Saturday, December 3, 2016

The Andes in Northern Peru

In Caraz, we decided to drive northward through the Peruvian Andes to the Ecuadorian border at La Balza. This was a great decision, which took us through beautiful mountains, deeply dissected by steep river canyons, and dotted with small villages.
Camping Guadalupe Caraz, Peru

From Caraz, we followed the Santa River downstream to the famous Cañon del Pato. We had heard lots about this place with its single-lane road and 35 tunnels hewn into solid rock. The canyon was every bit as scenic as we had expected, and we thought the road was ample; we already had driven narrower roads in the southern Peruvian Andes. Little did we know that soon we would drive up and down high canyon walls on steep switchback roads that made even those in the South look plenty wide.
Cordillera Blanca
Cordillera Blanca
Cordillera Blanca snow peak
Over 18.000 feet, 5.500 m

Just past the village of Tatica, the road got narrower and steeper as we wound our way to Cabana and Pallasca. From there, switchbacks clinging to the side of the canyon wall drop down to the Rio Chuquicara. Looking across to the opposite canyon wall, we clearly saw the village Mollepata about five miles away - as the condor flies - at about the same elevation as we were. And a mere hour later, we had driven the 16 road miles to the village, eight down and eight up.
This type of "progress" is typical deep in the Andes. Go slow (and stay alive), enjoy, and do it in good weather. Even then, as the driver, I had to stop if I wanted to look at the scenery. Many roads are less than 10 feet wide, always curving, and often clinging to a cliff.
crops
market in Caraz
Caraz, Peru
delicatessen
siesta

And so we meandered on northward to Angasmarca (where thankfully they had gasoline), the huge gold mine near Huamachuco, spending a weekend with a friendly family near Cajabamba, onward via Cajamarca (on a paved 2-lane road, no less), past Celendin to the Utcubamba River near Chachapoyas.
Alpamayo
Huascaran
Yungay Campo Santo

The Chachapoyas were a pre-inca civilization, of which relatively little is known. We visited their most famous ruins, called Kuelap, a fortified city of round structures on a mountain top. The site is as impressive as its administration is dismal. Once the new cable car line is completed, the site can be reached much more easily. It'll be interesting to see how the resulting increase in visitor numbers will be handled.
Canyon del Pato
Cañon Del Pato
Duck Canyon formations
37 tunnels


We were now on the home stretch to the Ecuadorian border. We followed the Utcubamba River downstream to hot and humid Bagua Grande, then on up to San Ignacio. From there, we leisurely crossed the border to Ecuador and went on to Vilcabamba. Our next blog update will pick up from there.

Die Anden Im Norden Peru's

Von Caraz aus beschlossen wir nordwärts durch die Anden Peru's zur Grenze nach Ecuador bei La Balza zu fahren. Das war hervorragend. Wir reisten durch großartige Berglandschaft mit tiefen Schluchten und kleinen Bergdörfern.
Duck Canyon, Peru
Cañon del Pato
At the bottom of the canyon
Abandoned mine
Ghost town

Stromabwärts ging's am Rio Santa entlang zum berühmten Cañon del Pato, der Entenschlucht. Wir hatten viel davon gehört mit seiner einspurigen Straße und über 30 Tunnel, die durch den Fels gemeißelt sind. Ja, die Schlucht war so beindruckend wie wir es erwartet hatten, und die Straße war einigermaßen breit; da waren wir schon auf engeren Straßen im Süden Peru's unterwegs gewesen. Noch war uns nicht bewußt, daß wir bald in engen Serpentinen Steilhänge hinauf und hinunter fahren werden auf Straßen, die selbst die im Süden noch als angenehm breit erscheinen lassen würden.
Andean roads and villages
Switchbacks in the Andes

Hinter dem Dorf Tatica wurde die Straße enger und steiler, und so kurvten wir nach Cabana und Pallasca. Dann ging's immer am Steilhang in steilen und engen Serpentinen hinunter zum Rio Chuquicara. Vor dieser Abfahrt konnten wir gut zum etwa 8 km Luftlinie entfernten Dorf Mollepata auf der gegenüberliegenden Seite schauen. Und kaum eine Stunde später hatten wir auch schon die 26 Straßenkilometer zu dem Dorf bewältigt, 13 runter, 13 rauf.
Diese Art des Vorankommens ist typisch wenn man mitten in den Anden unterwegs ist. "Nimm dir Zeit und nicht das Leben," geniese die Reise, und fahr nur bei gutem Wetter. Und selbst wenn man all das beachtet, muß man als Fahrer anhalten, wenn man sich die Gegend anschauen will. Oft sind diese Straßen grad mal 2,5 Meter breit, immer kurvig, und sie kleben oft direkt an der Felswand.
Peruvian Andes
Encounters on the road
High Andes land scape

