Helen
Probably not the best combination really! So far we’ve cycled through three South American countries, Colombia, Ecuador and now Peru, and they’re all non-vegetarian friendly and pro-sugar friendly! It was quite a novelty in the beginning being laughed at when I said ‘soy vegetariano’ in a restaurant or asked for ‘sin azucar’ in our coffee. But now it’s becoming a little frustrating and by the time we arrive in Peru to another ‘it’s just a little bit of chicken’ event in the market, we’re becoming disillusioned! However, when we arrive in Cajamarca, Chris finds a veggie restaurant! Not only that, it’s full of locals which means it must be good! My faith is restored. However, I’m digressing, back to Ecuador…
From our hotel room in Loja in southern Ecuador we set off at 6am in the Dawn light on our bicycles and travel four miles to the bus terminal. There’s something quite magical about cycling in the early morning when the sun hasn’t quite risen, it’s fairly quiet but the world is just awakening. It’s an easy exchange buying two bus tickets, with two bicycles and load of panniers, to Jaen in Peru, even with my poor Spanish! And even easier boarding the bus, the drivers assistant has no problem with our overloaded bikes, he simply lifts them, panniers attached, into one of the lower compartments, and off we set on our 12-hour journey.
It’s a beautiful journey winding up through the mountains, back down into arid almost desert conditions, then back up to the mountains with expansive views before dropping right down into the humid jungle along the river, through banana plantations until we reach Jaen in Peru at 700m high. The border crossing is really nothing spectacular, in fact, there’s not even a ‘Bienvenidos a Peru’ sign to mark the crossing. We get off the bus at the Ecuadorean side of the river, enter the tiny office with one male guard who quickly stamps us out of Ecuador, walk across the bridge and enter the Peruvian office, we’re given the standard 90 day visa stamp and shown the door.
There’s no obvious differences entering Peru, however I do notice ‘Moto taxis’ parked on the Peruvian side of the border, and as we climb towards Jaen they become a common form of transport, something we haven’t seen since the caribe. The other thing is that although the language changes only subtly between countries, the currency does change, and we quickly have to adapt to using Peruvian soles rather than American dollars. I have to subtly point out to Chris at one point that he may be being a bit harsh as he haughtily laughs at one poor man in a restaurant when he wants to charge us 6 soles for a lunch – Chris thinks he’s asking us for $6 dollars but it’s actually just over a £1! We arrive at Jaen after a 12 hour journey, our bikes intact, we put our bike lights on and set off towards the hospedaje we’ve booked. We arrange with the mini bus company to return the following day at 9.30am for our onward journey to Cajamarca. He’s very friendly and relaxed, and says there’ll be no problem taking us and our bikes. Of course when we arrive the next day at 9.10am, we’re told the bus is full and we’ll have to get the next one at 1pm! So we return at 12pm just to make sure we can get a seat. Our panniers and bikes are loaded onto the roof of the mini bus, and we board, along with what seemed like a lot of other people, including their bags, their children, and even a box of baby chicks tweeting away.
The journey was certainly one to be remembered, for 8 hours we wound our way up and down winding hills, through canyons, on and off dirt roads, madly overtaking mining lorries on precarious corners! At various villages we stopped and picked random people up with their luggage slowly creeping around my legs. It was incredibly hot, even as we climbed higher and higher. The views were incredible when the driver was forced to slow down due to oncoming traffic. At some point everybody but Chris and I seemed to fall asleep, it fell silent apart from the odd chirping of the chicks who seemed happy enough squashed in a tiny cardboard box, and of course the very loud Peruvian music which seemed to be on repeat!
It was dark when we arrived in Cajamarca, and at 2700m high the temperature had dropped considerably. Again, our bicycles intact, we set off to find our hospedaje for the night. After a sleepless night as we were right in the city centre (yes you think we would have learnt by now!), we moved on to a quieter Airbnb with a rooftop terrace with fantastic views of the city. Cajamarca in the daylight was a beautiful city surrounded by mountains. It’s well maintained historical centre was full of culture, narrow cobbled streets with old whitewashed buildings, huge wooden doors and wooden balconies. Peruvian women of all ages adorn the streets dressed in colourful traditional outfits with their belongings, shopping or children wrapped around rainbow coloured shawls dangling from their back. Both men and women wear big sombreros that are a mix of the traditional Mexican sombrero blended with a Panama hat. Cars are older here than in Ecuador and life seems slightly slower.
