Sep 4 - Oct 9, 2016: Peru

Sep. 7, 2016.  

• Happy Birthday Sam!  74 years old!

• On the bus at 5 AM.  Estimated time to Cajamarca: 9 hours.  Cost: $14.  Route: Chachapoyas, Leymebamba, Balsas, Celendin, Cajamarca.

• Four other tourists on bus (and one local).  Wow, are their packs big.  Thank goodness for my ultralight indoctrination- and I still keep thinking of ways to cut down my weight (ditch t-shirt, extra long-sleeved shirt, socks, binos, iGo keyboard, shorts, dark glasses, ...). Best item: lightweight waterproof day pack.  Worked great the two times it was needed (Kuelap and Gocta waterfall).

• Road sneaks along the sides of incredibly steep hills, and only wide enough for one vehicle: so the driver barrels along, honking without slowing up at blind turns.  Fortunately very little traffic: and so far (now near Balsas) it is paved.

• Stopped because for some unknown reason the bridge we are supposed to cross is blocked.  Never mind: there are wonderful mangoes for sale at 30 cents, and they cut them up for you.  Also, for the first time on this trip: peanuts!  Small, in the shell, and yummy.  Very hot here (2800 feet) - the road went over a pass at Abra de Barro Negro (black mud pass) at 3678m, with a view to the Rio Marañon, more than 3.5 km below.

• Back on board and on to Celendín, for a switch to an actual bus.  And the road just switched from 1 lane to 2.  Should be in Cajamarca late afternoon.  Time for a meal, maybe a dip in Los Baños del Inca before boarding a night bus to Chiclayo.

• Mutant Ninja Turtle flick now playing on the bus - with Whoopie Goldberg!

• Latest pass: 3570m

• Arrived at Cajamarca bus station around 5:30 PM (12 hour journey!), bought a 9:30 PM overnight bus ticket to Chiclayo, checked my backpack, took a mototaxi to the main plaza, grabbed a pork sandwich off a street vendor, strolled around the plaza, taking pictures of the now-lit cathedrals at each end, passed by (and photographed) a large group of mostly student-aged folks all working their cellphones (free WiFi?), got a double scoop (blackberry & passion fruit) of ice cream at the Heladería Holanda (best in northern Peru), then pigged on lomo fino (tenderloin) on pasta a la huancaina (fresh white cheese, aji Amarillo) and a flagon of lemonade: 35 sols, and used my Visa card for the first time.  Then another stroll around the plaza and a taxi back to the bus station with an hour to spare.

• Didn't see much of Cajamarca, but liked what I did see - more cosmopolitan and larger than Chachapoyas, but less stuff to do nearby.  This is where Atahualpa was held as ransom as the treasures for his release piled up.  Of course, the Spaniards killed him after he ran out of stuff to ransom.