Und so schlängelten wir uns gemächlich nach Angasmarca, wo's auch wieder mal Sprit gab. Vorbei ging's an der großen Goldmine nahe Huamachuco in die Nähe von Cajabamba, wo wir das Wochenende mit einer nette Familie verbrachten. Dann weiter auf einer neu-geteerten und zweispurigen Straße (!) nach Cajamarca, und dann an Celendin vorbei zum Rio Utcubamba nahe der Stadt Chachapoyas.
Highland farming
Huamachuco gold mine
Huamachuco landscape

Die Chachapoyas waren eine Vor-Inka Zivilisation von der ziemlich wenig bekannt ist. Wir besuchten ihre wahrscheinlich berühmteste Stätte, die Festung Kuelap. Hier bauten die  Chachapoyas runde Häuser und andere Gebäude auf einen kaum zugänglichen Bergrücken. Kuelap war beeindruckend, seine Verwaltung allerdings schlecht. Wenn die neue Seilbahn dort hinauf erst mal fertig ist, wird die Festung viel einfacher zu erreichen sein. Dann wird's interessant... mal schauen wie die Verwaltung mit den höheren Besucherzahlen zurecht kommen wird.
Overlanders meeting on the road
Canyon sunset near Cajabamba


Für uns kam jetzt die letzte Etappe in Peru zur Grenze nach Ecuador. Wir fuhren den Rio Utcubamba hinunter zur feucht-heißen Stadt Bagua Grande, dann rauf nach San Ignacio. Von dort aus war es nur noch eine kurze Fahrt über die Grenze nach Ecuador. Unser erster Stopp war Vilcabamba, und der nächste Beitrag wird dann von dort an fortgesetzt.

Los Andes En El Norte De Peru

En Caraz decidimos dirigirnos hacia el norte a través de los Andes peruanos hasta la frontera ecuatoriana en La Balza. Fue una gran decisión, que nos llevó a través de hermosas montañas, profundamente rajadas por los empinados cañones de los ríos y salpicadas de pequeños pueblos.
peruvian truck art
rammed earth construction

Desde Caraz, seguimos río abajo el río Santa hasta el famoso Cañón del Pato. Nos habían contado mucho sobre este lugar con su carretera de un solo carril y 35 túneles tallados en roca sólida. El Cañón del Pato es tan pintoresco como no lo habían pintado y pensamos que la carretera era amplia, basado en todo lo que habíamos oído (en el sur de los Andes Peruanos anduvimos en carreteras o caminos mucho mas estrechos). Sin embargo, pronto empezamos a subir y bajar las paredes del alto cañón en estrechos empinados zigzags que incluso hicieron ver las curvas del sur muy amplias.
polloc mosaic
Polloc church
Sombrero Celendino Park

Justo después de la aldea de Tatica el camino se hizo más estrecho y escarpado, poco a poco nos abrimos camino a Cabana y Pallasca. La carretera en zigzag que llega hasta el río Chuquicara parece colgar de las paredes del cañón. Al mirar al otro lado del cañón claramente vimos el pueblo de Mollepata, en linea recta y a la misma altura de donde nosotros estábamos unos 8 kilómetros de distancia. Una hora mas tarde, después de conducir 26 kilómetros llegamos a Mollepata, 13 km de bajada por un lado del cañón y 13 km de subida por el otro lado.
Este tipo de “progreso” es típico en lo profundo de Los Andes: Andar despacio (para mantenerse vivo), disfrutar el recorrido y hacerlo en buen clima. Cuando queríamos ver el paisaje, nos deteníamos, porque aún sin ser el chófer es difícil mirar a otro lado que no sea el camino. Muchos de las carreteras o caminos tienen menos de 3 metros de ancho, están llenos de curvas una detrás de la otra y a menudo  se aferran al precipicio.
Celendin to Leymabamba
North Peruvian Andes
Road through the/Straße durch die/Carretera en  Andes, Peru
Road closure
Route to Leymabamba

Poco a poco continuamos norte hacia Angasmarca (donde afortunadamente tenían gasolina); pasamos por la enorme mina de oro cerca de Huamachuco; compartimos un fin de semana con una brillante niña y su familia cerca de Cajabamba; encontramos (por fin) carretera pavimentada de dos carriles adelante de Cajamarca; llegamos a Celendin y cruzamos el río Utcubamba cerca de Chachapoyas.
Pre-Incan Ruins
Kuelap Fortress/Festung/Fortaleza
Cloud warriors
kuelap ruins

Los Chachapoyas eran una civilización pre-inca, de la cual relativamente poco se sabe. Visitamos la ruinas llamadas, Kuelap, una ciudad fortificada de estructuras redondas en la cima de una montaña. El sitio es tan impresionante como su administración es deprimente. Actualmente, están por terminar una nueva linea de teleféricos que harán el acceso mas fácil.  Será interesante ver como será manejado el incremento de visitantes.
curiosities
La Balza Crossing

Finalmente, nos encontrábamos en el tramo de la frontera con Ecuador. Seguimos río abajo el río Utcubamba hasta el cálido y húmedo Bagua Grande, luego hasta San Ignacio. Desde allí cruzamos la frontera con Ecuador y nos dirigimos a Vilcabamba. Nuestra próxima actualización de blog será desde allí.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Cusco to Caraz

