Lima to Caraz
27.11.09
"Esa es no cuchara; ESTA es un cuchara!!" I quoted to Roberto.
We met Roberto and his two friends just 10km out of a town called Huacho on our second day from Lima. He was a friendly fellow and excited to show off his limited English to his mates.
To pick up our flagging energy, we had stopped to buy some fruit from a typical local fruit stand near a highway Toll station and soon Roberto (and ‘Bob’ the trailer) had attracted a total of 10 onlookers.
Learning that we were from Australia, Roberto was excited to mention Croc Dundee and in my haste to further build our rapport I attempted to translate Dundee's famous line:’ That's not a knife; THIS is a knife’. Unfortunately what came out (not helped by my poor grammar) was "That's not a spoon; THIS is a spoon". Mistaking cuchara/spoon with cuchillo/knife I persevered and repeated:
"Esa es no cuchara; ESTA es un cuchara." this time with more emphasis and using some hand actions of drawing a spoon from its scabbard.
Finally and thankfully after the third attempt I repeated:
"Esa es no cuchara; ESTA es un cuchara." but this time repeating cuchara, cuchara a few times to really cement my stupidity.
Finally they overcame the obstacle and worked it out and broke down the cultural barriers I had attempted to build and we all had a good laugh. Anita whispered in my ear what I had really said.
Riding out of Lima however was no laughing matter. We left at 10am on the dot hoping to be after the morning rush hour and before the lunch rush hour. It was a tactic that paid off as the only casualty was the loss of my precious dog stick/bicycle stand/walking stick/self defence weapon.
We were fortunate to have a good tail wind helping us through the tense sections. There was also often a light descent which pushed us over 30 km/h and was sufficient to keep the speed differential between us and the trucks manageable. However, it was at a particularly tense section that my stick wriggled free. There was no shoulder and four lanes of traffic so as it bounced I looked back and watched it roll into lane 2 and head for lane 3 and 4. I said a sad goodbye in my mind and turned back to watch Anita. This was no time to worry about a piece of wood. I didn't want to join my stick under those massive truck wheels...
It was a very intense day all up but as we turned off the freeway to Ancon, to take the truck and bus only bypass to Chancay, we began to relax. The pace slowed, the scenery turned wonderful and the road sliced through the sand dunes with grandiose views to the sea. The sky was pastel blue in its haze, blending seamlessly with the ocean. And the gentle curves of sandy mountains were cut by a black ribbon of asphalt. Spectacular and though the grime of the freeway was still on our skin, we were refreshed by the beauty and starkness of the scenery around us.
Though we had actually covered more than 5000km; we found a prime piece of real estate on a sandy cliff on which to mark the milestone. The 7500 km mark should be in Ecuador somewhere but we aren't sure where and whether there will be a 10,000km milestone.
We passed a crazy scene where a truck had gone well over the edge and there was a tiny trail of ants climbing up and down to seemingly loot the bags of rice. There was a strong highway police contingent on the road so we are sure it was all legitimate but in Peru you never really can be sure...
Chancay wasn't anything to talk about. And even Haucho or Barranca weren't so interesting but at Barranca we did make a half day side trip out to the 5000 year old ruins of Caral. The ruins were discovered in the early 1900's but only recently has their significance been registered in the Archeological world. It was only in June 2009 that UNESCO formally recognised the significance of the site.
There were a number of pyramids at Caral - none in spectacular repair - but it was quite interesting to walk around with a guide and gain some insights into a fairly civilised culture that was active around the same time as those other ancient cultures of Egypt and Mesopatamia. The archeologists suggest that some of the cultural attributes appear to have been passed down and shared all the way through to the Inca's by their use of more primitive god images and the use of the "Quipu" (some sort of accounting string). We saw an example of the Inca Quipu in the museum in Lima so that was pretty interesting. The ruins were a worthwhile side trip but it was good just to explore the valley off the bikes, travel by a local collectivo (shared taxi) and a combi (mini-van bus) and see country life with their crops and animals.
