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Cajamarca from above

Kim and I left Huanchaco with some French volunteers named Priscille and Maelys and her fiance Atoine. All the comfortable buses were sold out, so we went with a company named Horna to go to Cajamarca on the 10:45pm bus. The ride was rather painful. It wouldn’t have been all that bad if Kim hadn’t been sick with stomach trouble on a bus with no bathroom. The first part of the ride they put on terrible action movies, ala Jean Claude Van Damme. With three TV screens on the bus only one worked, and nobody seemed to be watching that screen, and yet the volume must have been most of the way up. I swear Peruvians are immune to loud noise. I’m not however. Thank goodness for earplugs. I can handle background noise no problem, but the sounds here go well beyond that, sometimes even with earplugs. Fortunately for Kim they were willing to stop the bus to let her outside when she needed to go.

We arrived in Cajamarca around 5:30AM and got overcharged on a taxi ride to get Kim as quickly as possible to the Banos del Inca, a local hotsprings, where we had a hostal for the night.

Baños del Inca from our hostal

The French contingent miraculously slept well on the bumpy noisy ride, so they went to the banos straight away while Kim and I passed out in the hostal for a few hours. We finally woke up a few hours later and went to banos public pool which we weren’t too impressed with. The water was only luke warm and it was crowded with people who swim like they’re drowning and so splash like crazy.

After the banos we went into the centro of Cajamarca to meet up with Priscille, Maelys and Atoine. We did the whirlwind tour of all the major historical sites in the city, sneaking in to listen to other groups’ tour guides when they were available. The sites included a church the Spanish built out of stone they got from tearing down the Inca’s buildings, a museum about tradicional life in the area, and the chamber where the Spanish held the Incan king for ransom for the price of a room filled with gold and two rooms of silver. Pisarro, the Spanish conquistador, it turns out, was quite the asshole. He killed the king anyway after the ransom was paid.

We went to the evening mass at the Catholic Cathedral. I was exhausted by this point and almost fell asleep. If it wasn’t for all the standing up, sitting down and kneeling I would have passed out. I’m really not much for church services, but everyone else seems to have had some Catholic upbringing.

After scouring the market for the last remaining open vendor to buy dinner, we went back to the hostal to prepare little sandwiches with various vegetables and some cheese. Cajamarca is supposed to be famous in Peru for their cheese, and so far I will say it’s much better than the selection we had in Huanchaco or Trujillo. However it’s still not that impressive from what we’re used to at home. In the hostal that evening they were celebrating a barmitsfah by drinking and blasting really loud salsa, cumbia and merengue. And shouting/singing along with music. And sometimes slamming objects down on the table so that it sounded like gunshots. In spite of this I fell right to sleep… for a little while. The gunshot type sounds woke me up, but thank goodness for earplugs.

Windows to the Dead!

The next morning Kim and I got one of the private rooms in the banos, which turned out to be really nice. For 5 soles a person we get our own tub where we can fill with super hot hot spring water. The facilities that are private are cleaned between every use, so it’s much nicer than the public pool, even if it’s not outside. Most importantly the water is hotter – much hotter. You really could cook yourself if you’re not careful. You get to control the temperature by mixing in cold.

From the hotsprings we walked a few kilometers along the river to the Ventanillas de Otuzco. These are ancient tombs where they used to stuff the dead into little holes carved into the cliffside. They haven’t been used in long time and are interesting, but not super impressive. The walk there was probably the most interesting part, going through the green pasturelands and seeing the local houses outside of the city. Also interesting was trying Chicha de Jora for the first time. This is a corn beverage that is fermented with saliva. Sounds gross, but it tastes pretty sweet. A liter cup of it was only 1 sole, which is cheaper than water.

Llacanora scenery

To end the day we caught a hard to find combi to Llacanora, a little pueblo about 45 minutes away on a bumpy road. The combi was so filled with people that they actually didn’t stop to pick up some people, which I’ve never seen before. I think there were 25 people in a 4 row van. I wish I could have taken a picture, because words don’t do justice to how full public transportation can get. In the pueblo, we hiked a little ways in the rain to see some waterfalls as the light was fading. Nice and pretty.

Back in Cajamarca we had dinner before Priscille, Maelys and Atoine caught their bus back to Trujillo and Huanchaco, since they still have some time volunteering there. It was really fun to have some other people to hang out with, and they were all amazingly nice, easygoing and well travelled. I hope we run into them again someday.

Today was a little hectic in the morning because the hostal in the city center we were staying in, which we had moved to the night before, didn’t have any rooms because they had all been reserved. We thought that was odd for a Monday night, and all the other cheap hostals were full too. Turns out this is something like spring vacation for all the local school children, so the Peruvians are all vacationing right now. We finally found a place which was 38 soles. The funny part of this place was that they didn’t even have change for a 50 sole bill. Nobody ever has change in Peru. Even major businesses like farmacies with cash registers often will tell you that they are unable to change your large bills. Unfortunately the ATM machines here love to give out 50′s and 100′s when you take money out.

The baños by night

Once we got our hostal and bus ticket bought for tomorrow’s trip to Celedin, we went up to the city lookout, the Cerro Santa Apalonia. There’s a little chapel on top and some very pretty views of the city. We spent a few hours walking around the hilltop and some of the local neighborhoods behind the hill. After a lot of walking the last few days, my legs are beat. For dinner we splurged and got pizza and a place that claimed to be New York style. It was delicious. I’m sure it doesn’t compare to real New York pizza, but after a bit of time here I was very happy for that comfort food.

We went to the Banos again and spent a little longer in the hot water. That’s really a great way to end the day. Tomorrow we may go back again, and if we do I might see about getting a massage, which is only 20 soles. At 1PM we’re leaving for Celedin. The route is supposed to be gorgeous, but the road is mostly unpaved and very bumpy. We’ll see how that goes. At least we’ll be going by day.