Perú I – The North

Still daydreaming about Galápagos, we got ourselves into an 18hr journey that took us to the peaceful, fishermen town of Huanchaco, in the north of Perú. The ride there was very interesting, with arid Andean hills on the left and pure desert and dunes extending to the very Pacific Ocean on the right. It was difficult to imagine older civilisations surviving in such dry conditions!

Whilst the main attractions close to Huanchaco are the pre-Incan ruins of Chan-Chan, Huasca del Sol and Huasca de la Luna, we found the town a relax gem with plenty of photography opportunities.

Amazing sunsets in Huanchaco

Being in low season really helped to create this feel, but so did the yummiest dessert we’ve had on this trip so far, the homemade cremoladas from our host Carlos. Half a sorbet, half a smoothie and with plenty of chunks of whatever fruit (and chocolate) you can imagine, it has definitely earned a spot in the top 3 of the dessert category. Check trip advisor, we’re not the only ones raving about it!

Huanchaco is also quite famous for its gentle surf, although locals sport a different type of board here, the Caballito de Totora (Totora’s little horse).

This watercraft is a canoe made of reed and it’s been used to fish for 3000 years! It’s just admirable that fishermen still use them, considering how much easier fishing would be with a modern boat. If you don’t fear the freezing peruvian current, the fishermen will take you out for a few soles.

The favourite catch there is the crab, and the dish of choice, the Cangrejo Reventado (blown up crab). They crash the crabs open so they release their yummy juices and scramble them with eggs and the superhealthy seaweed, hand-picked by locals at the shore. A real treat!

A local hand-picking seaweed

nyom nyom nyom

We loved Peruvian food (if you hadn’t realised already) and it met the expectations for its reputation, so we decided to stop in the local market of Trujillo, a bigger sized town nearby, to try the local almuerzos. Arroz con mariscos (rice with seafood) is probably the closest dish to paella we’ve ever tried. They served it to us after an unasked, unexpected but very welcome spicy ceviche…and we couldn’t finish it! It was so nice that we took the leftovers in a doggy bag so we could keep eating at the ruins, haha.

The ruins of Chan-Chan, declared world heritage site by UNESCO in 1986, were different to everything we had seen so far. While they’re not as impressive as the colossal Mayan temples, the fact that they were built with adobe (it’s the largest city made of adobe, 30,000 people lived there) and are surrounded by desert, gives them a very untouched feel.

The famous adobe walls in Chan-Chan

 

Sea motifs decorate most of the walls

 

Chan-Chan was a city built by the Chimus, a pre-incan civilisation that inhabited the north of Perú between 1100 and 1470aD, when they were conquered by the Incas. Every time a new king rose, the previous premises were abandoned and a different palace was built. Up to 40% of the space was destinated to storing tax collections in the form of ceramics, salt, textile and fish. Imagine the stink under a 35°C sun!

The tomb of the king.. his 2 closest wives were buried with him. The remaining 88 (yes, wives) were buried in smaller tombs around it.

 

However, corridors, walls and holes were designed to bring the sea breezes into these sections of the palace and keep stuff cool.

Our guide was quite lazy and when he realised we were speaking both in English and Spanish I was asked to work as a translator during the tour… I managed to get the tour for free in exchange, so it worked out quite well!

Hipster chimus…designing with pixels before it was cool.

Following the tradition, we became friends with another dog, this time a Peruvian dog! This breed is quite special, they look wrinkly and old because they’re almost hairless and their body temperature is 40°C..apparently they were used as hot water bags and to help cure diseases.

This is a real hot dog

In the afternoon we moved to Huasca de la Luna and Huasca del Sol. These ruins belong to the Moche culture, who inhabited the area between 200 and 700 aD, and were used for ceremonies (including human sacrifices after a ball game – quite similar to the Mayans), and administrative purposes respectively.

The moche god Aiapaec – adored and feared, he was known as the beheader

Huasca del Sol remains mostly unexplored due to the lack of funds but you can easily tell that there’s a huge temple waiting to be discovered under this hill.

Huasca de la Luna was really cool to walk through. In this case, when a new king rose, instead of moving to a whole new palace, they filled the old one with adobe and built another one ontop. This practice kept going for 5 generations of kings, so it was really cool to see the colourful, well preserved walls from previous dynasties uncovered after so many years.