From Barranca we rode inland towards Huaraz which sits under the Cordillera Blanca said to be one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. But before we could get there, we had to climb from sea level up to a pass of 4100m. And so we climbed and climbed and climbed over the course of 3 and a half days. Every turn of the pedals allowed another small deposit into the Peruvian Bank of Potential Energy. 4100m is a nice fat bank balance upon which to draw on.
Our legs were strong, the views interesting, and our minds were confidant but on our last day Anita suffered a significant set back. She woke to a debilitating sore neck and back. Despite this she illustrated true courage slowly pulling herself up over the pass to allow us to descend the other side.
While we climbed I reflected on more than 6 months of marriage to Anita. While we hear the housing market in Sydney is going crazy, we are trading the last remnants of a possible albeit very small deposit towards only a shack of a house on the trip of a life time. Possibly not even enough for a rental bond! And what we are realising is that, for now, our challenges are sufficient to keep us happy, focussed and rewarded. Rather than build a house we are building strong foundations to a marriage and future together. Around us we can see so many people that will have less things in their lives than we carry on our bikes but their smiles illustrate their happiness with their own lot.
Near the pass at Conococha, we stopped to have lunch and experienced a great deal of unhappiness with our lot. The map showed it to be a relatively big town. The restaurants all looked pretty schmick, brightly painted with appetising looking menu boards. We chose one and sat down but things soon looked ominous when half the advertised offerings weren't available. The lady did have Caldo de Cabrito(Goat soup) which on previous occasions has been delicious. We accepted our fate but what came out was beyond revolting.
It seemed to be a broth of goat innards and scary bits. We did taste it in an attempt to drink the broth and avoid the scary bits but the flavour seemed to be overpowered by those very same scary "bits". So with the soup entirely untasty and things that looked like tripe, kidney and goat’s penis floating about, we apologised and took the soup back to her in the kitchen. It was not like we were Ewen McGreggor (the Long Way Around) in someone’s Yurt, we were paying for this. I ran to the other two restaurants to explore our options. None of them had anything else to offer, so we resigned ourselves to super greasy papas and huevos fritas (hot chips and fried eggs).
That night as we made our last camp out on the lonely Puna I reflected that it was one of my greatest regrets that I didn't take a photo of that soup! For in my haste to get it off our table quickly I had forgotten to record the moment.
Our camp was at about 3900m with the typical expanse of golden green grass and rolling hills. There was some contrast introduced by glimpses of the Cordillera Blanca obscured by a blanket of cloud and intermittent rain. Welcome to the Andes and the rainy season.
We woke early and full of anticipation about getting to Huaraz and a hotel after 4 nights in the tent. We stopped in for coffee and light breakfast in Recuay with Werner and his wife Maria (introduced via www.warmshowers.org - thanks Kouros). Lovely people and they invited us to stay but the bigger town of Huaraz was calling. Restaurants, hotels and a lower elevation beckoned us on.
We dropped nearly 1000m that day following the Rio Santa. As the air warmed, the density of people increased and so did the agricultural quality of the land. But all these improvements were inversely proportional to the road quality. Traffic increased and the potholes became craters. The road surface wasn't so dangerous but the trucks were as they avoided the craters by driving on our side of the road leaving us nowhere to go but the ditch.
We did have a big hearty laugh on the way. Typically there were dogs that would bark and chase and fortunately most were too late as we rolled by. In one instance we heard the grunts of two young pigs as they gave chase to us. However, it was all short-lived as their leg ropes soon stretched to their maximum like bungy cords and yanked the two buggers back flipping them upside down into the ditch from whence they had come. It was hilarious for us to see some come uppance – but more a pity that it doesn’t happen more often to the dogs out here.