We spend a few days here, relaxing and sightseeing. It’s the 1st August and it’s full moon. That night we make dinner and sit on the terrace, it’s been a beautiful day and the sky is clear, the sun slowly sets over the mountains and the light falls a deep crimson red over the mountains. Half an hour later the moon rises in the opposite direction, again, over the mountains. It’s huge and it’s a beautiful sight to see. I get my camera out and take numerous pictures before realising I just need to stop and enjoy the moment. It’s a beautiful gift on the eve of my birthday.
The next day I awake to another sunny blue sky day. Chris presents me with a bag of lightweight presents, incense sticks, chocolates for the road and the best one, a tube of deodorant! Yes, normally it would be a relationship breaker if my partner presented me with a tube of deodorant but I’d been complaining for weeks that my normally fresh smelling armpits hadn’t seemed to be quite right since my food poisoning episode, and so this was the perfect present. I just wanted to smell fresh for a while!
My sister and her lovely family video called me, it was so nice to see my cheeky nephews wide grin and my beautiful nieces face, it was the perfect day without anything else required. We strolled the city streets and sat and enjoyed coffee in the morning sun. Then in the afternoon we decided to visit the famous Banos del Inca, thermal baths with healing powers where emperor Atahualpa supposedly bathed and rested until he regained his power to continue his battles. Perfect, I thought, we’ll sit in these for a while and my legs will be strong enough to carry on over the Peruvian Cordillera.
It was certainly a different experience, and not quite how I imagine Atahualpa did it! We arrive by taxi to the main entrance and take our place in a big queue. On the notice board there seem to be a lot of different options and prices but I’d already asked our friendly hotel owners advice and so when we finally arrive at the desk I confidently ask for two tickets for ‘huaymapongo’. Taking our tickets we’re ushered around a corner and left to sit on the grass with lots of other Peruvians. In front of us are 12 doors numbered. I’ve no idea what we’re supposed to be doing and so after 10 minutes I take a deep breath of courage and sidle over to the man that looks the most in charge. I poke our ticket towards his face and mumble some Spanglish with some hand signals and my sweetest look of confusion. With hand signals that far outmatch mine he speaks incredibly fast Spanish back at me, repeating himself until a kind lady approaches and says that we’re number 160 in the queue and that when he calls our number we have to find him. There another consultation between the two before she tells me he won’t actually call our number, he’ll call number 360 for some reason but we still have to find him, but not to worry as there’ll be a long wait! After an hour and a half of anxiously trying to work out if he’s said 360 (tres sesenta) every time there’s a door open, I finally hear him call it clear as day, and I proudly stand up waving my ticket. We follow him into door number 1, and he closes it behind us with no explanation, shouting 30 minutes as he goes! We’re in a small room with what looks like a giant bath and a hot and cold tap. Not quite sure what to do but panicking as we only have 30 minutes, we quickly undress as Chris turns the red tap on and we enter ‘the bath’. I only hope at this point he doesn’t open the door and let some poor unsuspecting Peruvian in, as I’ve decided to completely undress, not wanting to get my underwear wet if it’s not necessary! I’m presuming it’s thermal water that’s coming out, and it is incredibly hot to be fair, but in hindsight had I known what we were getting ourselves into I would have found some eucalyptus oil or at least a loofa so I could do something productive. However once it started to fill it was quite relaxing, but it was only just over my legs when the bang on the door came after 25 minutes. It was certainly an experience, but not quite the relaxing in an outdoor pond full of healing thermal water surrounded by peaceful nature I was hoping for!
I’m pleased to be in Peru. Whilst I was sad to leave Colombia and it’s beautiful people, I honestly couldn’t say the same for Ecuador. And I’m not entirely sure why. I think it was a combination of things; the changes in altitude, the slightly more reserved Ecuadoreans along with the fact we were becoming exhausted, and then a real bout of food poisoning exhausted me further. The daily grind of cycling painfully slowly on cobbled streets up steep hills, the changing weather; in Colombia we seemed very lucky with the weather and didn’t have to think much about keeping warm, but in Ecuador it was colder, it rained more and we had to be more prepared for this. I think, if anything, Ecuador taught me many life lessons. I had to learn how to listen to my body and kind, I was constantly pushing my limits and eventually my body pushed back and I suffered. I also had to remember why I was on this journey, there were some real low points for me in Ecuador. Colombia seemed to be an exciting holiday but Ecuador seemed like hard work and at points I was homesick and wanted to give up. I had to remember that this wasn’t some sort of sufferfest, I was here to explore a continent, to meet people and observe their cultures, to slow down. Instead I was on full speed ahead and not enjoying it. But sharing this with Chris helped me recalibrate, and we changed our plans to make things work. And finally this last week just relaxing and enjoying Peru has made me feel like I want to be on this journey again.