The different levels have been excavated and emptied and are visible now

In contrast to Chan-Chan, the building rose for 5 levels instead of being flat, so it was great to witness such different styles separated by just a few kilometers.

The wall of myths in Huasca de la Luna

Outer walls of Huasca de la Luna

By the way, the mode of transport of choice was the colectivo. Its drivers and “ayudantes” (assistants) are really stressed in the north of Perú as they have to complete their laps in a certain time. To make sure they achieve it, the assistant has to sprint to different checkpoints scattered in the route to get a stamp on the time card within the time limit. Missing the time or the checkpoint means losing the earnings of the entire lap. Riding on them was quite an adventure in itself!

After this dose of culture and heat we headed to Huaraz on an overnight bus. We loved a bus company called “Linea” because they played the gags from “Just for laughs” on their TV’s, so much fun! Huaraz is a hiking destination nestled in Cordillera Blanca and our first test at altitude.

Trout farm in Huaraz

The town itself is quite boring – except for a trout farm by the river – unless you’re into clubbing, so we got ourselves into the first hike to Laguna 69, a stunning, turquoise hidden lagoon at 4,450m.

Laguna de Llanganuco at the beginning of the hike

Huascarán mountain, over 6,700 metres – south side

Huascarán – north side

To all those dirty minds, the name comes from the lack of imagination in Perú, they just numbered the different lagoons instead of giving them names.

The hike to the laguna took us a good 4hrs and lots of coca leaf chewing (more on the coca leaves soon! It deserves a post by itself!).

We made it!

After this exhausting hike, we went for another day trip to Chavín de Huantar, with a stopover at the picturesque Lake Querococha.

Chavín de Huantar is an archeological site with temples built around 1200BC and used until 400-500 BC from the pre-incan Chavín culture, once a pilgrimage destination and now quite popular among experience seekers.

Chavín de Huantar ruins

A hallucinogenic drink is prepared with the cactus called San Pedro, offerings are made to the Pachamama and several day courses meant to find and connect your inner chacras are held there. While we respect all these practices, we didn’t have the time and money to undertake them but, we took the tour and learnt a lot about their architecture, culture and customs.

The state of conservation is far from ideal (they don’t receive any help from the government while it pockets all the proceedings), but walking through the maze-like corridors where they performed the sacrifices was really cool.

The most important piece in the ruins is the Lanzón Gallery, located at the very center of the corridors, contained a sculpture of the Lanzón, which is assumed to be a supreme deity of Chavín de Huantar. The figure is anthropomorphic, with a feline head and human body and this is where they poured the blood from the sacrificed.

El lanzón, still hidden in the middle of the maze of corridors

It’s quite interesting to see that Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, Chavins, etc, they always designed their temples to be aligned with the moon cycles and sun solstices and equinocces. While they prayed to different gods, the reference to the mother earth (Pachamama) is common and still respected by all, despite the efforts from the Spanish to establish catholicism by force and fear.

The only cabeza clava still standing in its original place – they represented mythical creatures from the Chavín culture

Local assembly in Huantar town

An example to this is the first sip of any beverage (especially alcoholic) being tipped to the ground, a flower or a tree, giving back to earth a little that we took from it. Might look stupid to throw your whisky away…but we find it a nice tradition!

After some exciting days around Huaraz we took the longest bus ride yet, 9 hours to Lima, where we spent 8hrs visiting the coast (Miraflores suburb), and then 21hrs more to Cusco, our next destination!

Miraflores cliffs – Lima

Parque del amor in Miraflores

Until then, mucho amor from Sal & Xavi.

PS: we booked our flights to Barcelona, arriving on the 24th of March, wohooo!!!

Guatemala IV – Lago de Atitlan

After an adventure packed couple of weeks with hiking and caving, we felt due for a bit of a change of pace. I’m not one for believing in esoteric things, but I really do think Lake Atitlan has some sort of magnetic and calming quality. It’s a huge lake covering an area 12kms by 5kms, sitting at 1,563m above sea level, with mountains and three volcanoes (San Pedro, Atitlan and Toliman) surrounding it and Mayan villages of varying sizes nestled along the shores.

From left to right: Volcanoes Toliman, Atitlan and San Pedro – almost permanently covered by clouds!