Finally we arrived into Huaraz and coincidentally lovely Maria and her friend Mary had come from Recuay and to help us find a hotel. They were like two doting mothers making sure their kids were safe and sound. We appreciated their kindness but imagine their horror to see all the places we have slept in South America. :-)
The next day we took a side trip to Chavin, a town east of the Cordillera Blanca, to visit the ruins Chavin de Huantar. The ruins themselves weren't so spectacular but it was what lay beneath that had given us the impetus for a 3 hour, 1500m climb in a nasty bus over the mountain range. Stanford University seems to have sponsored much of the work here.
The Chavin people supposedly were the most active about 3000 years ago. Unlike the Caral people they knew about ceramics. they knew how to carve stone, and they knew how to build tunnels. Under the Chavin de Huantar ruins there is a labyrinth that "the experts" suspect were used to scare the peasants into surrendering their beliefs to the priests of the day. It is surmised that the priests pumped them up with the hallucinogenic drug from the San Pedro cactus and sent their "victims" into the labyrinth using clever techniques to create a scary noise and light show.
It is interesting to think of the power brokers of the Chavin society using such methods to maintain civil control of their society. They were also into Anthropomorphism which are combination creatures, part animal, part man. There was a very cool looking stone statue, the Lanzon, in one tunnel system that had a feline head and a body of a human. And of course as we toured through the tunnels we too could feel the pull of Anthropomorphism. Anita was most drawn to attempting transformation but fortunately we met Alex and Christina who helped me extract her in time.
Alex and Christina are a German couple touring on Motorcycles for 7 months from Ecuador to Ushuaia. Cool to meet them but it was most amusing to take photos of some visiting Peruvians go crazy wanting to be photographed with them. Though I suspect it was the blond headed Christina that was the main draw card.
We bailed on Huaraz after 2 nights. The rainy season meant there were no tourists and lots of closed businesses. The rain was somewhat depressing and the civil works outside our hotel had cut off the water supply. Too many indicators - we bolted for Caraz.
What an excellent decision it was. Caraz has to be our number one favourite "tidy town" in Peru. People are kind, gentle, easy going but busy. The town is super clean. The plaza is pleasant to walk around with its enormous palms and a fountain painted silver and red. Our hotel had a little balcony looking out over the plaza and for 45 Soles per night ($18 AUD) with warm-ish showers, a firm bed, and WiFi we were happy getting blogs, letters, post cards, web pictures and internet banking sorted out.
The days improved with what we understand are more typical rainy season weather. Light cloud or even super clear in the mornings followed by increasing cloud over the day and often heavy rain and wind in the afternoons.
We did one side trip in a taxi up into the Cordillera Negra to the west of Caraz, to catch a glimpse at the Cordillera Blanca to the east and to look at the famous Puya Raimondii plant. We were blessed on both sides with views of Santa Cruz, Huandoy and Huascaran and the famous Puya.
We met Roberto and his two friends just 10km out of a town called Huacho on our second day from Lima. He was a friendly fellow and excited to show off his limited English to his mates.
To pick up our flagging energy, we had stopped to buy some fruit from a typical local fruit stand near a highway Toll station and soon Roberto (and ‘Bob’ the trailer) had attracted a total of 10 onlookers.
Learning that we were from Australia, Roberto was excited to mention Croc Dundee and in my haste to further build our rapport I attempted to translate Dundee's famous line:’ That's not a knife; THIS is a knife’. Unfortunately what came out (not helped by my poor grammar) was "That's not a spoon; THIS is a spoon". Mistaking cuchara/spoon with cuchillo/knife I persevered and repeated:
"Esa es no cuchara; ESTA es un cuchara." this time with more emphasis and using some hand actions of drawing a spoon from its scabbard.
Finally and thankfully after the third attempt I repeated:
"Esa es no cuchara; ESTA es un cuchara." but this time repeating cuchara, cuchara a few times to really cement my stupidity.
Finally they overcame the obstacle and worked it out and broke down the cultural barriers I had attempted to build and we all had a good laugh. Anita whispered in my ear what I had really said.
Riding out of Lima however was no laughing matter. We left at 10am on the dot hoping to be after the morning rush hour and before the lunch rush hour. It was a tactic that paid off as the only casualty was the loss of my precious dog stick/bicycle stand/walking stick/self defence weapon.