From Cusco, we decided to continue westward to Curahuasi, where we met up again with the Apurimac River. Just outside Curahuasi is Casa Lena run by a Belgian woman with her Peruvian husband. They provide after-school activities for young children, especially also those with disabilities.
There is space for a few campers at Casa Lena, and the view is spectacular. Our's, unfortunately, was affected by the (illegal?) burning of vegetation in surrounding valleys. We did visit an overlook called Capitan Rumi with amazing views of the steep and deep Apurimac canyon.
apurimac region
Apurimac Mountains/Berge/Montañas
approaching curahuasi

It was time for us to decide if we wanted to continue in the high Andes or drive across the Altiplano plateau and down to Nasca. The extended weather forecast for the mountain route looked rainy (which we found out later was incorrect), and we were ready to descend to warmer weather, after having been around 13,000 feet elevation for about a month.
And promptly our departure from Curahuasi was delayed due to rain. We tacked on two days to our stay, which was not quite enough, and we ended up driving across the pass to Abancay in rain and dense fog. This really is a waste of energy and time and gas, because you can't see any of the spectacular scenery. So, instead of continuing, we stopped early at the friendly Quinta la Huerta.
view from casa lena
View from/Blick von/Vista desde Casa Lena
apurimac canyon

By the next day, the weather was clearing, and we had a very enjoyable drive up the Rio Pachachaca valley. It turned out to become a longer day for us, going up and down mountain sides and frequently topping out at over 13,000 feet. We stopped for the night at a small restaurant with a big parking lot outside the small village of Lucanas, from where we knew we would get to Nasca the following day.
yacca, Peru
Quinta La Huerta
andean valley

That day started out exceptional: after we had curved up to the high plain, the road straightened  out toward the western edge of the altiplano. Again we were at over 13,000 feet, when Marcela spotted an adult condor gliding several hundred feet off our right. I maintained a steady speed, and we figured the bird was cruising at about 30 mph.
The road became curvy again, and I thought we would lose the bird. But it slowed and crossed over the road, and when the road straightened again, it started cruising with us along our left side. When the condor started circling in a thermal, we stopped to watch; when it started to cruise again, we kept pace.
This went on all the way to the rather abrupt western edge of the altiplano. The bird had escorted us to the end of its habitat and we parted ways: it soared north along the edge, and we started our descend toward Nasca.
This drive down from over 13,000 feet to 1,700 feet simply is awe inspiring. As is the transition from the high-elevation landscape and climate down the hot and dry desert: Nasca receives about 0.17 inches of rain per year.
andean mountain road
Up and down/Auf und ab/Arriba y abajo los Andes
Andes highway

When we traveled south about eight months earlier, we liked Nasca and the Fundo San Rafael where we stayed. Now, things were different: the Fundo was a dusty and noisy construction site, where they were building a new pool and other structures. The town also appeared noisier and more hectic. We had planned on staying about a week but moved on after two nights.
Going north on the Panamericana is more about covering distance than traveling; but that's what we did. We stopped at the Paracas National Reserve, only to find it being a single gigantic construction site also: throughout the entire park, big construction machines were moving around building a new road system and new tourist facilities all over the reserve. Nobody mentioned that when we paid our entry fee, and so we left after visiting a few places within the reserve. 
volcanic ash
Volcanic Ash?/Vulkanasche?/Ceniza volcanica?
Ash formations

On we went to pick a Sunday morning to get through the vast traffic obstacle called Lima. We took the coastal route this time, and it did seem easier, but it again took us 2.5 hours for about 50 km.
With Lima in the rearview mirror, things got better. We spent our (for this round of our journey) last night at the Peruvian coast at Albufera Medio Mundo near where archeologists have uncovered the oldest urban centers of the Americas. They are about 5,000 years old, and the best known and most studied is Caral in the Supe Valley.
landscape colors
Many colors/Vielfarbig/Muchos colores

Heading back up the Andes, we spent a night behind a welcoming restaurant called Siki Rumi and looked for an archeological site by the same name. After a scenic hike through a boulder-strewn valley and not finding anything, we asked at the restaurant. They pointed to a peculiarly shaped rock formation next to their driveway...
high-altitude lakes
Up on top/Wieder ganz oben/En el tope
old lava flow
Lava
We left this friendly site at 2,000 feet and climbed back up to over 13,000 feet to the southern entrance of the "Callejón de Huaylas" and the headwaters of the Santa River. To the east of the Callejón rises the Cordillera Blanca where there are 33 mountains over 18,000 feet high; the highest, Huascarán, also is Peru's highest peak at 22,205 feet (6768).

We followed the Santa River downstream for 90 miles to the town of Caraz. Just north of town is Camping Guadalupe, an excellent site specifically built for overlanders like we. We stayed here two weeks and published the previous blog post from there.