anyway, back to Cajamarca. our last day in Cajamarca, Saturday the 17th of September, we enjoyed the architectural beauty of this city. There are some old complexes of old church and old hospital, both the outsides and insides are great examples of colonial architecture, with facades sculpted in stone flourishes, big wooden doors, coats of arms, and the hospital full of little stone niches where the sick folks had to hang out while being preached to in hopes it would cure them. We also walked up and down some of the steeper streets which are part stairs and which are pedestrian and which host tourist shops, our first we have seen! we met a very sweet man, Warren Gutierrez, whose mom was English and he said 20 years ago he and his wife started up again the weaving tradition in the area. many have copied him, there are beautiful things made of the small strips of cloth that are handcrafted from beautifully dyed sheeps wool. And in the evening we went with our newfound pals to our third in a row of extremely tasty dinners, this time Don Paco, and I had the best choice of the evening which was a delicious duck in an elderberry sauce accompanied by good pasta with some kind of alfredo type cheesy-parmesany sauce perfectly done. and we again had Castillero del Diablo wine. we had our third night at the comfy hotel Los Jasmines for 80 sols a night which is $25 for a clean nicely decorated room overlooking a garden in a colonical house.
In the morning, Sunday, we started out at 8 on a local bus through the extensive flat valley of Cajamarca with its alfalfa and cabbage and other crops, then wound up and over hills, on the nicely paved roads that now connect through many smaller villages and the town of Cajabamba and the city of Huamachuco. The landscape continues to amaze us. From Cajamarca we wound over a modest mountain range down into a river canyon which is a tributary of the Maranon which we went through on our way from Chachapoyas.. This took about 3 hours, but probably a lot of this was due to stopping to let off folks. Also in one town, San Marcos, we took a detour off the main paved road down into the livestock market, which was basically several open blocks of cows and horses and donkeys milling around. Descending from here into the canyon was beautiful. although this tributary was dramatically deep, the road made a much more gentle descent into pretty arid mountain country and then into a wide wide valley with lush irrigated fields of warm weather crops, like sugar and bananas and corn. There was nothing scary, only pleasant views. On the far side of the valley - the paved road did have to cross the broad, slow river in a ford, there is no bridge - the road climbed up again to the town of Cajabamba. this entire journey of 3 hours cost us only 10 sols which is about $3.30 US.
Wow, what a neat little place. its on the side of a eucalyptus laden hill and overlooks the beautiful valley so the hills around have some steep exposed cliffs and far above some basalty mountain tops, and below, the river valley is lush and green. We arrived at noon. and we had meant to stay here and ordinarily it would be awesome. it has charming streets and on sundays there is the added charm of its becoming the local marketplace for hundred of Andean folks, the women wearing layered skirts of velvet and brocade, with silky blouses and dark wool wraps with a little border of embroidery along the edge, and the nicely shaped white straw hats.
Unfortunately, government money is building new sewer and water lines so about 60% of the streets and the main plaza were being redone and were impassable and filthy! even on the nice streets and the pedestrian streets, dusty footprints were everywhere. so we quickly decided to move on later in the afternoon to Huamachuco. the fancier bus was all full up but we were able to get the last seats on the last bus out of town, at 4 30 so that gave us time, after locking our luggage up in the room that serves as a ticket office, to explore the market, and get some food.
The streets were full of small individual market stalls with blue tarp roofs and andean people were everywhere. mostly they were tolerant of our picture taking. there was a nice big indoor market. and in the town there was also a classy restaurant or two. our first choice, which had a nice interior courtyard and the promise of tasty cakes, was empty of anyone so we moved on to a restaurant where we got nice trout on the usual plate heaped with french fries and rice. I cannot believe how much carbs people eat here. People are gracious, our neighboring table was an official looking police type person who tipped his hat to us and smiled. a bit later we went back to the particularly charming place and had the nicest cappuccinoes with vanilla flavored thick, thick whipped cream and tres leches cake which here in Peru is particularly moist. the owner of the restaurant, very very sweet, actually gave us a little gourd carved as an owl as a little gift.
