We arrived in Huaraz, a small city surrounded by snowcapped mountains and famous for it's wonderful trekking, at 6.30 am. Not wanting to disturb anyone that early although it seems that most people in this part of the world start their days at 5 am, we waited at the bus office until 8 then went to find out couch. Unfortunately Frank told us he was unable to have us after all (weren't young enough? cool enough? rich enough?) but luckily we had had two replies from our couchsurfing requests so we visited the second guy, Andy, and he arranged for us to stay at his home. Actually it is the home of his parents who put us in a dorm room they have there.
We talked to Andy about going to a trek but there was the problem of the strike which stopped all transport. This included all tour operators being able to transport their clients to the start of the treks. However we didn't really want to do a 3 or 4 day one and Kent really wasn't enthused to do even a short one so one of the days we took a taxi to a small village up in the hills and wandered around in the countryside there. It was so nice, tranquil and peaceful. There were no restaurants so we went to this little wee tienda (shop) and bought some pan (bread) and bananas and biscuits and went and sat on a park bench in front of a little old church and picnic'd. Some men were there in the tiny square bending rebar to make a frame for an inground water tank. They use rebar for everything here from gates to fences to buildings. We walked all the way back to town thru the countryside and had a great day.
First thing Kent did at Andys parents place was to repair one of the bunks in the room that was broken, then he fixed the wiring on the califont which wasn't operating properly. In fact the wiring for the califont wasn't heavy enough to carry the current that it was being asked to carry but we weren't about to rewire the house so some running repairs were good enough. One of the days we also cooked a kiwi meal for them, well it would have been a kiwi meal but because of the strike there was no meat in town only chicken so we cooked that up instead. The kiwi part was the mashed spud and greens.
The last day we were there we took a bus to see the archeological ruins in a town called Chavin. It was a 2 hour bus ride through the countryside, over a pass, with a stop at a small lake with a backdrop of a snowy mountain. Here we stopped to have a drink of 'mate de coca', an infusion of coca leaves that helps you to adjust to the altitude, also to admire the lake and take pics. On up the mountain and thru a tunnel and out the other side to a valley with a large statue of Christ asking for a lift. In Chavin we found a local restaurant for lunch and talked to some women there about New Zealand and where it is. On to the ruins which are right beside the town. It was a large institute of learning and worship involving - the sun, male, white - and - the moon, female, black. Animals on the carvings were snakes, eagles, jaguars and cayman (alligators). They had a sophisticated underground water system which they used for toilets and for sound effects in their ceremonies. They also had passageways and rooms underground.
It was a long slow journey back as the driver was particularly slow and had a weird habit of turning his lights out when a truck came toward him then turning them back on on full just as the truck got almost abreast. This must have nearly blinded the truck drivers but we arrived in Huaraz safely.
We had been wondering where to go next and so had a look on the net, Kent had the idea of heading further inland to a place called Huánuco so we googled it and it brought up the travels of a group who cycled the road and had a blog and pictures. That sold us on going that way instead of the tourist route to Lima. Next stop Huánuco.