We were fortunate to have a good tail wind helping us through the tense sections. There was also often a light descent which pushed us over 30 km/h and was sufficient to keep the speed differential between us and the trucks manageable. However, it was at a particularly tense section that my stick wriggled free. There was no shoulder and four lanes of traffic so as it bounced I looked back and watched it roll into lane 2 and head for lane 3 and 4. I said a sad goodbye in my mind and turned back to watch Anita. This was no time to worry about a piece of wood. I didn't want to join my stick under those massive truck wheels...
It was a very intense day all up but as we turned off the freeway to Ancon, to take the truck and bus only bypass to Chancay, we began to relax. The pace slowed, the scenery turned wonderful and the road sliced through the sand dunes with grandiose views to the sea. The sky was pastel blue in its haze, blending seamlessly with the ocean. And the gentle curves of sandy mountains were cut by a black ribbon of asphalt. Spectacular and though the grime of the freeway was still on our skin, we were refreshed by the beauty and starkness of the scenery around us.
Though we had actually covered more than 5000km; we found a prime piece of real estate on a sandy cliff on which to mark the milestone. The 7500 km mark should be in Ecuador somewhere but we aren't sure where and whether there will be a 10,000km milestone.
We passed a crazy scene where a truck had gone well over the edge and there was a tiny trail of ants climbing up and down to seemingly loot the bags of rice. There was a strong highway police contingent on the road so we are sure it was all legitimate but in Peru you never really can be sure...
Chancay wasn't anything to talk about. And even Haucho or Barranca weren't so interesting but at Barranca we did make a half day side trip out to the 5000 year old ruins of Caral. The ruins were discovered in the early 1900's but only recently has their significance been registered in the Archeological world. It was only in June 2009 that UNESCO formally recognised the significance of the site.
There were a number of pyramids at Caral - none in spectacular repair - but it was quite interesting to walk around with a guide and gain some insights into a fairly civilised culture that was active around the same time as those other ancient cultures of Egypt and Mesopatamia. The archeologists suggest that some of the cultural attributes appear to have been passed down and shared all the way through to the Inca's by their use of more primitive god images and the use of the "Quipu" (some sort of accounting string). We saw an example of the Inca Quipu in the museum in Lima so that was pretty interesting. The ruins were a worthwhile side trip but it was good just to explore the valley off the bikes, travel by a local collectivo (shared taxi) and a combi (mini-van bus) and see country life with their crops and animals.
From Barranca we rode inland towards Huaraz which sits under the Cordillera Blanca said to be one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. But before we could get there, we had to climb from sea level up to a pass of 4100m. And so we climbed and climbed and climbed over the course of 3 and a half days. Every turn of the pedals allowed another small deposit into the Peruvian Bank of Potential Energy. 4100m is a nice fat bank balance upon which to draw on.
Our legs were strong, the views interesting, and our minds were confidant but on our last day Anita suffered a significant set back. She woke to a debilitating sore neck and back. Despite this she illustrated true courage slowly pulling herself up over the pass to allow us to descend the other side.
While we climbed I reflected on more than 6 months of marriage to Anita. While we hear the housing market in Sydney is going crazy, we are trading the last remnants of a possible albeit very small deposit towards only a shack of a house on the trip of a life time. Possibly not even enough for a rental bond! And what we are realising is that, for now, our challenges are sufficient to keep us happy, focussed and rewarded. Rather than build a house we are building strong foundations to a marriage and future together. Around us we can see so many people that will have less things in their lives than we carry on our bikes but their smiles illustrate their happiness with their own lot.
Near the pass at Conococha, we stopped to have lunch and experienced a great deal of unhappiness with our lot. The map showed it to be a relatively big town. The restaurants all looked pretty schmick, brightly painted with appetising looking menu boards. We chose one and sat down but things soon looked ominous when half the advertised offerings weren't available. The lady did have Caldo de Cabrito(Goat soup) which on previous occasions has been delicious. We accepted our fate but what came out was beyond revolting.
