To the highlands

After2 days in Lambayeque, which is a nice enough little town because quieter than bustling  noisy modern Chiclayoand with a few nice colonial buildings left, plus 2 fabulous museums, we were ready to head for the hILLS: In Peru you can travel quite comfortably by bus. you have to buy tickets quite far in advance though!  Thursday night we realizeD FFriday´s luxury overnight bus to Chiclayo only had 2 spaces left so we rushed into Chiclayo at night to buy them and to have dinner at a fancy place,La Fiesta.  wined and dined.  So lastnight Friday we came about an hour early to the bus station, where we had droppedo ff our bags a few hours before, and waited anxiously in what seemed pandemonium. But everything worked fine. we were using Movil whichi s recommended. at 9 pm we got on our very, very spacious and comfy´bed´seats, they do not fully fully recline but they may as well, we sleptlike babies.when dawn came we were in this amazing canyon,one of the deepest,of the Utcubamba river, and it looks like the steepest cliffs in the hawaiian pali, and the bus, on a really very very good fast road along the river,sometimeshad to dive under cliff overhangs blasted out of the canyon wall to make the road. an hour or so later we arrived at 7 am in Chachapoyasand what a gem of a little town. The streets are tidy, all the walls are whitewashed,all the roofs are dark tile, allthe doors and windows are a mohagony color wood, and the people are so friendly.  the mainsquare has a few palm trees in it even though we are at 7,700 feet, and the surrounding hills are covered in misty vegetation because the rains have come a little early. thse are Amazon basin rains, so the next few watersheds apparently may still be entirely dry.

We are happily esconced in the lovely Hotel Revash, right on the square, with orchids and bromeliads in its central courtyard, huge high ceilinged room with a balcony, really nice staff,great breakfast of eggs, fruit, avocado, coffee. hotel is 80 soles about $30 and breakfast was 7 soles about 2 bucks.  and tomorrow we will go spend a night in a simple traditional hut with hot water and comfy beds up in the higher mountain town of Levanto, then hike down an old inca trail back to Chachapoyas.  The next day we hope to catch an Andean festival in the town of Luya, and the following day visit the great ruins of Kuelap.  This afternoon if it stops raining we will hike out to an overlook of the apparently phenomenal waterfall called Chocta.  And in between we will have tasty andean food, soups and stews and quinoa perhaps. yumm! 

this is the view from our hotel: