(Dec 3, 2012)
We left Ica midday to take the 5 hour bus to Lima. We had planned ahead and had the bus drop us off only a $2 cab ride from our Couchsurfer's house (a feat considering that Lima is HUGE, with a population nearing 9 million people and an urban area of 804.3km squared).
We had only planned on spending one day in Lima (before heading on to Huancayo) so we needed to make the most of it. We headed into town early and explored two of Lima's upscale districts, Miraflores and San Isidro. We had plans to meet our host for drinks around 9pm in Miraflores so we spent 10 hours out and about exhaustively exploring everything we could find. Highlights include:
The company we chose was called Oltursa and was recommended to us. It was a most excellent recommendation. For our $16 passage we got movies with English subtitles (so far no other bus company had been able to figure these out), an included lunch, in-bus wifi (which sadly quit once we hit intermittent cell coverage in the mountains), and very professional service. We were very impressed and have decided to pretty much only travel with this company from now on.
We arrived in Huancayo in the late evening and took a cab to our couchsurfing host, Marco's house. Marco lives with his mother and his sister in a beautiful house overlooking the surrounding countryside and hills. Huancayo lies in the central mountains of Peru at roughly 3200 meters. One interesting thing we learned is that water is very tightly rationed in Huancayo, so you need to chose the right time to have a shower otherwise all you'll get is spitting and coughing pipes. (We now know that neither 5am, 8am, nor 3-9pm are good times. We haven't given up hope...)
After a brief chat with Marco we headed to bed to prepare for the important next day (hint: MY BIRTHDAY!). The next day, I awoke to a deliciously improvised Canadian breakfast of sausage, eggs, bread and orange juice (products just aren't the same here) before we headed off with Marco to explore the countryside around Huancayo.
That evening we headed off to Marco's friend's bar for a few drinks and met up with another few couchsurfers who Robin had messaged in secret to create a party for me! We had a great time at the bar before heading off to a nearby restaurant to enjoy a late dinner of WHATEVER I WANTED (steak, chicken and french fries (a parilla)). What more could a man ask for?
We spent Friday exploring more of Huancayo and enjoyed a delicious lunch called Pachamancha. Pachamancha includes either chicken, sheep, pork, or guinea pig (or a mixture of all of these if you're lucky) cooked under a rock and served with sweet tamale-like things, three types of potatoes and some sort of beans. Needless to say, we ordered one to share and couldn't even finish it.
Saturday, we explored some of the towns near Huancayo and ended up a a fish farm-turned tourist attraction. It was only $1.20 to enter so we wandered around a wide expanse full of trout at different stages of life. Apparently the project had been started by an Englishman in the 30's when he imported 50 000 Californian trout. Definitely one of the weirder sites we've visited on our trip.
Yesterday we went for a glacier hike on a nearby mountain, Huaytapallana. It had rained (in town) and snowed (on the mountain) the night before so we weren't able to take the regular route up to the glacier and instead took the alternate, longer route that took us past three beautiful lagunas. We were in a group with five well-off 20 somethings from Lima and they proved to be very unprepared for a hike up a glacier. One of them became so tired after going DOWNHILL, that we left her beside the first laguna to rest while we continued on. We ended up making it to the third laguna before needing to turn around (a combination of the elements and the rest of the group's slowness) however not before the two Peruvian guys headed back (too tired) and one of the girl's shoes fell completely apart. The had to tie the soles of her shoes to the uppers because they had come completely detached. Ridiculous. We didn't get to walk on the glacier (to Robin's disappointment) but we did get some great pictures.
Today, we took a train at 6:30 in the morning to a town called Huaycavelica. We were presented with two choices for tickets: Regular ($3.5) or Buffet ($5). Naturally we decided to elect for Buffet to take advantage of the included food. We were sadly mistaken.
It turns out that "Buffet" meant we were in the buffet car which had tables versus the "Regular" cars where, if you wanted to *buy* food, you had to eat on your lap. Grumpy that we had been had, we refused to order anything and arrived in Huaycavelica, hungry and tired, six hours later. Luckily we found much better (and more reasonable) food in Huaycavelica and had a delicious lunch before catching a bus back to Huancayo.
Interestingly enough, I had really pushed to take the train because I thought a train ride through the high Andes would give us some great views. As it turned out the bus ride afforded us with the nicest views and we arrived back in Huancayo, bought our bus tickets for the next day and sat down for some internet and blog-writing time.
Tomorrow we head off to Huaraz via Lima (19 hours of buses, ugh). We'll be in Huaraz for about a week then back to Lima for about a week then I fly home and Robin heads off into the Amazon jungle towards Brazil!
We left Ica midday to take the 5 hour bus to Lima. We had planned ahead and had the bus drop us off only a $2 cab ride from our Couchsurfer's house (a feat considering that Lima is HUGE, with a population nearing 9 million people and an urban area of 804.3km squared).