Transport between the villages is most often by boat, although tuktuks go to neighbouring villages also.

We arrived first in San Pedro, the most “backpacker” of the towns, after a full day of transport from Semuc Champey. It seemed like a nice but fairly average town full of Spanish schools, restaurants, bars and hostels until we ventured up the steep hill to the area where the locals live.

There we found an awesome stall on the edge of the fruit/vege/meat market with local ladies selling hot cereal drinks called atoles (think rice & milk, oats, wheat, banana etc) and sandwiches or tortas (big crispy corn discs) with loads of veggie fillings/toppings for less than $0.50. For a week I think we were their best customers!!

Atoles served in old candle glasses

Xavi also found a local barbershop, which had a mix of pictures on the walls from soccer players with designs razored in to 70s styles for a $2 haircut (in case you were wondering, the beard was not harmed in the process).

Our favourite breakfast spot!

We wanted to get a good view of the whole lake so we signed up for a 4am hike to “The Indian Nose” for sunrise. We walked through corn and coffee plantations in the dark to arrive at the lookout to watch the sun peek through the clouds and light up the lake and volcanoes. Our guide Juan told us all about the Tz’utijil Mayan warrior tribe, who fought against the Spanish invasion with “submersible warriors” in the lake. The Spanish Armada was severely punished by skin-divers who teased their enemies with gold and then drowned them by holding them underwater for up to 5min. Obviously, this doesn’t come in the history books.

The Indian Nose

Sunrise over the lake

Another cool feature is the old town submerged in the middle of the lake at a depth of  80m. It was built when the Mayans arrived, before the lake had formed. Unfortunately it’s too deep to dive there unless you have technical training and equipment.

Lake and volcanoes Toliman & Atitlan from the Indian Nose

On the way back from the Indian Nose, we got a tuktuk to San Marcos, a chilled out place which has made it’s name as a spiritual retreat, now full of yoga and meditation schools. The highlight for us was a visit to Cerro Tzankujil, a small natural park on the lake, with a lookout and a platform to jump into the lake. It used to be 12m high, but the rising level of the lake has reduced that to 8m in the last few years. Still, it’s been the best views while cliff jumping so far!

Local football league game in San Marcos

Santiago is the largest of the towns on the lake and had a much more commercial tourism feel, with lots of typical souvenir shops and touts trying to get us to go to different places. After visiting the church, we were approached by several local men offering us (as if it were an underground secret) to visit Maximón, a local deity that is housed in a different brotherhood member’s house each year. Apparently locals visit with traditional offerings of cigarettes and rum to worship and ask it for blessings. It seemed like a rort to get tourists to donate entry fee, alcohol and cigarettes to the family so we gave it a miss.

However a local story that had taken our interest…El Paso Misterioso (the Mysterious Pass), several people in different villages had mentioned to us the existence of a strange road where you can stop a car going up the hill, turn off the engine and the car goes up by itself! So we set off to find the road with its own laws of gravity in a chicken bus. The bus dropped us off on the road in the middle of nowhere indicating we were there and zoomed off on its way. We walked along the road a little, trying to figure out which way the slope was going and then tried placing the water bottle down to see which way it would roll.

El Paso Misterioso

Just as we were getting a bit frustrated by our stationary bottle (to be fair it had been a but dinged up so wasn’t perfect for rolling), a ute with locals driving by saw us and our disbelief and stopped. The driver, annoyed at how sceptical we were, turned off his engine and his car did in fact roll backwards up the very slight slope. He also got us to pour water on the road to see which way it ran…success even if it was just an optical illusion!!

He then offered us a ride back to town in the back of the ute. During a short stop at a local coffee plantation on the way, we learnt that they were agronomists working with the coffee farmers to try and solve issues with “la roya” (rust), a fungus affecting much of Central America’s coffee crop.

Lake from Panajachel

The last of the lake towns we visited were Panajachel and Sta. Cruz. Panajachel was the most touristy of them all, in both the quantity of tourist restaurants, souvenir shops and the prices for everything, but it was nice for a change; and Sta Cruz, was the opposite, with just locals around but some of the best lake views from the steep road going up to the residential area.

Bat-Tuktuk

PE lessons in Santa Cruz

Before we even noticed it, 6 days were gone, so we made our way to the first city in our trip. Coming soon, Quetzaltenango!