had seen enough mountains by then after traveling almost 8 months along the Andes. How I was wrong!


Cordillera Blanca to Huaraz

Although there are many tourists, mainly hikers, the town isn’t spoiled. You can see here the highest mountain of Peru (Huascarán), which is ca 6700 meters high. From the village you have a great view on the Cordillera, and if you make a tour it even gets better. Unfortunately the weather in Huaraz is starting to change, and the rainy season is getting near. So every afternoon clouds start to obscure the sky and it starts to rain at the end of the day.

In Huaraz I go to Albergue Churup, which is probably the best hostel I have had until so far. The people that run the hostel are extremely nice, the hostel is clean and well organized, and they have real hot showers! They even work properly. I meet some nice people here, one of them is Martijn Breen, who is traveling South America for five months and just finished his university study space and aeronautics technology. Together with Martijn, who is learning Spanish here, it is time to do some pub work again. The people here are not very often doing this, and also the disco isn’t stuffed, but I had a nice time, and it is pleasant to speak Dutch again. I speak it that little that sometimes it is difficult to find the right word. It is even more complicated when I start speaking something else as Spanish or English, because then I can speak a mixture of three languages.

Chavin de Huantar

The tours in Huaraz are incredible cheap. You pay 20-25 soles for a day trip (4-6 euro). It takes three hours to go by bus to Chavin, a nice little town built in an incredible environment with steep mountains. Still I’m glad I’m not living here because when there is an earthquake you don’t have much chance surviving it (see further down Jungay). On the way the landscape again is very scenic and the highlight here is the Laguna de Querococha. It probably is the 1000th lake I saw until now but every time I see mountains water, and many different colors I start shaking and I get a reflex to make pictures.


Laguna de Querococha

The archaeological site doesn’t interest me much in the beginning but when you enter the old stone complexes that were build probably more than 3000 years ago, I’m fascinated by the enormous amounts of stone they used here, and why they built this in the first place. According to my guide it was some sort of fortress and palace, and inside one of the galleria's you can visit the prisons. I don’t think Houdini could have escaped from here! During my trip I meet Lily an American woman who speaks excellent Spanish and two women from Lima that teach some Spanish while we are under way.


Chavin de Hunatar


Catacombs of Chavin


The ruins of Chavin


Nevado de Pastoruri

Next day I go to Nevado de Pastoruri. After one hour however the bus breaks down, and we have to wait and wait and wait until………….. a camper with three Germans passes. They immediately ask me if I want to join them and off course I don’t hesitate on this kind offer. There are already three people in the camper who also get a ride, and then somebody else knocks on the door and asks if she can join. Wolfgang never says No and after 20 minutes the whole bus has taken place in the camper, and there are even 10 people on the roof. Never knew it was possible to get 30 people in a camper for only 4 people.


World record filling motor homes

What is the Nevado the Pastoruri. It is a glacier. And because I didn’t see many glacier this trip, I decide I should see this one. Again the landscape is stunning with a lot of high and white peaked mountains, lakes, different colors etc. Together with Wolfgang I walk towards the glacier, and Wolfgang offers me to travel with their group for as long as I want, so I gladly accept this, and we agree to meet again the next day in Huaraz



PastoRuri Glacier


Stunning landscape


Detail

When on the glacier it starts snowing hard, so it gets cold and we go back to the bus that finally has arrived. On the way back we again have problems with the bus and it takes another 1,5 hours before we leave the glacier. The landscape however again is great, there is a great sunset, but sorry folks no picture this time.


Early snow

Furthermore in the valley, and what makes it special is the Puya Raymondi (Bromeliacea). The Puya Raimondi is a mid-blowing odd plant. "Discovered" by an Italian of the same name, you can find groves of them throughout the highlands in Peru. It grows to a height of 12-meters and only flowers once in its lifetime.

When the Puya Raimondi is 100-years old, it produces 15,000-20,000 flowers that bloom on 400-500 conical spikes. The plant will flower for 2-3 months and produce as many as 10 million seeds during that time. It is a beautiful plant, unfortunately because of the problems with the bus I’m not able to make some very nice pictures of it. Search the internet if you want to see more of it.


Puya Raimondi

Next day I meet Wolfgang, Luigi (Wolfgang’s father, who is Italian but lives in Germany for 45 years), and Charlie on the plaza of Huaraz. They are traveling since June and are planning to do South America in a year in a camper. They live in the vicinity of Stuttgart in a little place called Bartolomae. Wolfgang is houseman (former truck driver), his father is enjoying his pension and Charlie is truck driver, so he does all the steering. Wolfgang is the cook, Luigi does the cleaning up, and I, well I give every night a snoring concert, just for free. I travel with them for a week, in Chiclayo I say goodbye.