We had only planned on spending one day in Lima (before heading on to Huancayo) so we needed to make the most of it. We headed into town early and explored two of Lima's upscale districts, Miraflores and San Isidro. We had plans to meet our host for drinks around 9pm in Miraflores so we spent 10 hours out and about exhaustively exploring everything we could find. Highlights include:
- Having a coffee on a cliff beside the raging Pacific
- Robin trimming my beard on a different cliff with paragliders occassionally buzzing us
- Eating delicious $4 steak and pork sandwiches just off the main plaza
- Admiring an opulent, terraced tennis club just off the water
- Visiting an open air artisan's market and watching traditional dances on the main stage
The company we chose was called Oltursa and was recommended to us. It was a most excellent recommendation. For our $16 passage we got movies with English subtitles (so far no other bus company had been able to figure these out), an included lunch, in-bus wifi (which sadly quit once we hit intermittent cell coverage in the mountains), and very professional service. We were very impressed and have decided to pretty much only travel with this company from now on.
We arrived in Huancayo in the late evening and took a cab to our couchsurfing host, Marco's house. Marco lives with his mother and his sister in a beautiful house overlooking the surrounding countryside and hills. Huancayo lies in the central mountains of Peru at roughly 3200 meters. One interesting thing we learned is that water is very tightly rationed in Huancayo, so you need to chose the right time to have a shower otherwise all you'll get is spitting and coughing pipes. (We now know that neither 5am, 8am, nor 3-9pm are good times. We haven't given up hope...)
After a brief chat with Marco we headed to bed to prepare for the important next day (hint: MY BIRTHDAY!). The next day, I awoke to a deliciously improvised Canadian breakfast of sausage, eggs, bread and orange juice (products just aren't the same here) before we headed off with Marco to explore the countryside around Huancayo.
That evening we headed off to Marco's friend's bar for a few drinks and met up with another few couchsurfers who Robin had messaged in secret to create a party for me! We had a great time at the bar before heading off to a nearby restaurant to enjoy a late dinner of WHATEVER I WANTED (steak, chicken and french fries (a parilla)). What more could a man ask for?
We spent Friday exploring more of Huancayo and enjoyed a delicious lunch called Pachamancha. Pachamancha includes either chicken, sheep, pork, or guinea pig (or a mixture of all of these if you're lucky) cooked under a rock and served with sweet tamale-like things, three types of potatoes and some sort of beans. Needless to say, we ordered one to share and couldn't even finish it.
Saturday, we explored some of the towns near Huancayo and ended up a a fish farm-turned tourist attraction. It was only $1.20 to enter so we wandered around a wide expanse full of trout at different stages of life. Apparently the project had been started by an Englishman in the 30's when he imported 50 000 Californian trout. Definitely one of the weirder sites we've visited on our trip.
Yesterday we went for a glacier hike on a nearby mountain, Huaytapallana. It had rained (in town) and snowed (on the mountain) the night before so we weren't able to take the regular route up to the glacier and instead took the alternate, longer route that took us past three beautiful lagunas. We were in a group with five well-off 20 somethings from Lima and they proved to be very unprepared for a hike up a glacier. One of them became so tired after going DOWNHILL, that we left her beside the first laguna to rest while we continued on. We ended up making it to the third laguna before needing to turn around (a combination of the elements and the rest of the group's slowness) however not before the two Peruvian guys headed back (too tired) and one of the girl's shoes fell completely apart. The had to tie the soles of her shoes to the uppers because they had come completely detached. Ridiculous. We didn't get to walk on the glacier (to Robin's disappointment) but we did get some great pictures.
Today, we took a train at 6:30 in the morning to a town called Huaycavelica. We were presented with two choices for tickets: Regular ($3.5) or Buffet ($5). Naturally we decided to elect for Buffet to take advantage of the included food. We were sadly mistaken.
It turns out that "Buffet" meant we were in the buffet car which had tables versus the "Regular" cars where, if you wanted to *buy* food, you had to eat on your lap. Grumpy that we had been had, we refused to order anything and arrived in Huaycavelica, hungry and tired, six hours later. Luckily we found much better (and more reasonable) food in Huaycavelica and had a delicious lunch before catching a bus back to Huancayo.
Interestingly enough, I had really pushed to take the train because I thought a train ride through the high Andes would give us some great views. As it turned out the bus ride afforded us with the nicest views and we arrived back in Huancayo, bought our bus tickets for the next day and sat down for some internet and blog-writing time.
Tomorrow we head off to Huaraz via Lima (19 hours of buses, ugh). We'll be in Huaraz for about a week then back to Lima for about a week then I fly home and Robin heads off into the Amazon jungle towards Brazil!
Sounds like it was the perfect birthday - hurrah!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Hilary (Tante Heloise)