It was hard to leave Cuenca, it is such a laid back, easy sort of city to spend more than a few days in and we could easily have spent a lot more time there. No doubt we will return at some point.

We are now approaching the end of our time in Ecuador and so, staying in the Andes we head on down to the far south of the country where we will cross the border into Peru avoiding the somewhat hectic and main border crossing at the coast. Apparently this crossing is not without its problems as the roads are very basic and frequently get washed out etc. so it is not always straightforward, but we will give it a go.

The only other alternative crossing is via the Amazon which involves a week long journey on a basic cargo ship down the river. Having spoken to a few people who have taken this route it seemed a step too far. Sleeping three high in hammocks on deck, surrounded by livestock and sweaty Peruvian sailors maybe somebody's idea of a good time but it is not mine and, I am pretty sure, is not Carolyn's!

Instead we set out on another long bus journey from Cuenca to Loja, a decent sized town and the gateway to the south of the country. It is quite remote from the rest of the country and, apparently once declared independence but is now firmly part of Ecuador. We stop only briefly just to buy a ticket in the station before running ( literally) to jump on the bus to Vilcabamba our home for the next few days.

Vilcabamba is set in a "magical" valley and is famous for its long living residents. Scientists have apparently studied this phenomenon an found that there is no basis in fact for these assertions but that the 70 and 80 year olds here do seem to enjoy better health and are more "sprightly"! Perhaps the herbal Viagra the bus vendors were selling so well on the way here has something to do with it.

What we do notice here is not the long living residents but the abundance of gringo hippies in the town, both new age and sexagenarians and septuagenarians apparently still hankering after their sixties heydays of peace and free love. I have lost count of the number of balding men with long grey ponytails or pigtails which seem de rigueur here and I am half expecting The Grateful Dead to put on a reunion concert here in the town! On arrival at the hostal I immediately change out of my retro tee shirt with "Woodstock" and psychedelic logos emblazoned across the chest lest I get mistaken for one. My hippie days are long gone!

On arrival a the bus station we jump in a camionetta, a sort of communal taxi which is in fact, a pick up truck and head up to the valley and Hostal Izhcayluma
http://www.izhcayluma.com/ which will be our home for the next few days. More expensive than our norm, but a nice treat for our last few days in the country and by far, the nicest place we have stayed so far. As I sit here on the terrace writing this I am watching the sunrise over the mountains across the valley right in front of me. The birds are singing and the butterflies are starting to come out. The peace and tranquility is broken only by cocks crowing and donkeys braying but even that is seems quite musical in its own way. I can quite see why the hippies have migrated here.

The town may have a hippie vibe, as indeed does the hostal, but it is owned by a couple of German guys who run the place with typical Germanic efficiency and, unusually for Ecuador, everything works, Good wifi, hot water and given the somewhat remote location, reasonably priced and pretty good food.

The Hostal sells itself on its hiking so we try out the easiest one as a taster. It should take us in a loop around the valley to a village called Chaupi and last for around 3.5 hours. We manage to get lost as we are still walking and only halfway after 4 hours. So we concede defeat and hitch a ride back to town. The walk that we do make however is really nice taking us along narrow pathways along the sides of the valley where our only company are the occasional groups of cows ( and a few bulls) which block the path. We see lots of different birds along the way but the only ones we can identify are the mocking birds which have been pointed out to us previously. Most impressive of all though are the thousands of butterflies we see of all shapes and sizes. Some smaller than a little fingernail, some several inches across. All in a variety of beautiful colours. Even though we got lost we have had a great day.

We have been lucky with the weather to date so we can't complain when on Sunday it starts to rain. We decide to walk down the hill into the town and have Sunday lunch at one of the many restaurants around the Plaza. It was a tourist orientated place and really not that good for the price. Not the first time we have found this to be the case so we resolve to stick to local places in future where we always seem to find great food.

We did toy with the idea of taking a horse ride into the forest for which this area is famed but the weather put paid to that and we will leave that for another place. Instead we get a lift in a pick up truck to the refuge in Podocarpus National Park a few mile away and take a hike around the park. The drive there is, once again through spectacular scenery which never ceases to amaze us. Once at the park we check in with the ranger who explains the various hiking options to us. It was hot when we left the Hostal and, foolishly, we didn't appreciate the increase in altitude so we were totally unprepared for the fact that it was now drizzling and cold and, as the ranger pointed out to us, we were dressed in tee shirts!

The drizzle didn't last for long and once we got walking we were warm enough, almost! The trail we chose was relatively short, about 3 hours, but very, very steep in places. The trail is very well marked and leads us up through the Podocarpus (Ecuador's only native conifer) cloud forest into high páramo. Apparently, there is a huge variety of bird life and animals in the park but we see few birds as we are not nearly early enough and the animals are nowhere to be seen. We have the place to ourselves, or so we thought until we bump into the guy from the room next door to us at the Hostal, accompanied by his guide.

As we head on up the trail the route gets steadily steeper, and a lot, lot muddier. Keeping our footing is extremely difficult but we manage to stay upright by hanging on to vines, roots, branches or anything else within reach. Despite all this we stop to admire the views and the vegetation which changes constantly as we ascend. Looking closely, we see many different lichens, mosses, ferns and thousands of orchids. Just walking 10 metres, we could fill a garden centre back home with plants that would be incredibly expensive there.

Eventually the cloud forest thins out into rocky páramo as we reach the mirador at the peak to briefly admire the views to Loja in the distance and we immediately think of Rob and Sue, Carolyn's Aunt and Uncle in Wales who have a holiday home in Trabuco, close to another Loja in Andalucia where we spent a few months earlier this year.

After just a few minutes on the peak, the winds starts to blow very strongly and the clouds start rolling in very quickly. No relishing a mudslide all the way back down we head off down the trail back to the refuge to await a pick truck to take us back to Vilcabamba. Whilst sitting on the steps we meet an inquisitive Andean Fox who kindly poses for a few photos.

Exhausted once again, we jump into the pick up and head back to the hostal for probably our last night before heading to the border and into Peru.

P.S. After some searching for information regarding the claims to longevity in the valley we discover that after many years of research by many professors from universities from far and wide, it turns out that it is not the water, not the climate but simply that the people had been lying about the ages to the many researchers that have investigated the claims!!

I see from your blog you are in Loja. Looking forward to the details of your border crossing.

Hopefully you will soon be giving some reports from the Chachapoyas-Leymabamba area.

I don't think I ever wrote up a trip report from Chachas but really enjoyed it. Some of my reviews are on TA.

Great hikes around there, Gocta falls, Revash. I would like to go back even though I spent nearly a week there.

Mlgb, now in Jaen, Peru having survived the border crossing. Details herewith,



Having read about the "less used" overland crossing from Ecuador to Peru via the grandly named " international bridge" al La Balsa highlands we knew it wouldn't be straightforward. Our objective was to leave Hostal Izhcayluma in Vilcabamba and to wait for the bus which would take us to our first stop at Zumba at 9.00am. We had no trouble waking up in time as the owners decided to have a party for all their friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. The entertainment was a rock band which finally finished playing at 5.30 am. I wouldn't have minded so much if they had been any good but they weren't, making up for their lack of skill with extra volume!

We waited and waited for the bus which didn't come so we walked the 2kms into the village toward the bus station. Just as we got there the bus pulled in ( at 10.30) so we had to sprint the last few yards and even so we still didn't get seats and had to stand. We prayed that someone would get off but no one moved for the first hour until at last the bus guy told us to get ready for when the bus stopped as the people at the front were getting off. We quickly jumped into their seats before the new passengers got on, thankful that we did not have to stand for the next 6 hours.

We soon found out route is "less used" for good reason as the nice Tarmac road quickly ran out as we ascended into the mountains. The compensation however was more spectacular scenery, unblemished apart from the monster gold mine along the way. Tarmac gave way to rock and compacted earth which in turn gave way to thick mud as streams ran across, along, over and underneath the road. All the way road crews were busy clearing landslides and on a couple of occasions, the earth was still sliding down the mountainside. It seems that the road is just dug out of the earth along he side of the mountain and every time it rains, parts just get washed away. We had been warned a couple of days previously not to attempt it if it rained too much as the buses just wouldn't get through. Fortunately we did but not before some pretty scary moments as the wheels of the bus were right on the crumbling edge of the road alongside a precipitous drop into the valleys below.

At first I was appreciative of the seats at the front where I was almost alongside the driver and had a great view to the front, but after a few hours of watching the intense concentration on his face in the mirror, I had the greatest admiration for his driving abilities and stamina. I was more concerned however with the frequent expressions of abject terror which crossed his face at frequent intervals. At one point the driver had to jam on his brakes to avoid two donkeys wandering in the road. Half a mile further on, with the windows open we start to notice an appalling smell. A few yards further on the driver jams on his brakes again to avoid a donkey, this one in the middle of the road, dead and half rotted! At least he didn't have to get out an move it!

After more ups, downs, sharp bends and crossings of streams and rivers than I care to recall ( but no more donkeys), we eventually rolled into Zumba, a one horse town if ever there was one. We had planned to spend the night here but really don't relish the thought. It is now 4.30 and the next bus to the border is at 5.30 and it get dark at 6.30 so we rent a camionetta ( share taxi). Once we two gringos make the decision, the locals decide to take advantage and jump in, clearly pay a lot less than we do. Not happy, but there is little we can do as we just want to get moving. Again, wonderful scenery and this time, no donkeys. Although the driver does manage to obliterate a chicken en route and seems to find it hilarious?

An hour and a half later we arrive at the international bridge having gone through a military checkpoint along the way. We now need to find the Ecuadorian immigration guy who is not in his office. After searching for a while, he eventually saunters back to process our papers. We then walk up to the bridge and duck under the pole blocking the road. It is a bit like one of those old spy movies where the hero escapes from East Berlin. Fortunately, no searchlights come on and no machine guns are in evidence. Once on the Peruvian side of the bridge we now have to search out their immigration office. You would think that toeing a border, they would have clear signs, but no, people just point o a row of nondescript huts and there we find the most miserable immigration official I have ever met ( and there have been a few!). Clearly having a bad day she takes ages to do her stuff with our passports etc. all the time it is getting darker and we really wan to get out of this place soon. We think were are done then she tells us we must take our passports to the police station across the road for stamping. Of course that policemen has gone walkabout too. The office is open so we have a look in and all we can see is the iron barred door to the cells. Not a particularly welcome sight on arrival in a new country!

I search around and find him chatting to his mates in another building and ask him to come back to stamp our papers which he does and welcomes us to Peru. We then have to go back to the miserable woman in immigration who is busy chatting on her cellphone. It is very tempting to interrupt but many years of travelling has taught me not to p*** these people off.

Passports, duly stamped, we now need to exchange some cash and haggle with a taxi driver to take us on the next 2 hour jaunt through the mountains, in the dark to San Ignacio where we will spend the night. After long and protracted negotiations in Spanish where teh price changes up and down at least a dozen times, we settle a deal. Fifteen minutes into the journey the driver takes a detour into the back streets of a village and starts to ask us for the cash up front. All very concerning given the circumstances of where we are etc., but we just feign ignorance and pretend we do not understand what he is saying and he eventually gives up and we continue on our way.

Driving in the dark on narrow mountain roads is no fun and, in hindsight is not the cleverest thing we have done and we resolve to try and get to places before dark if at all possible in future.

We arrive in San Ignacio at 8.00, tired and hungry, not having eaten since breakfast. We check into Hostal La Posada and go off in search of a pollo asado.

to be continued..

Wow! And July is not supposed to be the rainy season.

I am not a fan of night-time buses after my Bolivian bus ride from hell back in 2011.

If you decide to head to Cajamarca from Chachapoyas that road is supposed to be particularly dicey in any kind of wet.

PS the line about the chicken made me chuckle.

Ouch! Congrats on making it, but I think I will have second (third? fourth?) thoughts about taking that route.

I laughed when I read your report of Vilcabamba. When I read about it earlier, it sounded like an appealing place to visit, with, as my husband says, the opportunity to see hippies in their natural habitat. (Given that he's well into his 60's and is bald, I can only assume that he's envious of those who can still grow ponytails!) Anyway, we are definitely planning to spend a few days in Cuenca, as both of us are interested in finding a place where we might want to spend a few months in the winter. I don't want to leave Toronto for good, but I would love to spend winters somewhere else. Who knows, maybe we'll get to Vilcabamba on a future trip.

Crellston I'm expecting photos from your stay around Chachapoyas. If you have not gone to Kuelap, the guide Agosto at Hostal Revash is good (although the rest of Hostal Revash is pretty rubbish, hope you are not staying there!) If you see Agosto in the lobby (wearing his signature scarf) ask him if there is anywhere good to get cuy.

Mlgb - photos are almost loaded up. Wifi is hopeless in Peru ( probably worse in Bolivia though) . This is a first for me posting on Fodors as we drive through the desert in a Peruvian bus. Bizarrely, this is the best wifi we have had here!
BTW my wife is eternally grateful for the recommendation of the coffee place in Chachapoyas - the only decent cup she has had since we arrived in South America!

The next installment:

Having spent few Nuevo Soles we managed to exchange on the pollo asado last night, my first task was to find an ATM or money exchange to get the bus fare for the next stage of the trip to Chachapoyas. We wanted to start early as there is still another 8 hours of hard travelling ahead of us before we would reach there. Unfortunately, after searching for an ATM for ages, it doesn't take my card so the only other option is to exchange US$ at a cambio. These don't open for another hour or so but eventually we find one in an agricultural feed shop of all places. He doesn't have enough Soles to exchange $100 so we have to walk to his warehouse around the corner where he has his main stash. We do a deal, carefully checking the notes as forgeries are rife in Peru, then, cash safely in wallet, we then head to the collectivo station about 1 km away where we wait another hour for the guy to fill up his mini bus for the trip to the agricultural centre of Jaen.
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The drive there is not a great experience. The road is falling to bits for most of the way and we have to stop frequently for road crews to finish repairing parts. The road is rough and mostly dirt track added to which our driver is a complete lunatic who seems to prefer driving in the wrong side of the road at ever opportunity. Despite the bus being full, we still stop to pick up extra passenger and i begin to wonder why every one of them seems to want to rest part of their body on part of mine! Peruvian people it seems have no concept of personal space. We eventually arrive in Jaen at yet another ramshackle bus station where jump into yet another mototaxi in search of a hotel as we really do not relish the thought of more cramped buses today.

We find a pleasant enough place to spend the night and next day we get a mototaxi to the collectivo station to wait for the minibus to fill up and leave for the next stop of Bagua Grande. It take 1.5 hours to fill the bus and we climb into very small seats in the back and we are on our way. Thankfully the roads are better on this stretch. On arrival we are immediately accosted by a tout who takes us across the road to an adobe built courtyard where we wait again for another collectivo to get enough passengers to leave which is does another hour or so later. Fortunately for us this is a bigger, more comfortable bus and we have spare seats and the luxury of not having our packs on our laps. We travel along better roads, even with Tarmac for some of the way and eventually arriving in the mid-afternoon. I leave Carolyn in the Plaza with the luggage and go off in search of a hotel for the next few days.

Hotel found, bags dumped, we trawl around the many tour offices around the main plaza. The tours out of Hostal Revash seem ok but the owner seemed very pushy which is a big turn off for me so we tried a few others and then settled on Jose from Chachapoyas Backpackers who is a really nice guy and displays a huge amount of knowledge of the Chachapoyas area, culture and people, being Chachapoyas himself, he was actively involved in the archaeological projects at Kuelap. His enthusiasm, knowledge and pride in his culture is infectious.

Next morning we set off for the Chachapoyas citadel of Kuelap, high on a mountain top about 2.5 hours drive from town. Along the way we stop and wait for an Australian / Canadian couple who missed the bus bit we are soon on our way, 4 gringos and 16 Peruvians. The guide Victor did very well to switch constantly from Spanish to English throughout the day. All the Peruvians on the bus are very quiet and barely say two words to each other, let alone us. For us, meeting the Aussie and Canadian couple was a stroke of good fortune as they had just spent several month travelling from places we were headed to and vice versa. We were able to exchange lots of tips on what to do and not to do, places to stay etc. sometimes half the joy of travelling this way is as much the people you meet along the way as the places you visit.

Once again it is a long drive along steep, winding and dusty roads into the mountains. Once again the landscape is spectacular. Our guide provides a commentary on the background to the history of the Chachapoyas people and the mystery surrounding exactly what happened to these people.

We arrive at the entrance to Kuelap and then have to walk for a further 20 mins up to the entrance to the fortress. To say that this place is impressive is an understatement. Maybe not as majestic as Macchu Picchu, or as dramatic as Pisac but, largely unrestored, it is arguable more impressive in its own way than both of these more famous sites.

Chachapoyas architecture is very different from that of the Inca. The stones are much smaller and they used a form of cement to fix the stonework, unlike the Inca who built without any form of mortar. Most noticeable of all is that all the houses are circular with and have no windows.

We enter the fortress through the "llamas" entrance which is quite wide to start with but as we ascend the steep steps, it gets narrower until is is only one person wide. Apparently this was a defensive measure so that the occupants could pick off any attackers one by one with their slingshots!

Once inside the citadel we are treated to panoramic views of the surrounding countryside including the road winding through he mountains along which we have just driven. Our guide then shows us around the site explaining what they believe each part to have been. Although, as we would later find out, archaeologists are still not really certain as to what happened here to wipe out these people. Theories range from internal strife between two of the most powerful families (exploited by the Spanish colonists to make their job easier), epidemics of smallpox and other diseases (again introduced by the Spanish), to an Inca invasion.

Whatever did happen, our guide Victor, brought it all to life with his vivid, if sometimes OTT explanations. Listening to our guide and others around Chachapoyas, one can't help wondering that if these people had spent less time worshipping their gods, making human sacrifices etc.. And more time getting on with life, they may well have lasted a lot longer.

The other mystery lost in the mists of time is the exact purpose of this fortress/town/palace/place of religious worship.

As we explore this place atop the mountain admiring the, largely unrestored stonework, it is very easy to imagine the life people here probably led, whatever its purpose may have been. Much of the place is still over grown but the authorities seem to have got the balance about right in terms of not over restoring to the extent of similar places such as Macchu Picchu and Angkor etc. impressive though those places undoubtedly are, they are in danger of becoming like a theme parks with way to many visitors to enable the sites to be really properly maintained ( IMHO). I much preferred this place to Macchu Picchu as it is relatively unspoiled, unsurprisingly perhaps given the remote location, lack of an airport and the dire roads one needs to travel to get here.

We spend a 2 or 3 hours wandering the ruins during which time our guide points out various places where human remains have been found notably the circular burial chamber at the very top of the mountain. It is a hugely impressive place and we feel privileged to have been able to come here and feel it was definitely worth the three days of bus hell to get here.

On our way back, it starts to rain and doesn't stop all the way back and all night. The next day we spend deciding what to do next. We did plan to do some hiking to the Gocta Cascades, the third highest waterfall in the world and to the mountain top sarcophagi, but the weather is a bit of a gamble so we decide not to wait for the weather to clear and head on down to Trujillo on the coast in search of sun and ceviche. Once we have bought our tickets for the overnight bus we head back to meet with Jose who had promised to show us a National Geographic film of the archaeological works carried out at Kuelap a couple of years ago. We stay and chat with him for a couple of hours and he share his knowledge of his people's history and culture.

It seems that whilst archaeologists have found out a great deal about the site, they appear to be no closer to determining its real purpose or what happened to its people. The bodies of men and children found there appear to have been the victims of violence, either war or sacrifice. The Chachapoyas and the Inca both used peculiarly shaped clubs which matched holes found the skull which seemed to indicate the cause of death.

A fascinating guy whom we could easily spend a lot more time talking with but we have a bus to catch. If ever you get a chance to visit the area, go and find Jose, he is well worth talking to.

Glad you thought it was worth the hassle of that crossing! I'm still a bit surprised you are having so much rain. We had a pattern of dry mornings and the rain building in the afternoon due to the topography.

The frieze of a diamond pattern was told to us to be of feline eyes. The other common pattern of snake eyes.

https://picasaweb.google.com/kiwifan...38721910959650

Glad you got to enjoy good coffee. Peru produces some of the best but much of it is exported. It took me a few days to find that place. I was surprised to see that fancy espresso machine.

Several people we spoke to coming down from southern Ecuador into Peru mentioned that the weather was unusual for the time of year ( whether better or worse than normal). I don't think that the weather was especially bad around Chachapoyas, it was just rained about 50% of the time we were there, although we did get some sunshine. I guess we just wimped out not wanting to hike in the rain as we will have plenty more opportunities for hiking as we move on.

I see you are headed to or in the city of Lima. I hope you have a few days to explore one of my favorite cities. There are some hostels in Barranco, a nice low key district.

I posted a report of some rec's a few years ago. Unfortunately the churro place downtown has moved on.

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...-lima-peru.cfm

Have been through Lima and moved on! We spent four days there. I wasn't a fan after my first visit. I am now! You were right I was wrong!

Having secured seats on the Movil bus out of Chachapoyas we boarded at 7.00pm to enjoy our first "luxury" overnight bus trip since Argentina, 5 years previously. Not quite to the standards of Argentina but light years away from the buses we had endured to get to Chachapoyas. This time we had wide seats which reclined to 140 degrees, food and a very comfortable ride. After dinner we settled down to watch Jeremy Clarkson on a Top Gear Special travelling around Africa and couldn't help wondering how much easier it would have been if BBC production team had organised our travel from Ecuador into Peru!

It was a fairly uneventful trip as we drove over the high Andes pass where we did notice the increase in altitude even though it was completely dark. We continued on over the Andes and down towards the coast passing through the town of Chiclayo at 4.30am when Carolyn noticed that the streets were full of people all out enjoying themselves queuing at street stalls and outside clubs as though it were midday. Unusually for me, I was asleep throughout all this. Later, as dawn breaks we find ourselves driving along the road through the coastal desert which looks a bit grim to put it mildly as it is shrouded in mist as it always is at this time of year.We eventually rolled into Trujillo at around 9.00a.m. jumped into a cab and went in search of somewhere to stay.

We ended up at Hostal Colonial, close to the Plaza de Armas in the centre of the historical district. It took us about half an hour to go through the usual ritual of selecting a room, negotiating a price before noticing that all power to the city had been shut down, apparently for the power station's annual spring clean - only in South America! Rather than hang around in a darkened Hostal, we decided to take a tour out to some of the ruins outside of the city and after another period of haggling, we agreed a price with the hostal's travel guy, to spend the day visiting Huaca del Sol y La Luna (The Temple of the Sun And The Moon) and the famous Chan Chan ruins.

We set off in a minibus, once again mostly populated by Peruvians as there don't seem o be many gringos around in the city, to Huaca del Sol y La Luna. These are the are adobe brick temples built by the Moche civilisation in the coastal desert a few kilometres outside of Trujillo. The constant mist makes it all look very grey from a distance but once we get up close it is very impressive, particularly the sheer size of the main temples which are built of just adobe bricks and have been covered by the desert for centuries.

Our guide has been showing people around these sites for some 20 years and has lost none of her enthusiasm for the place. She is extremely knowledgeable and speaks excellent English and greatly enhances our experience of these sites ( which doesn't often happen).

After spending a couple of hours learning all about the ruins, their proximity to she sacred mountain which, even now, no one is allowed to climb, we head back to the city for some lunch. Most of the restaurants are still dark but we find a small Italian place offering an inexpensive menú del dia and enjoy a great lunch.