by this time we only had about an hour and a half left till our bus would leave, and I followed some kids with a donkey out to what I thought would lead out of town. suddenly andean music filled the air, above us up a very very steep road was a flat churchyard of some type with what looked like dancing. and next to us on the road, was another live band playing inside a deep courtyard. This was a brass band, and we peered in and saw lots of folks eating, and drinking chicha, and then a nice white haired lady very graciously got up with her partner and did a very stately dance, very sexy and fun to watch. the folks inside kept waving us in. but we were a little reluctant and went a bit up the road. just at the right time, as down came a group of about 8 young teenage girls dressed in little yellow feathered hats and capes and matching yellow sweaters and andean skirts, dancing and singing in a call and response with their musicians who were 5 flute and drum players. it was so cool. they sometimes fluttered their white hankerchiefs around, a very common part of peruvian dance. the tune was definitely andean in tune and rhythm, however, they sang in spanish not quechua and they had so many verses. turns out the whole day was a celebration of the saint up in the higher church, a barrio meaning local neighborhood affair. they came down the street and then went right into the courtyard we had been spying on. they continued to sing and dance, and dance around in little circles waving their skirts forward and back. and look at us a little nervously. the folks waved us in again and we accepted! so there we were in a little courtyard inside its snug adobe walls with about 40 or more folks, and we were offered chicha the local beer and we accepted it, (yes it was a bad idea and I have gotten sick but so what it was so fun) and also we had the non alcoholic form, purple chicha. and they brought us huge plates of food hawaiian style, the usual fare here which is a mostly bone piece of incredible tough mutton on top of rice and fried potatoes. but since we had just eaten we could not accept. the main guy who had waved us was referred to as doctor by his pals so I asked but he was a local lawyer. he in turn introduced us to the guy who the dancing girls started honoring by piling all their white handkerchiefs around his neck. He turned out to be the local mayor. everyone was so nice to us, they encouraged us to film the dancers and take pictures and in turn they took pictures of us. I think we made their day and they made our day. it was so great. with great reluctance we left to get our bus, but not til Craig got some very warm hugs from the local alcoholic guy. Did I mention in this courtyard was a nice house and several shed areas, the women were in the far corner cooking, and above the house on the hay covered hillside, even more people were sitting looking down. very picturesque.
So, then at 4 ish, we unlocked our luggage and carried it down the street to where the bus would actually load. so many things were loaded in the bus, like bedframes and metal bars. young boys got on to sell us stuffed potatoes which we bought, and a woman with jellos. the bus was packed, every seat taken and ultimately the aisle entirely filled.
This next ride, was probably the most beautiful I had this trip. we went up and over the side of the mountain often skirting along it at the same altitude, past the most beautiful quilt of golden hayfields and green pastures and green crops. lots of shepherdesses in the local costume bringing their flocks home. the soil has a yellowish color and so do the local bricks and rooftiles. the sun was getting low and the color of the fields, houses and mountains was phenomenal. so many people as it got dark moved out to sit on a ridge with their families, often with a blazing outdoor fire. the houses are snug adobe with so few windows that I guess folks want every minute of sun. it was mellow light and it was absolutely entrancing. the road was still good, however this was an even more local bus so we made quite slow progress, even at one time coming to a complete stop in what was now darkness due to some unexplained stopped buses ahead of us. just as dusk fell also, we went entirely around a large andean lake which the locals love to visit for fishing and picnics. finally we wound our way into the town of huamachuco and got a local 3 wheeled moto taxi to our hotel on the square. It was cold! We are at about 10,000 feet here and the air does not retain warmth when its dark.
This is not, not, a touristy town. our little hotel, hostal huamachuco, (60 soles or about $22) is plenty clean with nice hot water and some character, several courtyards and we are way at the back where periodically this afternoon in the patio we heard the unmistakeable bleat of a sheep, somewhere. the local square in front of us is huge because it is one half of the original inca squares which were immense. and it is filled with sweet topiary figures of llamas, sheep, rabbits, kangaroos, and other figures. there is a stream of local traffic but this is almost all the local 3 wheeler motos and it´s good. late at night they did play rollicking music on a loudspeaker but this did not bother us.
Today, we got up early and teamed up with a 29 year old tourist from Lima named Javier. we have had such good luck. we went to the market and had a somewhat nauseating breakfast of sheeps head in broth with rice and or noodles, and then looked around for a ride. we were going to share the cost of a car for the day, about 70 soles, to take us up the mountain to the ruins of Marca Huamachuco, however, Javier and I convinced Craig that taking a combi minivan would be okay and off we went, with all the locals, about 5 km out of town to the entrance to the ruin. some of our books discuss this road from this point as being a 4wd disaster, but not so. in recent times the road to the ruins is nearly all paved, only the last few km are well graded dirt road, and we got off at the lower entrance to this road at the highway and walked about 3 km steeply up, up, up. it was gorgeous. the only thing that mars the local views is the gold mines in the distance which are all strip mines. soon we realized the mule road would be more direct than the dirt road and we went straight up, up, up, that.
