We went to Nasca to discover the civilisation of the same name.
We started with Chauchilla cenetery where many very well-preserved mummies are resting. Their hair is generally perfectly preserved. (They had hyge dreadlocks.)
We could also see reproductions of sculptures of that time. I really liked the shaman and his San Pedro cactuses on the shoulders.
But the most important is the geoglyphs drawn by this civilisation in the area and that have been discovered only in 1920, because they are only visible from high. Nobody really knows what they were for. So we took a small plane (I hate it so I had to take a sedative before taking off) and we went around the "Nasca lines" for half-an-hour. At the end we turned around so much, we wanted to puke but we were alright and it was quite impressive. Oh, a condor!
Also, I had a trenza done.
Ah, the Huacachina oasis... It's so beautiful... But so expensive!
We found peruvian hippies (oh!) with whom we did some San Pedro in the middle of the dunes for my birthday. VIDEO!
The morning after, going back was difficult, but the view on the oasis, on Ica city, on the desert, from the top of the sandhill, was amazing. Unfortunately some sand got into my camera and fucked it up. It was very frustrating.
We left very quickly, going through Ocucaje, a village lost in the middle of the desert, where Ada and Peter could buy good stuff to make artesañas.
After a great bud ride from Huaraz (it was either that or waiting for the end of the strike...), we passed quickly in Lima: Inquisition museum, cathedral (10 soles to visit it!), the artesañas market...
I saw a Tarot reader because I'd like to learn how to read the Marseilles Tarot. It was nice, he predicted good things for me and said I should do... Reiki.
The day after, we saw the Nation museum, impressive by its diversity. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to finish it because we had to check out from the hotel and leave for Huacachina.
I also tried to check out a gay bar but I had few addresses and the one I decided to see was "not gay tonight". Harsh.
We stayed more than 2 weeks in Huaraz. We were in a very nice and cheap hostel (El Tambo, highly recommanded), beside the market where you can easily bargain for prices!
We started with a Pisco Sour night, helped by Mariela, the hostal landlady. Then, we visited the Chavin ruins (ouah!!), ate guinea pig and did our San Pedro ceremony with Manue, that I had met by chance in the streets.
Manue left, then so did Luca, with Christophe and Baba (a French couple met in Huaraz), while Ada, Peter and I saw Llanganuco lake,
tried the Santa Cruz trek (3 or 4 days by I got sick the first night so we had to abort),
and did Laguna 69.
Then Ada got sick and we stayed in Huaraz until she got better. We dedicated ourselves to other experiences that are possible in Peru, squatted the DVD room...
I'll keep a very good memory of Huaraz and highly recommend it!
Before I tell all my stories in Huaraz, I have to talk about San Pedro.
In Huanchaco and in Huaraz, we could visit Huaca de la Luna, from the Moche civilisation, and the Chavin ruins. These two civilisations, like most pre-columbian civilisations, used San Pedro, a cactus able to produce mescaline, a powerful hallucinogenic substance, on divinatory purposes.
Everywhere around, San Pedro can be found. It just grows like this, in nature and it's completely legal here. By the way, guides refer to it as a medicina, supposed to cleanse the mind.
We decided we should get some, curious about the effects of this substance venerated by so many peoples. We had already bought some in Trujillo market and we took the rest in the neighbour's garden.
I won't tell how we cooked the cactus as I don't know if it's legal. I can tell you that you can find online recipes to prepare the potion in 4 hours instead of 24. The magic word is: blender!
The thing was that we had to prepare many doses, and we were not only 5, we also had the french couple we met in the hostel. We asked Mariella if we could use the TV room for our ceremony and she agreed. I arranged the room, put candles, then we put mattresses, everything to feel comfortable. The french couple lent us speakers and we could put on music.
We started the ceremony by giving each one their dose, by cheering and drinking. We had to go slowly as it can be dangerous. The San Pedro smell is close to artichoke but the taste is absolutely disgusting. I nearly puked several times and it made us feel ill-at-ease. The start was rather harsh. But then Manue started laughing...
And then, I mixed the thing with apple juice, chocolate milk, honey, coca cola, inca kola... And then...