The second trip of the day involves driving out of the city to the north this time and stopping off first a the Chan Chan museum before carrying on to Chan Chan itself nicely situated on prime real estate right on the beach. I had read about this palace years ago and had long wanted to visit. It is the largest pre-Columbian city in South America and the largest adobe built city in the world. It really is a massive site with no less than ten palaces spread out over a huge area of some 20 km². Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimor a civilization which grew out of the remnants of the Moche civilization and was built around AD 850 and lasted until the Incas came along and sacked it in AD 1470.
At its peak it consisted of approx. 60,000 people housed in nine cities ( or royal compounds) all of which contained a huge wealth of gold, most of which was stolen when the Spanish sacked the cities. Each city contained a massive funerary mound in which was found many ceramic funerary offerings, jewellery etc. as well as the remains of many, many young girls offered as sacrifices.

Wandering around the site with our guide and two Canadians we gain a very good impression of what life may have been like for these people back in the day (probably not greats you were a young girl!) . We learn from our guide that once again it is a civilisation that seemingly focused upon religion, the afterlife and human sacrifice. Perhaps if they had concentrated more on the here and now, the Incas may not have found it so easy to come in an conquer them?

It is incredible to think that this city was constructed entirely of mud bricks and has lasted for centuries. As we walk through the reconstructed ruins it leads us down to a square lagoon beyond which is the beach. This place is hugely impressive and we are so lad we came.

To round off the day we drive out to the beach resort of Huanchaco and have a beer at a beachside bar and watch the surfers at sunset. A nice enough place for a beer but we are glad we decided to sty in downtown Trujillo. On the drive back into the city we pass by what must be the biggest ceviche place in South America. It is absolutely huge and must have at least 500 diners here eating ceviche even though it is traditionally a lunchtime dish. We return to the hotel where, thankfully, the power is on but not the hot water. The Spanish phrase "no hay aqua caliente" is one which should be embedded into the vocabulary of anyone visiting South America! Suitably cleansed, we head of in search of food and end up in Pollo Asado place for chicken, chips and a jug of Chicha Morada, a soft
drink make by soaking purple corn and pineapple skins in water for a few days then adding lime juice, sugar, cinnamon and cloves. It looks like blackcurrant juice and tastes divine. So refreshing it has become our new fav soft drink.

The rest of our time is spent wandering around the Centro Historico looking at the colonial architecture etc. quite frankly it is not the beautiful colonial city we had been led to believe by our research but a pleasant enough place nevertheless.

Having spent enough time here we set off on a Linea daytime bus to the capital Lima again through a lot of desert but only a mere nine hours away.

Glad to hear it. Will be following along!

It was another long trip from along the coast from Trujillo to the capital, Lima. The scenery was just desert, more desert with occasional glimpse of the Pacific Ocean when the fog cleared enough for us to see it. Winter is definitely not the time to visit this part of Peru, at least for the weather!

We arrive in the Linea bus station in Lima at 9.00 pm, exactly on time ten hours after departure. A feat of punctuality matched only by Japanese railways in my experience. Bus stations after dark in Peru, or anywhere else, for that matter, are not the safest places so we had arranged for the Hostal to send a taxi to collect us. After 15 mins, still no taxi so we approached a friendly looking driver outside and jumped in his cab for the 30 min ride to our Hostal in Miraflores. We rang the bell and eventually a woman answered and when I told her we had a reservation she said she was full, clearly she did not like the look of me as, as soon as she saw Carolyn she was happy to let us in. Eventually the mix up was sorted and we went to our huge room ( a nice surprise), dumped our bags, went in search of food, couldn't find any and so settle for a couple of beers in a nearby Chinese restaurant.

We weren't that keen on Lima when we stayed here 5 years ago but really couldn't recall why exactly, perhaps it was because it was our first time in South America and then it did have a bit of a bad reputation for safety etc. However, this time we love the city.

Lima is renowned for its culinary scene with a number of world class restaurants like Astrid y Gaston which can hold their own with those in any city in the world. Miraflores, where we are staying has great restaurants all over the place so we are spoilt for choice.

Ceviche, the national dish of raw fish marinated in lime juice, chilli and coriander is mostly served at lunchtimes anywhere from street stalls, to some of the most upmarket places in the city. The owner of the guesthouse recommends a number of places to us so we decide to take a walk along the ocean front to Punta al Sol which has great views from its three storeys. We are greeted by a doorman in a wide brimmed straw hat and go inside to be shown to a table on the 2nd floor. Almost immediately the doorman's hat lands on the roof by our table! A waiter climbs out to retrieve only to see it reappear minutes later. This is repeated throughout our lunch and each time the doorman is grinning from ear to ear at us. Maybe it is a show of appreciation from happy diners? We were certainly happy as two huge bowls of ceviche were placed in front of us. Certainly the best ceviche we have ever tasted!