It seemed to be a broth of goat innards and scary bits. We did taste it in an attempt to drink the broth and avoid the scary bits but the flavour seemed to be overpowered by those very same scary "bits". So with the soup entirely untasty and things that looked like tripe, kidney and goat’s penis floating about, we apologised and took the soup back to her in the kitchen. It was not like we were Ewen McGreggor (the Long Way Around) in someone’s Yurt, we were paying for this. I ran to the other two restaurants to explore our options. None of them had anything else to offer, so we resigned ourselves to super greasy papas and huevos fritas (hot chips and fried eggs).
That night as we made our last camp out on the lonely Puna I reflected that it was one of my greatest regrets that I didn't take a photo of that soup! For in my haste to get it off our table quickly I had forgotten to record the moment.
Our camp was at about 3900m with the typical expanse of golden green grass and rolling hills. There was some contrast introduced by glimpses of the Cordillera Blanca obscured by a blanket of cloud and intermittent rain. Welcome to the Andes and the rainy season.
We woke early and full of anticipation about getting to Huaraz and a hotel after 4 nights in the tent. We stopped in for coffee and light breakfast in Recuay with Werner and his wife Maria (introduced via www.warmshowers.org - thanks Kouros). Lovely people and they invited us to stay but the bigger town of Huaraz was calling. Restaurants, hotels and a lower elevation beckoned us on.
We dropped nearly 1000m that day following the Rio Santa. As the air warmed, the density of people increased and so did the agricultural quality of the land. But all these improvements were inversely proportional to the road quality. Traffic increased and the potholes became craters. The road surface wasn't so dangerous but the trucks were as they avoided the craters by driving on our side of the road leaving us nowhere to go but the ditch.
We did have a big hearty laugh on the way. Typically there were dogs that would bark and chase and fortunately most were too late as we rolled by. In one instance we heard the grunts of two young pigs as they gave chase to us. However, it was all short-lived as their leg ropes soon stretched to their maximum like bungy cords and yanked the two buggers back flipping them upside down into the ditch from whence they had come. It was hilarious for us to see some come uppance – but more a pity that it doesn’t happen more often to the dogs out here.
Finally we arrived into Huaraz and coincidentally lovely Maria and her friend Mary had come from Recuay and to help us find a hotel. They were like two doting mothers making sure their kids were safe and sound. We appreciated their kindness but imagine their horror to see all the places we have slept in South America. :-)
The next day we took a side trip to Chavin, a town east of the Cordillera Blanca, to visit the ruins Chavin de Huantar. The ruins themselves weren't so spectacular but it was what lay beneath that had given us the impetus for a 3 hour, 1500m climb in a nasty bus over the mountain range. Stanford University seems to have sponsored much of the work here.
The Chavin people supposedly were the most active about 3000 years ago. Unlike the Caral people they knew about ceramics. they knew how to carve stone, and they knew how to build tunnels. Under the Chavin de Huantar ruins there is a labyrinth that "the experts" suspect were used to scare the peasants into surrendering their beliefs to the priests of the day. It is surmised that the priests pumped them up with the hallucinogenic drug from the San Pedro cactus and sent their "victims" into the labyrinth using clever techniques to create a scary noise and light show.
It is interesting to think of the power brokers of the Chavin society using such methods to maintain civil control of their society. They were also into Anthropomorphism which are combination creatures, part animal, part man. There was a very cool looking stone statue, the Lanzon, in one tunnel system that had a feline head and a body of a human. And of course as we toured through the tunnels we too could feel the pull of Anthropomorphism. Anita was most drawn to attempting transformation but fortunately we met Alex and Christina who helped me extract her in time.
Alex and Christina are a German couple touring on Motorcycles for 7 months from Ecuador to Ushuaia. Cool to meet them but it was most amusing to take photos of some visiting Peruvians go crazy wanting to be photographed with them. Though I suspect it was the blond headed Christina that was the main draw card.
