Cañon del Pato

Saturday 7/7 - HUARAZ
From Chimbote to Huaraz through the Cañon del Pato

Internet didn't work yesterday, the hotel manager lost the wifi code. That can happen to everyone.

I had an excellent fish dinner and a good night . Surprisingly the morning air smelled fresh. I arrived well in time in the bus terminal, took a nice breakfast in the restaurant, and bought a slice of the famous Trujillo King-kong cake. So all started well.

Then started a most strange bus ride:

- delayed departure, even if the bus was there

- the driver selling newspapers through the window in the isolated villages

- a preacher/businessman on board

- part of the ceiling falling on the head of my sleeping neighbor

- the driver giving up, not going to the final destination

Let's go...

Embarking.

The bus left the terminal with 20 minutes delay, and after having driven 10 minutes, the bus stopped for another 20 minutes.

During that time opportunistic salesmen climbed on board and tried to sell us newspapers, fruit, toilet paper, bibles, can openers, torches, eggs, natural viagra, biscuits, screwdrivers, sweets and other bazaar stuff. With some success.

Later, suddenly, a guy stood up and preached about God, about digestive problems, again about God, about Fanta and chemical colorants.  During his preach he demonstrated the power of his products and he managed to sell those magic solutions with huge discounts to the happy poor.

Leaving Chimbote (pictured through the bus window).

Leaving Chimbote (pictured through the bus window).

Successful Preacher - Businessman on board...

... and his audience.

The road was OK until 11:00AM, then started the dirt road. The valley was green thanks to irrigation channels, while the hill slopes were nude,  with only cactus plants. The road passed through many narrow tunnels and over simple bridges. We passed by few small vilages, some of them from miners (coal).  One shop had a sign "Hay Coca". 

One of the few shops along the road.

From time to time women climbed on board to sell fruit (I bought four mandarins for 1 Sol), a guy tried to sell ice cream.

It was 1:00PM when the first snow caps appeared.

At 2:00PM the bus stopped in an isolated village "Yuracmarca" for lunch. Having seen the garden of the "Restaurant" I decided to skip the lunch.

The oasis of Yuracmarca, where the bus stopped for lunch.

 Lunch stop.

Garden of the lunch-restaurant (find the strange chair).

My dissident activity during lunch time.

Poor donkey.

Around 3:00PM we reached the canyon. Sometimes the cliffs are just 15m apart, sometimes 1000m of vertical slope. Impressive!  No regrets to have taken the most difficult road for Huaraz.

After the canyon we suddenly entered a large and green valley: fruit trees, vegetable fields, flower fields, happier people wearing colorful traditional clothes.

Then the bus driver decided it was sufficient and dropped us in a small village at a collectivos station. We had to continue by collectivo. All of us thought he payed for it, at the arrival we found out he didn't. Its wa nearly 5:00PM when I entered my hotel room.

Huaraz is a big mountain town with more conventional shops, paved roads, traffic lights, hotels, taxis, a return to "civilization".

I'll see tomorrow for my trekking tour.




(Click to return to the home page)