Marcara

Before I can join them I first have to wash myself, so we go to Chancos, which is a thermal bath with a natural sauna. There are caves and the caves are heated by boiling water that surrounds the caves. It is a pleasant experience. The rest of the day we stay in Marcara because locals tell us that there is a party in the village with live music, because of the 100th anniversary of the town. We are the only tourists here and there is a real parade with this time children carrying balloons and colorful puppets, and they don’t march like soldiers. That’s more like it should be! (He he that feels better).

When the electricity dies down the fiesta continues with candles.

Next two days we are having incredible scenery and although the weather is not very well we can get a glimpse of the incredible landscape of the Cordillera Blanca. First we go to Yungay a small village that was completely destroyed in an earthquake of 1970. Actually it was not the earthquake that did it, but after the earthquake a big part of the Huascarán mountain came down, and the ice and snow avalanche that resulted from it buried the whole village under a thick layer. 20-25000 people died with it. Now it is a wholly cemetery, and they rebuilt the village next to it.

First we visit lago Llanganuco. Although it is situated at 3800 meters, you wouldn’t think this, because there is a lot of tropical vegetation, many flowers, humming birds and trees. The landscape is spectacular, the valley is very narrow, there are two lakes with a small bird reserve, and they have trees here. Probably because the valley is very narrow the temperatures can rise more than the altiplanos somewhat further. It is very surprising to see Bromelia’s growing here.


lago Llanganuco



the narrow valley of lago llanganuco

We drive to a pass at 4700 meters (Punta Union), but unfortunately the views are not as good as the postcards we saw. Still I find enough nice viewpoints to show you here. In the right season the Cordillera Blanca certainly is one of the nicest places in Peru and South America.


the pass over Punta Union


the road to Punta Union


Another view

The second day we go to the canyon del Pato. We have to through this canyon because we want to go to the coast, and I’m glad I joined the Germans, because otherwise I may not have seen this incredible Canyon! I was already thinking that canyons were out of the book for the rest of the trip, but this is a real canyon, and according to Wolfgang who has seen most of the world, this is probably the best canyon you can drive through. The scenery is fantastic. At some points the canyon is not more than 15 meters wide,


Canyon del Pato 15 meters wide here


More Canyon del Pato

and there is an incredible variation of rock formations, stone structures, colored layers, valleys, and there is an incredible variation in cactuses. It takes almost the whole day to cross this canyon, and we meet some brave bicyclers that do this canyon in three days. I am thinking of Michiel and Steffi. This is something for YOU!


Colourful canyon


Canyon del Pato more


Art


Strange cactuses

Towards the end of the canyon

In the end the landscape changes, the valleys get wider and the desert like country transforms into a fertile valley where they grow rice.


The end of the canyon with rice fields!


Santa

We stay the night in a place called Santa, near Chimbote. Many people tell us it is not very safe in the vicinity of Chimbote, but we are only awakened at 4 am in the morning by a local who asks for a coat because it is cold outside. Sometimes you meet very amazing people. In Santa we meet a Belgian girl that is doing North and South America on her bike, and all by herself. It took her until here 15 months.

Trujillo

After the spectacular landscape of the Cordillera Blanca it is time to do some cultural stuff again. The area around Trujillo (our next stop) and Chiclayo is filled with a lot of ruins, of which some of them are worth visiting. We visit the Sun and Moon temple South of Huaraz. Only the moon temple can be visited and is worth visiting because of the many decorations on the walls. The site was used for religious purposes, and after every governmental period they closed the building, they were using and built a new floor on top of it. Therefore you can see many different wall paintings on different levels. Here again you can see many symbolic figures.


Moon Temple

The site was used for religious purposes, and after every governmental period they closed the building, they were using and built a new floor on top of it. Therefore you can see many different wall paintings on different levels. Here again you can see many symbolic figures.


Different periods of ruling

The temple of the sun, which had an administrative function is not for visitors, but probably there is not much to see, because it was robbed by the Spaniards in the 17th century. For this they used the river to flush away much of the sandy material of which the temple is made. Still it is an impressive complex. In between the temples the people lived in a large village. While we are exploring the complex, we feel an earthquake. It is only a minor one, and it doesn't last more than 20 seconds. Not even one stone falls on my head, so consider it was really nothing!


View on the village and the sun temple

Then we go to Trujillo which is a city of more than 1 million people, but I’m disappointed because it really is not very nice. In the center there is not much to see. At night we go to a drive in bar (La Barra) where we enter at 9 o'clock being the first. At 11 it starts to get busier, but no live music until late in the night. Next morning Chan Chan is on the program.

Chan Chan

This is the largest Adobe built city in the world and it was deserted by the Chimu when the Inca's besieged the city and shut off the water supply. There used to live 100000 people but somewhere in 1400 AC it was deserted. Adobe is a mixture of mud and stone, and because the material is not very hard it erodes very fast, leaving behind walls, parts of houses and religious structures. I was impressed by the size of the city. One part of the city is restored (the Palacio Tschudi) so you can have an impression how it looked like.