Marca Huamachuco is on the flat top of this mountain. and once you reach the end of the road, the ruins begin. they go on and on for another 3 km. so we got lots of walking in and the entrance was free and we were escorted around by various friendly folks and we met two of the local professionals working on the site, a man and a woman who are part of the Global Heritage Fund from Palo Alto and they were also very welcoming. one of the guards got a little bit directive wanting to hurry us a long but we just ambled around marvelling at these beautiful extensive castle like buildings which are, some of them, 1,400 years old. it was so great. these are large, large castlelike structures many with double walls and some are huge round buildings like stadiums with lots and lots of rooms and structures inside them. the walls match the local cliffs and in the slightly overcast day it was sometimes hard to tell the walls from the cliffs. among the ruins, locals still live so shepherding and wheat threshing were going on here and there.
we were lucky enough to get a ride down in the back of the workmens truck all the way to town! so instead of walking back 9 km, we were back in a flash. after another tasty trout lunch in a restaurant on the square, and some more exploring in the town including the local museum, we got together with Javier again and this time walked out of town, down the canyon, to another set of more recent ruins which are Huari and Inca, on a flat area in the valley called Wiracocha pampa which means the field of the sacred ones or the field of the lords. the local officials overseeing this were very kind to us, made us sign several ledgers recording where we were from and then took us out into the ruins and showed us the inca road. the ruins are also extensive here, and they have been interplanted with plantations of eucalyptus trees by the locals.
suddenly, the sky turned dark, rain began, then hail, then rain in true earnest! we thought we were very lucky when a local car functioning as combi picked us up, and it only had one passenger a very nicely dressed andean lady in a shiny pleated blue underskirt, bright top skirt, shiny blouse with lace edgeings. but, alas the rain was fierce the adobe road turned slippery slidey and ultimately we had to get out and slosh up the hill. the nice andean lady was able to run up much faster than us, in her barefeet in sandals. we slipped and sloshed up and by the time we reached the top were so incredibly wet. as I write now my legs are still soaked although my feet are toasty in the hiking boots and I have changed to a new top and fleece. the streets are still shiny with rain but the town is plenty active. we are really enjoying our little stay in this place.
but, as our friends who were here before us told us, it´s not for tourists here. it took about a day to even locate the small, free museum and get some more info on things to do. the nighttime has very few tasty restaurants and everyone of them is focused on fried chicken it seems. people do their eating in the midday. we do hear there is a pizza restaurant and we are headed there next.
tomorrow if we are lucky we will go up the mountain to a high valley with lovely lake, a herd of vicunas and some nice sections of the inca royal highway which are preserved because they are all steps, straight up, into the mountains. then in the afternoon if our laundry is dry we are getting on another bus down to Trujillo, a colonial city on the coast near some great ruins. this bus, 6 hours, costs a little more, 25 soles, more than the 20 soles total we paid to get from Cajamarca to this place.
this area is so recently opened, it was quite easy to get in but the books describe it as far down slow dusty dirt roads. not so, it is paved all the way both ways in. and it probably will soon become a more popular part of the tourist trail since it has such neat, but undeveloped, ruins.
A bit more tourist info for this town. The actual Hotel colonial is not on the square, if you are on the top of the square looking down, go down the street to your right. there is a laundry right across the street from that hotel. our hotel Hostal huamachuco was nice enough, however they told us there was not a laundry so that they could wash our stuff.
On the square no one knows about any internet spots but along the street at the bottom of the square, if, looking down on the square you were to go to the left, there are several and there are more down near the market and a few more above the square.
The market is about 5 blocks down and is very pleasant.
The museum is a bit hard to find. basically the large square slants slightly downhill. about halfway down on each side it´s bisected by a streed which on one side is a nice pedestrian street (and on that side, about a blok down, is actually the office of the Marca Huamachuco / global heritage fund folks,and there a man named Percy was very helpful) and on the other side of the square it´s a street but about a block in is another tiny square and the museum which is small but free and really very nice. A guy there, Henry, was trying to help us arrange futhre travels, espeically up to a high altitude valley Coshuro where there is a lake, a breeding program for the rare elusive vicunas, and a part of the inca road which is a staircase. We were not able to arrange it but apparently it is very worth it up there, and also worth it to go out to some hot springs about 90 minutes away by combi.
I don´t know where the Horna station is, but the Tunesa station where we will leave from is just a block below the square on a side street. easy to get to. we came in on the cheaper bus from Cajabamba, Los Andes bus company and it had a station to the east side of town probably about 5 to 8 blocks or so from the center. not sure exactly.
for the best food I would probably try the real Hotel colonial. do not go to the colonial restaurant on the square it´s pretty abismal.
the town is a lot more lively a block or so below the square on Balta, and on a side street left from Balta that dead ends at the church there is a not bad pizzeria. I would definitely choose that for the evening meal unless you like chicken which at night is your only choice pretty much.
No comments:
Post a Comment