Leaving Leymebamba and heading into the jungle we thankfully didn’t have to spend much time in Chachapoyas. It was Sunday so the highway wasn’t closed between Chachapoyas and Pedro Ruiz, but we did have to take a LOT of different shared cars and do a little stint in Chacha. Our journey went Leymembamba to Yerbabuena to Chachapoyas to Pedro Ruiz to Nueva Cajamarca to Moyobamba.
We spent a few days in Moyobamba enjoying being back in a city where you can buy more types of food than potatoes and rice. We found some pretty good vegetarian Lasagna at La Olla de Barro. We also saw the miradores, which are lookout points to see the muddy river that winds into the rain forest. We also saw a really cool orquidium that had something like 400 species including four that the owner had named himself. Nearby we went to the hot springs, which were pretty nice since they were pools outside, but the water wasn’t that hot and you’re sharing the pools with all the local families blasting cumbia music.
The highlight of sites around Moyobamba was the waterfalls in Lahuarpia. About a half hour out of Moyobamba there’s a little trail out of the village that’s actually well maintained, with garbage cans and a bathroom, that leads to three waterfalls that you can swim in. There’s even signage about the local animals and plants. Apparently not many travelers make it here, which for now makes it even nicer as we had the whole place to ourselves. We could have spent more time there, but we got there in the afternoon and didn’t leave until dark.
From there we wanted to head directly to Tarapoto, but after dark it’s hard to pick up transport, so we went back to Moyobamba and then to Tarapoto. We’ve been in Tarapoto a few days now and been pretty lazy, which has been nice. One weird thing about these hostals in the jungle is even the cheapest ones have cable TV’s. Most don’t have hot water, but TV’s are essential. We’ve been watching sitcoms in English more than we should because of this. Every night we eat pizza from a place called Cafe d’Mundo that’s AMAZING. It’s not the best in the world, but after some of the food people here try to pass for Italian food, it seems like it. The coolest thing we’ve done here was rent a moto scooter for a few hours and ride around the city. It’s a rush getting around in traffic here. There really are almost no rules, but everyone seems to be paying attention pretty well, so once you get used to it there’s a flow to it.
Unfortunately now I’m a bit sick with the flu. We’re in a nice hostel watching movies to pass the time and I just found out there’s wireless internet. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow and from there either do some more touristy stuff in the area or head to the coast for some fun and sun. Something interesting about all the cheap hostels here is they have cable TV, even if they don’t have hot water. I just thought of that because tonight we splurged, and got one with hot water.