Chan Chan


The ceremonial plaza


Remnants of adobe structures


Ceremonial well

Next day we visit two Huaca's that are part of the tickets they sold us, the Huaca del Arco Iris, and the Huaca Esmeralda, but because of the lack of information it is hard to see what it means. I liked the friezes, but they aren't original. The Huaca Esmeralda is less impressive and it took us 15 min to walk around.


Huaca Arca Iris

Hereafter we go to Huanchaco, which is in our guide and they say it is a nice plays to stay, and there are some special reed boats that are worth visiting. The boats are indeed nice, and they are still used by the local fisher man. the rest of the place is not very interesting), we are clearly not in high season, so there is nothing to do.


Huanchaco

At the end of the day we park near the sea shore in Puerto Eten, a small village with a harbor, and it is very quiet here. The next morning we go to Chiclayo which is a nicer place than Trujillo, but I won't stay long here. There is another site to visit, which is called Sipan.

Sipan

Sipan also consists of pyramids, but they are hardly recognizable and here in 1987 they found tombs filled with skeletons and may treasures. There are three graves you can visit, and one is called the Senor of Sipan. This was a warrior priest, and when he died he invited 8 other people to share his death. They were buried with him, which was a great honor! What amazed me the most was that the guardians that were there to guard the Senor had their feet cut off.


Senor of Sipan

Although they were dead, and although it was an honor to go with the Lord, the feet were cut of to prevent the guardians could run away in the afterlife. It sounds pretty illogical to me! The lord was important so he was buried with a lot of gold and some ornaments made of turquoise and gold, and take away food (llama).

The other two graves you can visit belong to less important figures, and there are other graves that can't be visited. Actually the graves are reconstructions because the original material is in different museum in Peru. The original grave of the lord is now in Lima in the museum de la Nacion.


Pyramid of Sipan (with wolfgang and Luigi)

Back in Chiclayo I say goodbye to the German friends I traveled with for a week, and I take a bus to Chachapoyas, almost 500 km to the east. I want to visit more old stones, and they say that Kuelap is the most important archeological site of North Peru.


Luigi

It is again a tirering bus ride of this time just 9 hours and I arrive in Chachapoyas at 5.00 am. Chachapoyas is a nice plaza with a pleasant plaza and I spent my day doing some Internet. Actually writing this story).


the plaza of Chachapoyas

The next day I go to Kuelap in an organized tour where I meet two nice Irish (Siobhan and Chris) and together we walk around Kuelap, which is quite an impressive site. The place is a sort of a fortress, and is surrounded by walls 6-20 meters high, 600 meters long and 100 wide, and it is situated on a mountain top from where you have a splendid view of the surroundings.


The fort of Kuelap


Traditional weaving


the view from Kuelap

In this place around three thousand people where living in round houses with conical shaped roofs. There is not much left of these houses but there is a big project to restore the walls, and I wouldn't be surprised they will rebuild the houses also.


What used to be a house in Kuelap

There was one restored house at the time I was there. Kuelap was probably built somewhere around 600 after Christ, and they used a lot of stones to build it. In my guide they say they used 3 times as much stone than to build the pyramid of Chizeh.


Bromelia with in background restored house

In Chachapoyas I say goodbye to Siobhan and Chris and hop on a bus to Agua Branca. About this place there is nothing to mention, I only go here because I want to travel to Ecuador from here, and after Jaen, San Ignacio, La Balsa where I cross the border, Zumba, I end up in Loja after 17 hours traveling in micros, taxis and buses. Not even that dead this time, I'm getting used to traveling.


Ecudor border

Now I'm in Ecuador where everything is paid in American Dollars. The music here has changed too. Instead of the Peruvian folk music, it has changed to Latin/Caribean and Salsa. I must admit I like this far better!
I meet up with Wolfgang, Luigi, and Charlie in Loja and we travel from here to Saraguro, where there is a Sunday market with beautifully dressed women, and nice local music in the local theater, we go to the city of Cuenca, with hot thermal springs in Baños. After this we visit the most important Inca ruins in Inga Pirca and in Alausi we take a breathtaking ride in a train to de Diablo the Nariz. This last trip was according to my guide one of the highlights of Ecuador. I hope the Galapagos is better.

Finally we end up in Guayaquil, where Wolfgang and Luigi meet 4 local woman and invite them to dinner in our motor home. Two days later we wake up. We were drugged by them, they put some strong sleeping powder in the food and robbed us of money, my Ipod and my digital camera.
That’s not very convenient before going to the Galapagos. It took me two days to fully recover from the sleeping drug, and hope to leave within a few days to the Galapagos. I have felt better.


Los Endos