Perdido (Lost in Peru)

Week 5 Bolivia

tobybott — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:47:00 GMT

13-Nov Caranavi Bolivia Week 5 Hola from Caranavi, Bolivia. The weather here is hot and sticky, a far contrast from the the snow covered rock covered mountains in Peru. I think I can safely put my beany and scarf at the bottom of the bag. From Arequipa in Peru we decided to detour to the coast as there were road blocks and some riots at Tacna blocking our path to La Paz in Bolivia. WE´re told you have to experience at least one demonstration or civil unrest to experience Peru. We´ve come across two so far. A good detour to the coast. The map said we couldn´t go that way but maybe it was wrong and if not, a few days at the coast and the dispute at Tacna might be resolved. Had to cross a mini desert to reach the coast at Mollendo, spend a night in a bit of a coastal ghost town at Mejia and took a bus for a few hours on a coastal road not marked on our map to the pretty fishing village Ilo. An Oasis. Sampled some nice seafood here. A local marinated fish dish Ceviche was very nice . From Ilo we headed for Bolivia via a night in Moquegua and then the border town of desaguadero. This route we had to glean out of locals as all the main bus routes went directly back to Puno on Lake Titicaca and we did not want to return to Puno. Desaguadero was another interesting but dirty town. Lots of trade going on and three wheeled carts loaded with produce lining up to cross the bridge into Bolivia. Next morning took us a couple of hours to figure teh routine for crossing the border and we jumped an overloaded bus for La Paz. La Paz we stopped in our first english speaking hostal. Just one night then into our usual cheaper more foreign habitation. La Paz is huge and busy. I had someone here try and sneak a hand into my bag on the street here and Christine had been warned about teh palce so we are both on the allert. I dubbed the place city of thieves. Probably unfair. Organised visa`s for Paraguay here. On our way now about 18 hours north to spend a couple of days on a tour in the Pampas or Madini nacional parks. We have broken this lego f travel up by stoping in coroico where we rode mountain bikes along 60 km of downhill mountain road with many near vertical cliff and drop off on iether side. They market the ride as "The worlds most dangerous road" but I don´t think the marketers have ridden Military road. What was pretty scary was that the bikes had there brakes set up on the wrong sides of the handle bars! More than once I grabbed a hand full of rear brake only to nearly lose the front end. WE stopped the night at the end of the ride instead of returning to La Paz and in the morning waved a bus down and got a front seat ride (on the unpadded box between driver and co-pilot as teh bus was full for 3 hours on an even more dangerous looking road to this very tropical village Caranavi. Spent the night here and this afternoon we should be on a bus through the night (for the first time) to Rurrenabaque. Ciou Toby

17.10 Friday. Huancayo to Huancavelica

tobybott — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 09:09:00 GMT

17.10 Friday. Huancayo to Huancavelica

Early start and away to Huancavelica. Didn´t get much sleep because my alarm is not working so from about 2am on im looking at my watch every quarter hour or sometimes every few minutes. Maybe 10 hours to Huancavelica. Dropped off on the edge of town and walked in. Amazing town in the hollow between four high peaks. Very tiring walking here and I find out later that we are at 3500meters. I have to rest half way along the street.

After deciding a path I was taking was not a good one and turning to retreat. I got set upon by about six dogs. Was a stalemate for a while. I had to face them to keep at bay and not jumping up and snapping but couldn´t retreat because they would at me again. Took about 5 minutes for them to settle and me to slowly back track.

While asking for directions for a hotel a local offers to help me find one and takes me to a couple of places. vHis name is Angel. Fitting. WE arrange to meet again afterwards and we bumped into eadh other in the evening and he took me to a place for a decent meal. It was 10 soles for the two of us. A huge bowl of soup with big pieces of chicken and a bowl of toasted corn kernels. Good. Later we wend for a beer and listened to some latin American muso´s on local instruments. My choice. He wanted to go to the place with rock and roll.

18-10-08 Saturday.

I could have stayed at Huancavelica longer but im abit worried about how long the next legs will take. There is no direct bus to Ayucucho . I have to go to Rumachaca and then wait for some transport from there on a different road to Ayucucho. The pass to Rumuchaca must have been high. No vegetation, like a moonscape then snow covered hills and small buildings some herds of llamas or alpacas.

Lima to Huancayo 15th Oct

tobybott — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 08:48:00 GMT

Lima to Huancayo 15^th Oct

Good flight through to Santiago Chile, almost straight onto the next to Lima. Our arranged pick up imn Lima didn´t show so after about half an hour we got a taxi to take us the thirthy minutes or so to our hotel in Miraflores. It was well dark by then. The taxi driver was spoke some English but encouraged us to use Spanish. WE did the best we could, a good start. Checked in went for a walk and tried a pisco and some food. Cec and Pen did not arrive until midnight or so so we saw them the next morning. Hotel was us$80 for two nights

Next morning we did a bus tour around Lima and I bought a tiket for the next morning to bus to Huancayo 6.30 start.

Dark when I got the taki to bus depot. Had some roadside gruel and a roll at the depot for about 60c each. Bus wsa plush and wasn´t long before heading up the hills and ears popping. The roads were excellent, would be great on motorcycle. Didn,t see any though. Mind you I was watching an onboard movie some of the time. Started to get cold and hot air started pumping around the feet. Also an in flight meal turned up, hot and tasty. Cruz Del Sur bus line. I think perus best. The 10hr trip was Aus$20

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15^th Oct

Arrived Huancayo in the afternoon and got a room in hotel confort for 25 soles a night. Theres roughly 2 soles to an ausie $.

16^th Oct

Stopped in Huancayo two nights. Kind of afraid to try and talk to people but have to to find out how to get out of here. Huancayo is kind of grey and sprawling. I find out here that Australian dollars are nigh impossible to change, and I have quite a few. Oh well, my first need to extract from the hole in the wall with the US$ travelex card. And it worked fortunately. I got a taxi to the tren station in the next suburb and after enlisting the help of a 10 year old from a hostel found the station office and discovered the train to Huancavelica is not running because of track repairs. Back at hotel. Discovered where buses leave from and did a dry run during the day for the next morning. Had a 5am start next morning to get the bus.