Had thursday and friday off last week and a few housemates wanted to take a trip to Cajamarca, which was on my list of places I wanted to visit in Peru. I listened to spanish nursery rhymes and slept for most of the 9 hour bus ride there, so apparently I missed quite a bit of beautiful countryside, however, there was plenty to be seen beyond the bus ride!. Oh... and I can't forget to mention.. there was NO bathroom on the bus for the 9 hour bus ride. Which was ok because they did make one pee stop.. but was not ok, because apparently I ate something poor beforehand because I had a severe intestinal emergency and had to make them stop. Thought I was going to have a very embarrassing moment there, but after some pain and sweating, and some really nice bus drivers, my crisis was averted. (HUGE TANGENT: my housemate had just told us a story where she needed to go to the bathroom and the bus drivers refused to stop and stated that the bus was not going to restart if they stopped it. After some time, she ended up threatening to pee on the bus if they didn't stop and they went ahead and stopped the bus. Like clockwork, the bus did not start again.. and like clockwork, it started raining... everyone was very pissed off at her and they ended up being rescued by some truck that had railings above the cows they were transporting. They spent the next 3 hours riding the top of a truck with cows underneath them. Fortunately, this was not the fate of my situation!!).
So in Cajamarca... did lots of stuff like go to some hot springs:
walk around town
visit ruins (ventanillas de otuzco)
the town is quite rural
saw awesome rock formations, petroglyphs and aquaducts in Cumbe mayo.. including rock formations that look like other things (one part looks like a face facing our left):
Also went to an old hospital that was run by nuns, went shopping, bought some cheese, presents for friends/family, and saw a Jesus play with vignettes.
The altitude of Cajamarca is 2,700 m (8,900 ft)... which is a bit short of what Cusco is at 3,300 (10,800 ft).. and I had no altitude problems at all. In Cumbe Mayo which is slightly higher than Cusco (though we only stayed for a couple hours), I did get a bit dizzy, but nothing unmanageable.. we were hiking around quite a bit too.
It was quite cold (i had long johns, jeans and long sleeves and jacket).. and I was told cusco is colder than that.. about 60 F during the day at best is what i was told; nighttime of course much colder.
Actually, in a couple weeks i'm spending a weekend in Julcan, which is just about the altitude of Cusco.. So we'll see how the altitude feels there for a few days (I've been a little worried about the altitude adjustment in Cusco, cuz i've had problems in colorado when visiting my sis). Seems like it's not really gonna be a problem.
SUPER!
More photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frunkus/sets/72157616582699603/
Many of these fotos are better viewed by clicking the option "all sizes" at the top of each picture. Or slideshow option. Don't forget to click on info for description.
:) Disfruten!!!
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