At SA Explorers Club in Lima, we ask the manager for his recommendations and immediately he points us to La Lucha, a sandwich stall on Parque xxxx. Actually a bit more than a sandwich stall as it does have tables inside and out. We arrive at around 8.00pm and the place is heaving with people and we have to queue. It only takes five minutes of so for us to be served and to find a table. This place is really buzzing and it is an entertainment in itself just to stand and watch the servers, waiters and chefs at work. We choose a hot roast beef and cheese (a Philly in the US?) and Lechon (suckling pig) with avocado accompanied by their signature fries, apparently made from a rare strain of Peruvian potatoes. Both are delicious and probably the best sandwiches we have ever had. So good, we do return to this place just to make sure..

Bars seem hard to find in Peru so after La Lucha we walk past "The Old Pub" apparently and English style pub frequented by expats. Nothing like an English pub back home but it is full of expats, some probably English and some very sorry looking individuals looking like they have lost there way from a Bangkok girlie bar! Still the beer was good.

Superlatives abound when describing food here but the best restaurant we have tried so far is Punta Azul on Calle San Martin, specialising in fish and seafood. Again we have to queue, this time for around 20 mins but it is so worth it. We ordered and are immediately told by the waiter that we have ordered to much. So we reduce our order to share a plate of scallops baked in Parmesan followed by grilled fish in wine and seafood sauce and fried fish stuffed with crab in a crab and seafood sauce. When the food is served we understand why the waiter cautioned us. We get a dozen decent sized scallops that are superb. Each main course could easily serve two. The seafood sauce alone, full of clams, prawns, squid etc. would have made a main course if just served with pasta. The fish itself was enormous and all for the price of a fish and chip takeaway back home. If visiting Lima, this places should be high on anyone's restaurant list.

Lima is certainly a gourmets paradise and so inexpensive when compared with other capital cities around the world, particularly our own, London. Definitely worth spending a bit of time here if you are into food, whether it be fine dining or street stalls

Apart from eating, we did actually get to see a bit of the city. Miraflores is the sort of place one can wander around for ages without actually doing much. The cafes and restaurants are always inviting and for shopaholics, it has some of the best shopping in South America and Carolyn even manages to tempt me into a few places which doesn't happen often!

On our second day we jump on to the Metropolitana bus line to go into the centre of Lima to explore the buildings and streets of Centro Historico around the Plaza De Armas. The bus system is incredibly quick and efficient, largely due, I suppose to the fact that it has its own road system and so avoids Lima's notoriously awful traffic. The bus whizzes through the city streets, passing through the exclusive residential area of San Isidro past the, very impressive, national stadium which is pointed out to us by a fellow passenger who also points out a few other sights along the way. Not often you find your own tour guide on a bus in a strange city! He asks where we are going and when we say Plaza de Armas, he suggests we get off at the central bus station and walk the rest to so as not to miss the sights along the way. Taking his advice, we alight at the central station we appreciate how huge this place is and it is all underground! Very impressive.

As we walk from the station to the Plaza we get to appreciate the colonial architecture in this part of town, particularly the ornate wooden balconies jutting from the upper floors. The lower floors are occupied by a wide variety of shops and restaurants, small and large. Certainly much more impressive than central Quito and , dare I say it, on a par with Buenos Aires, one of over favourite capital cities.

Finally we arrive in the Plaza de Armas just at the end of the changing of the guard which takes me back to my daily commute in London where most days, I would walk through Green Park, across The Mall crossing in front of Buckingham Place on the way to the office. These guards are guarding not a monarch, but the presidential palace but are almost as impressive as we recognise the tune they are playing as El Condor Pasa. We can't get too close to the action as this is probably the only place in the world where soldiers are being protected by a cordon of armed police??

Some museums we like others we do not. At 30 soles a head, Lima's prime museums are not cheap so we decide to give those a miss and instead wander some of the narrow streets behind the convents and museums surrounding the Plaza. We stumble across some inviting restaurants and bars that look as though they haven't changed since the 1930s. Unfortunately we had eaten previously at a not very good place close to the plaza. Maybe when we return at the end of this trip?

As I said previously, we were not fans of Lima before. Now we very definitely are and are already looking forward to exploring further when we return before we fly back to London, later in the year. For now we need to sort out our onward travel to Cusco. We briefly looked at flying but at around $190-250 a head it was too expensive and, as we have the luxury of time, we buy a couple of bus tickets on Cruz del Sur for 190 soles each ($65 US) . The trip will take 21 hours but much of that is overnight so it shouldn't be too bad as we have "CruizerSuite" tickets which gives us more or less, lie flat beds and food and this is Peru's premier bus company. We will see..

Sounds fabulous. I have to admit that I've never felt interested in going to Lima, but I've heard so much about the Peruvian food scene.

Great reporting. Sometimes it's handy to have a nice wife/SO along for those grumpy señoras.

