July 7th has been a long time in coming! At your 4th of July gathering you showed friends and family the website of the "Around the Block 2010" trip and saw on the map the progress being made by team 'A'.
Humberto meets you as you come out of customs. You are fumbling to remember your Spanish, but he makes you feel very much at home as he guides you to the van waiting to take you to your hotel.
Hotel Antigua de Miraflores.... You sleep in (because you can!). Not until you wake up do you notice this incredible colonial 'casona' converted into a wonderful hotel.. And the best part: your childhood friend, David Wroughton owns it!
You have all day here in Lima as your bus to Huanuco doesn't leave until 10pm! It is theoretically 'winter' in Lima, but it's still fun to go down to the cliffs overlooking the ocean.. and it's only 3 blocks from your hotel!
Team 'A' , left Huancayo this morning en route to Huanuco and they should arrive there late this afternoon...
Humberto is back at the hotel around 9pm with your bus tickets in hand and a van to take you there. He warns you to be somewhat careful in the La Victoria section of Lima at night.....
July 8th passes to July 9th sometime as you pass Ticlio. Your bus arrives in
Huanuco at 6am, where team 'A' are there to meet you and show your Hostal Huanuco.
Early in the afternoon, the "Motociclistas X Cristo" from 'Mil Palmeras' church in Pucallpa begin arriving on their motos. They will be joining us for the northern route (all of 'B' and the first part of 'C') of ATB. We have a Pachamanca planned for tonight! Then it's saying goodbye to team 'A' as they board their bus at 10pm. But it's early to bed for us as we have a big day tomorrow...
Saturday, July 10th, we hit the road early
(map).
Breakfast will be on the trail, among the pre-incan ruins of Huanuco Viejo. By noon we are at the top... over 16,000 ft above sea level! From there we can see the snow covered
Cordillera Huayhuash off to the north west. That's where we are headed!
Early afternoon finds us eating a late lunch beside the
Pastoruri Glacier. If I recall correctly, class of '80 walked upon this during their Senior Trip! We can't pass this way and not walk out on the glacier ourselves! Come on!
The sun is low in the sky as we wind our way down west to Recuay, then north into Huaraz. We will be staying at
Hostal Albergue Churup, a hostel built like a small alpine village. Sitting beside the fireplace of the great room, the view of the snow-covered Huascaran peak is AMAZING!
Sunday, July 11th. Although this IS a rest day for us in Huaraz, tomorrow is going to be the hardest day of the whole trip, so to get a jump on it we are going to mosey on up the highway to Caraz in the afternoon
(map). We have reserved a great little place called
Los Pinos Lodge. This will shorten Monday's trek by 66 km at least....
Monday, July 12th we head out early
(map). This first part is called
"El Canyon del Pato" video. It is a labyrinth of switchbacks and tunnels through a rocky canyon,.... stark and beautiful (these moto guys on the video are WAY too overloaded!) There is a reason we travel light and nimble.
We reach Chuquicara and turn away from the main road to follow the path taken by Simon Bolivar in his liberation of South America from the Spanish. We follow the valley northeast as it climbs. The road is narrow beside the river, rocky and solitary. Most of the traffic takes the high paved route through Cabana, but the low route is faster (on a moto!)
There are many mines in this area, and that is the reason there is even a road! Alot of culture (and poverty) up here in these mountains. Late afternoon, if we have time, before we enter Huamachuco, we should check out some great
pre-incan ruins of Markahuamachuco just off of our road.
We will stay the night at
Hostal Huamachuco, right on the Plaza de Armas. Relax tonight. Even tho tomorrow is a driving day, it is almost all asphalt and not too long.
Tuesday, July 13th, we head out without breakfast. It's okay, we are stopping at
Sausacocha first thing to have fresh fried trout for breakfast
(map). ! I can tell you, there's no better way to start the day!
Our goal today is Cajamarca. At Cajabamba we hit pavement. Legend has it that a great quantity of gold was being sent from the southern regions of Peru for the ransom of Inca Atahualpa in Cajamarca. But when the couriers, upon reaching Cajabamba, found out that Atahualpa had finally been murdered, they buried the gold somewhere here in Cajabamba.
Cajamarca was the northern capital of the Inca Empire. We are staying the two nights at
"Los Balcones de la Recoleta". This 19th century building has charismatic, rickety rooms surrounding a plant-filled courtyard. Hot showers, cable TV, comfortable beds, and a small restaurant make it the perfect inn for our group.
During our "rest day" here we will take the opportunity to go out to the
"Banos del Inca", a series of natural hot baths set with Incan stone work. Nothing better for the aching muscles!
Thursday, July 15th. This is always my favorite part; heading from the "sierra" down into the "montana", or the mountain jungle
(map). That is what today will be except that we will drop and climb 3 times... but we will finally be in warmer climes.
Leaving Cajamarca, and on past the baths, we climb a little, then drop down to Balsas on the river. From there it is a climb up into the clouds and thru the pass called
"Abra Barro Negro". This is because of the humidity coming across the Amazon basin that "dumps" on the high pass. Once we come out of the clouds, we can see the valley below and Leymebamba laid out north and south. I wish we had more time; this valley has some incredible treasures southward.
If our arrival in Leymebamba is early enough, we will check out the famous museum full of
Chachapoyan mummies found around the Laguna de los Condores (pix) a few hours south of here. Heading north up the valley we soon pass the town of Chachapoyas and continue a few km on to the little town of San Juan. The road tightly winds and winds up the side of the mountain until we arrive on a semi-flat area where the town is built. We plan to stay at the new "Norton Rats/Chachapoyas" hostel.
Friday is for exploring. But the only problem is that there is so much to see and only one day to do it in! Of course there is the
Gocta falls (3rd highest waterfall in the world), but that takes a 3 hr hike in to the base! Then there is
Kuelap, the huge pre-incan city perched on the side of a mountain. The Chachapoya tribe were known as fierce fighters and referred to as the "cloud people". Their civilization was from 800 AD to 1500 AD, and they held off the Inca for many decades.
Saturday, July 17th, is the ride to Moyobamba. Which route we take will depend on if we are on schedule or not and if it has recently rained or not. The sure route will be heading north out of Chachapoyas to meet the highway from the coast, then turning east. This route is almost all paved and under 250 km. The "adventurous route"
(map) option will be heading east and south from Chachapoyas along gravel roads to Mendoza and Omia, then picking up the little known trail (only shown on some maps) northeast to Nuevo Horizonte and Soritor, meeting the west to east highway at Calzada,
just a few minutes from Moyobamba. The maps that do show this route designate it as 202 km long.
Next morning, Sunday, we will even have enough time for a leisurely breakfast and church, before we mount up for the 'afternoon stroll' 115 km down the pavement to Tarapoto
(map). Our friends on team 'C' will be arriving on the 10:00 pm flight from Lima. We will arrive ahead of them, get settled in our quaint 'tipico'
Hostal Patarashca, then all go out to the airport to receive them!
Tarapoto is a great place for a reunion! Don't forget that many friends from Pucallpa are here too! We all go out for some cecina y tacacho on the street. Life is short, and rarely do you get to spend it with such friends as these!
Monday, the 19th of July. After all you've seen and done in the last two weeks, you thot this day would never come.... But come evening, you will be saying good bye to everyone as you fly back to Lima! Of course, Humberto will be there to meet you in Lima and get you to Hotel Antigua again. You have until late tonight to get last minute shopping in. You meet David and Julie Scott and Paul and Becky Nystrom for dinner there in Miraflores.
Before you know it you are back in the airport and flying home. "Home".... such a strange word.... After the past 14 days, you are wondering again where "home" really is.....
