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| Laguna 69, 2013.05.08 |
In the bus we noticed that our bag (which was on the top shelf) has moved a couple of times. Then we spotted the thief who tried to rob us. We took our bags and put them on our knees. The guy just left the bus during the first stop.
We finally passed the border and arrived to Peru. At the first glance, the country seemed very different from Colombia and Ecuador. The landscape changed: desert full with garbage, small and broken houses built from dirt. It felt as if we entered a different continent, as if we arrived to how we imagined Pakistan or Afghanistan would look. When we arrived to Piura, we were not able to find a nice and inexpensive hostel. All of them were really dirty. So, we picked the cheapest one with dirty walls and bed sheets, but it had cable. We were woken up in the middle of the night by somebody talking very loudly. They did not stop making all kinds of noises until early morning. We left the first thing in the morning. At least, the food was definitely better than in Ecuador. In Piura I tried now my best Peruvian food - Lomo Saltado (marinated meat and onions with vegetables, rice and potatoes).
Chiclayo was the second stop after Piura. On the way to Chiclayo we saw sand and trash again, only the center was clean and beautiful. The buses between cities were nice, mostly double deckers with few people selling the goods inside, not like in Ecuador, where it felt like inside the market.
We found a decent hostel with a nice room with a lot of light on the 4-th floor and started searching Chiclayo and its surroundings. We went to Tucume, where the pyramids are, but it wasn´t very impressive. On the way back we stopped in Chiclayo market. Jotvinge had a camera with her on her shoulder. Some kid tried to steal it: grabbed the camera and pulled on it very hard, but camera´s strap did not break. She started shouting, but he just moved couple of steps back looking at her. Then I stepped towards him, he started going away, but not running, even tried to scare me. The thief only ran away when Jotvinge tried to take a picture of him. She did not get a shot.
We tried some Peruvian sweets: two cookies with condensate milk inside. It was too sweet, even for me. Coffee in Peru cost more than in Ecuador or Colombia. As far as we noticed, it was not a lot to see in the northern Peru: just sand, dirt and garbage everywhere.
We decided to go more south. Huanchaco was the next stop, a small town near the Pacific Ocean. There was not possible to swim because of the rocks, but it was a paradise for surfers. The waves were usually 2-3 meters high. We liked this town, it was nice to relax there for a few days. We found a nice hostel for a good price, surrounded by inexpensive and good restaurants. We had the best ceviche (raw fish marinated in lemon) there. We met some nice people in Huanchaco, also accidentally we met an American couple, who we first met in Cartagena, Colombia. It was nice to see them again.
After a relaxing time in Huanchaco, we rolled to Cordillera Blanca (white mountain range) region Ancash capital town Huaraz. It is a nice town with an altitude of 3090 meters and amazing views of mountain range with snow peaks, the highest of which is Huascaran (6789m). As we arrived, we let ourselves get used to the altitude for a couple of days. Then we started hiking. One day went to laguna Wilkacocha, which was at 3700 m. Another day we went to Llaganuco lake and Laguna 69. It was difficult to reach Laguna 69, but once we finally got there, we thought we were out of space. The VIEW was spectacular: crystal blue water, surrounded by mountains with their snow peaks merging with the sky.
Another hike was to mountain Pastoruri (5240m). It was an easier hike because our tour bus took us to the altitude of 5000 m. On the top we saw 2 lakes with small icebergs and surrounded by huge snow piles. Beautiful. I would say laguna 69 and mountain Pastoruri was by far the best scenery we have ever seen. Near Huaraz there is a small town of Monterey, where they have thermal baths, which we visited one day too. Jotvinge was sick a little bit because of the weather changes throughout the day, altitude and exhaustion, but we enjoyed mountain range in Ancash. Also, mangos were very delicious there, as well as their chicken.
Another stop was Lima. We heard a lot of bad stories about this city (that it is very dangerous, especially in the center), so we prepared for the worst. When we arrived in the dark, we felt safe enough to walk from the bus station to the colonial Lima, looking for a hostel. We found a beautiful and a great value hostel in the center on the 14th floor with a view of a beautiful huge city (around 8.2 million people). The next day we visited 5 museums and went to a fountain show (13 beautiful fountains show!!). Lima´s center is very beautiful with lots to do. After sand and mountains, it was very nice to feel a big city´s spirit, enjoy beautiful architecture. By the way, it was a lot of police and army guards there because president Bill Clinton was visiting Peru. It was nice atmosphere there, and we are looking forward to coming back in July for our flight back to Chicago.
From Lima we decided to go to Nasca, recommended to visit town because of the famous ancient lines and figures, drawn by indigenous a 1000 years ago. The town itself and Nasca lines are definitely overrated, in our minds. The town is small, and people were trying to suck the money out of you. They were charging crazy amounts of money for the tours to see the lines. Instead, we just took a local bus to see them for very cheap. Nothing amazing. The only thing that was interesting that it haven´t rained in this area for a 1000 years. The people offer to see the Nasca lines from the plane (maybe it would be a nicer view, but definitely expensive). We bought bus ticket to Arequipa, which was expensive too. As far as we noticed Nasca was like a trap - if you get there, you will pay a lot for everything and couldn´t get out of there cheap either. After visiting Nasca, we lost desire to visit Macchu Picchu and Cusco.
We arrived to Arequipa around 3AM, but we found accommodation pretty easy. Arequipa welcomed us with cold and rainy days and very cold nights. I got sick, so we needed to stay for a couple of days there, plus we needed to acclimatize to the altitude once more. Next was Colca Canyon (one of the deepest canyons in the world). We took the bus to the heart of Colca Canyon town Cabanaconde. After driving for 2 hours, bus stopped because we almost lost 2 rear tires (good that it did not happen on the mountain road)! We waited for two hours for a replacement bus. We hiked for 3 days in Colca canyon. We went to the thermal baths on the river´s shore in the middle of the canyon. A fun fact was that we had 2 dogs following us around for those 3 days. We ate together, one of them even slept in our room. It was heartbreaking to leave them (one tried to get into our taxi). We had fun time in Colca Canyon! We saw lama, named Pepe, which was very friendly. Overall we saw a lot of lamas, vicunas (similar to gazelles). Last day was the most difficult, we needed to ascend 1 km. But it was rewarding also, we saw beautiful, huge condors from very close. It was amazing. Going back after a few days, the bus broke down before leaving the bus station- dead battery. Driver asked passengers to leave the bus and push it (it was fun!!).
After Colca we rolled to Puno, to the lake Titikaka. Spent one day there, it was cold because of the altitude. Lake is more beautiful on Bolivia´s side. So next day we took the bus to Copacabana, Bolivia.
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