Your perceptions about Lima from your first visit may have been correct. There has been a tremendous positive change in the last 5-6 years.

There certainly has been a change in Lima. I could easily live there!
BTW mlgb, thanks for the corrections to my blog, much appreciated!

CUSCO

We arrived at the Cruz del Sur bus station in plenty of time to catch our 15.30 bus to Cusco. The bus journey was fine, at least as fine as any 21 hour journey can be! Wide reclining seats, which in my case were a mixed blessing as the woman in front of me reclined her seat so far it was trapping my legs - not the best designed luxury bus in the world and not a patch on those in Argentina even if it is the best Peru has to offer. Still, can't complain as it is way, way cheaper than flying, especially when taking into account the saving in accomodation costs.

The last few hours into Cusco really drag and we arrive mid afternoon and decide, that after sitting down for 20 odd hours, we will walk the 2kms up into town from the station.
As we spent so much time here on our last trip it all seems very familiar. Despite being at sea level for a week or so, the altitude 3300m doesn't affect us too much, which is more than can be said the last time we were here when we flew in and I really did feel quite bad.

After exiting the bus station to avoid the taxi touts offering rides at five times the going rate we decide to carry on and walk the 2 kms into the centre. Unfortunately, once again we get caught in unseasonably bad weather. It is supposed to be sunny and clear blue skies at this time of year but after a few minutes we get caught in a shower which quickly turns to a hailstorm. Welcome to Cusco!

We arrive at our first choice of hostel which is booked solid, so I mind the bags whilst Carolyn goes off in search of another. She soon returns having secured both a nice room just around the corner and a 20% discount on the rate for one night. We only need a night as we are staying a The South America Explorers Clubhouse in San Blas for the next week.

Bags deposited in our room, we head off out to reacquaint ourselves with one of South Americas most iconic cities. The historical centre of Lima is pretty much unchanged since we last visited 5 years ago except that even more of the Inca building have been converted into upmarket shops and restaurants and the numbers of tourists swarming around the narrow, cobbled street seems to have increased exponentially over the years. It is all very familiar and, having spent so much time here on our last trip, is a bit like coming home (except that prices for food and accommodation have more or less doubled!)

The next day we transfer to the SA Explorers Clubhouse which is to be our home for the next week. We meet with Lina and Alex, the very nice Russian couple who manage the club as well as some other residents and volunteers. Austrian, North American, Mexican and Peruvian, they are all here. We also meet up again with Louis, the Belgian explorer whose lecture we attended in Quito. http://www.louis-philippe-loncke.com/ . This guy leads quite a life. Having trekked alone across the Australian desert, pulling a self designed all terrain trailer, he arrived in South America and walked alone across Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, the largest salt flats in the world. When I say that we were doing the same trip by jeep, he simply says "too easy, walk". His next trip is to kayak around Lake Titicaca ( he has already kayaked from Bruges all the way to the north sea!)When asked what his biggest problem would be he replied " getting shot by either drug smugglers or the police" apparently each side would think he belonged to the other! A very nice guy but obviously completely mad!

Miguel Jove RIP

The last time we were in Cusco we went trekking in the Lares valley with Miguel and had one of the best experiences of our travelling lives. We had tried to contact him without success, hoping to arrange another trek. Shortly before arrival in Cusco we had been corresponding with SA Explorers and found out that Miguel had died two years previously.

Whilst out trekking in the mountains he loved, he was caught in a rockslide. A large rock hit and killed his horse and another hit and killed him.

One of the best things about travelling as we do are the people we meet. Miguel was an incredible character and a very warm human being who did a lot for his community as well as running a thriving trekking business. We only knew him for a couple of weeks, but in that time he become a friend. I know he is sorely missed by his family and friends and our thoughts go out to them.

When last we met, Carolyn wrote this short bio of him:

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blo...7260/tpod.html

One of the great things about SAE Club is that all the information is on hand for research on what to do, where to go, where to eat etc. and there are lots of travellers around with first hand and recent information. We sort out a few walks, treks and places to go, and then head off out into Cusco to explore a few of the places we have seen before and to search out a few new ones. One of the first things we notice is that Macdonalds on Plaza de Armas has now been joined by Starbucks and KFC, such a shame as the food here is so good and these places are so expensive by Peruvian standards. Why anyone would eat at any of these places is beyond my comprehension.

Having purchased our Boleto Turistico and, determined to get every sole's worth of value for its exorbitant price, we set off to visit a few of the museums and galleries on the ticket. These included:

Museo de Artes Popular
Museo Historico Regional
museo de Artes Contemporaneo
Museo de Sitio de Qoricancha

All had something to offer but only the two art museums are really worth the time. The main reasons for spending the 130 soles on the ticket are the site outside of Cusco such as Sacsayhuaman, Pisac, Ollantaytambo etc.