| Nov 9, 2005 - Caraz, Peru
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 | Cañon del Pato, just 1 unsatisfying shot
| | Scary road in the Canyon
| | Caraz Plaza de Armas
| | Caraz Plaza Panorama 1
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 | | | Caraz Plaza Panorama 2
| | Caraz Plaza with Church
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| Well if I've had some bad luck with bus travels so far, today was my day of all the close calls working out in my favor.
I woke up at 5am in Huanchaco for a 6am bus in Trujillo. It took me abit to get ready, so I only got out to the road around 5:30, and there are no taxis so I had to take a bus into Trujillo, which usually takes a full 30 minutes. So on the way I'm talking with driver and ask him to pull over once we get into town if he sees a taxi. I don't expect anything to come of this, but he does just that as we wenter Trujillo, so I hop in a taxi to the Lineas bus terminal. I catch my bus with 5 minutes to spare. We get into Chimbote at 8:15, and I am fine because I was told there was a bus at 8am and another at 9am up to Caraz. Well, I was wrong. There was only one bus, leaving at 8:30am, and I bought the very last ticket for it. I made a point to travel during the day up to Caraz, a tiny town in the mountains that is a great base for many hikes and treks, through the Canyon del Pato since it is supposed to be gorgeous. Although I was told to get a left side window seat to really be able to see the views. Luckily, this final remaining ticket that I got was a left side window seat. I also sat next to a man who was from a town near the top pf the canyon, he was very excited to be talking with me, and gave me great info and a little tour all the way up.
Now the crazy part. We stopped in a small town called Chuqicara to eat, which is right before you start ascending the canyon and where the road turns from paved to loose sand and pebbles. Well I got out of the bus and this guy on a bike turned to ask me, "you're not from here are you?". Long story short, he is from Kingston NY, he is riding his bike along the PanAmericana highway from Ecuador down into Bolivia, and he was good friends with someone I went to high school with. Crazy small world I guess.
On the way up through the canyon was a very long and slow slog on a cliff-hugging dirt and pebble road the entire time. However, the views tended to make up for it. We took a few hours travelling around and up the mountains, at most times with both a shear drop-off to the river, and a humbling straight vertical rock wall extending far above us as well. Towards the end of the climb we passed through a succession of 36 small tunnels built right into the mountainside. It was a great example of humans conquering nature, because there is no way this hulking bus should actually be able to ascend such a deep and long canyon, but there we were. When the steeepness of the mountainside did not allow us to ride its curves, we simply bore right through its center. We finally reached the top where the road was paved again at a small village, and I said goodbye to my new friend turned tour guide. From there it was just a bit more to Caraz.
In Caraz, after getting a hostel, I went to an information office to figure out what day hikes I could reasonably do on my own. The most famous hike in the area is the 4 day Santa Cruz trek that is supposed to have increduble scenery all along the way. Unfortunately I was not going to be able to do this hike, since I did not want to do it alone, and it would mean renting stove and tent and a guide, which would cost a bit too much for my tight budget. But the luck continues. As I was talking with the information person, or actually his worker who was explaining to me that he was on a trip and not around to give me any information, 2 saviors in the form of men walked on in. As it turns out, these 2 guys were heading off for the Santa Cruz trek the next morning, had a stove with gas and all the equipment and gear (minus an extra tent), and because they are such angels they invited me to come along. So I had to make a pretty quick decision, since I did not have much time to prepare. I knew I was not acclimitaized to the altitude we would be hitting, and wasn't even sure if I really had 4 days to spend in the mountains, but of course, I decided to go along. So the next few hours was a scramble to rent myself a tent, find and buy all the food I could need over the next few days, and prepare my pack for the hike and stash all the rest of my stuff. At about nine I met up with the guys again for a nice dinner. There is Matt, a 28 year old from Canada, and Andrew, a 35 year old Australian. They had only just met in South America as well a few months back, but had been travelling together since then doing a number of hikes throughout Peru.
Had a big pasta meal to get myself ready,a nd went to sleep excited about the big day and early start ahead of us. |
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