We bailed on Huaraz after 2 nights. The rainy season meant there were no tourists and lots of closed businesses. The rain was somewhat depressing and the civil works outside our hotel had cut off the water supply. Too many indicators - we bolted for Caraz.
What an excellent decision it was. Caraz has to be our number one favourite "tidy town" in Peru. People are kind, gentle, easy going but busy. The town is super clean. The plaza is pleasant to walk around with its enormous palms and a fountain painted silver and red. Our hotel had a little balcony looking out over the plaza and for 45 Soles per night ($18 AUD) with warm-ish showers, a firm bed, and WiFi we were happy getting blogs, letters, post cards, web pictures and internet banking sorted out.
The days improved with what we understand are more typical rainy season weather. Light cloud or even super clear in the mornings followed by increasing cloud over the day and often heavy rain and wind in the afternoons.
We did one side trip in a taxi up into the Cordillera Negra to the west of Caraz, to catch a glimpse at the Cordillera Blanca to the east and to look at the famous Puya Raimondii plant. We were blessed on both sides with views of Santa Cruz, Huandoy and Huascaran and the famous Puya.
The site of the Cordillera Blanca was breathtaking and brilliant. The mountains clear but clouding as the morning progressed. Our views were unblemished looking nearly horizontally at them from 4100m. It is somewhat sad to reflect that they won’t necessarily be the Cordillera Blanca forever but I suspect there is some time yet to see them in all their glory. I think we will be back one day for a few trekking expeditions.
With regards to the Puya, I am no botanist and rarely all that into plants. I'm all for the forest, not so much for each little tree but when you see the Puya Raimondii in flower you can't help but be overwhelmed at just how amazing Mother Nature / Pachamama really is. This bromeliad basically looks like an unimpressive succulent until the day it decides to flower. But when the Puya decides that its time has come this plant launches a stalk some 6m to 10m into the air and sends 1000's of flowers sprouting from the stalk. Supposedly once the flowering is over the Puya dies, satisfied it has done all it possibly can to carry on its bloodline. I was personally gob smacked that
1. We were even lucky enough to see one in bloom. They flower so rarely that you know you are truly blessed on this earth to see the spectacle.
2. The plant flowers so rarely and then dies. It is no wonder really as the time and energy required to create something so beautiful, and of such enormity and quantity is probably sufficient to smack the life out of anything.
3. At the tragic poetry of its life cycle. To create and then to die: you can't help but be touched somewhere in your soul.
Magnificent.
In Caraz, we stayed long enough that we were on a first name basis with the ladies at the post office. Our favourite restaurant in town, Cafe La Terraza serves delicious set lunches (Menu del dia - menu of the day) for about $2.5 AUD. We nearly even went to a wedding.
We loved the food so much that we asked to take a photo of the wait and kitchen staff. They obliged us. It was highly amusing getting them to pose. They were so thrilled to see their photo that they asked for a copy. We were able to get 6 copies printed at the developer around the corner. It was pretty cool to see their smiles as they looked at themselves in their own hard copy photo.
But ultimately all good things must come to an end. On Monday November 23, we headed down hill towards the Cañon del Pato, Trujillo and yet another epic adventure.
Regards,
Stuart and Anita
In Caraz, we stayed long enough that we were on a first name basis with the ladies at the post office. Our favourite restaurant in town, Cafe La Terraza serves delicious set lunches (Menu del dia - menu of the day) for about $2.5 AUD. We nearly even went to a wedding.
We loved the food so much that we asked to take a photo of the wait and kitchen staff. They obliged us. It was highly amusing getting them to pose. They were so thrilled to see their photo that they asked for a copy. We were able to get 6 copies printed at the developer around the corner. It was pretty cool to see their smiles as they looked at themselves in their own hard copy photo.
But ultimately all good things must come to an end. On Monday November 23, we headed down hill towards the Cañon del Pato, Trujillo and yet another epic adventure.
Regards,
Stuart and Anita
Posted byStuart Kane at 9:20 PM
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