We spent new year's eve in Huanchaco. We were on the beach, among the fires and the fireworks, by the Pacific, walking around.
We met some people, it's a beach that surfers like a lot, it's hot, sunny, etc.
We visited the Chimu ruins of Chan Chan, Huaca Arco Iris and Huaca Esmeraldas. Chan Chan was the most impressive, only by the size of the thing. The two others were not that impressive.
We also visited the Moche ruins with the superb Huaca de la Luna, the Temple where the Moches were sacrificing humans, which has been discovered only about twenty years ago.
Peter, Tadzjo and I also went up the hill behind the ruins, just for the fun.
We spent some time in Trujillo, between two billion churches, maze-like shopping centres, casinos, and so on.
Still, we were happy to leave, because there is some much left to see in Peru.
After a week in the jungle, we had to get out of it.
We left in a pekepeke, at night, for Nauta where we took a cargo for Yurimaguas. We stayed two days on that boat crowded with people and hammocks, where the food is prepared in the brownish river water of the Marañón river. There were also animals that people were buying on the way, even though we think they come from illegal hunting. We met very nice people though, such as a teacher, a girl from Trujillo, a brasilian lady aware of illegal hunting but who preferred buying a baby monkey as it was in such a bad state...
Once in Yurimaguas, we took a crazy camioneta to Tarapoto. Sitting down on the edge of the vehicule, I had a pretty bad buttache.
And once in Tarapoto, we decided to go to Trujillo, in order to see the sea again, see the precolumbian ruins, and so on. The bus ride lasted 22 hours but it's more comfortable than european buses and then, we could enjoy a lot of the peruvian landscape.
Finally, once in Trujillo, we thought it'd be better to be right on the beach, so we took a super cheap taxi to Huanchaco, the day before New Year's Eve, ready to party!
To see the amazonian jungle, you have to see the national park Pacaya Samiria. But first, you have to go to Nauta, a town on the Marañón river. We spent two nights in that charming little town, which seemed to us more genuine than Iquitos. We met quite a few people, including Alberto, a spanish missionary who told me the best places where to find shamans for San Pedro.
In the reserve, we met a guide who took us in the whole "department" of Veinte de Enero, with a driver and a cook, how classy! (We paid the price though...) We saw pink dolphins. Yes, it does exist:
Monkeys:
Caimans:
We saw bigger ones but Peter has got the pictures. By the way, Peter also took that picture of me, I find it nice :)
On the first night, we camped, and Mario, our guide, found a very dangerous snake, the jergon, and had to take it away to protect us.
We also fished and I managed to catch a small fish with a harpoon. When I saw it fight for its life, I wondered whether I should go veggie :(
The last day, we went back to the community where our guide lives. They gave us bracelets, played volleyball with us, and stuff. I could also buy a present for my twinsister, made by a teenage girl in the comunity.
Our stay in Iquitos wasn't very exciting. A very attractive city when you think that it is the biggest town in the world that is not accessible through road, but finally little interesting. The market is nice though.
The most interesting thing that happened to us was that Ada went briefly to the hospital and we could see how it works here. If you don't have insurance, you have to pay for everything, even needles, upfront, before being allowed to be treated. But hey, it was cheap.
The town is famous for his numerous shamans but many people try to scam you on the street: "I've just cooked the best ayahuasca in the world!"
Beside that, a guy that probably suffered psychiatric trouble was staying in our hostel. He was impossible. (He was french by the way...) I made the mistake to tell him I was gay because it usually calms people down when you're honest with them. But in his case, it was the absolute opposite and he was telling everybody that he would punch me.
But hey, we also met a very interesting person, Ivonne, a german girl creating her own self-sustaining community in the jungle. This is the address of her website but I don't think it works for now: www.reservacoapazu.de
Careful: this is a long and boring post.
If you're looking for info on this trip, you should check this page on Follow The Road. As well as Hobo Traveller.
Day 1. To get to Peru, we had to get up early to take the boat at 7am sharp. The boat was full and we were given chairs in the middle. Actually it was better because there's often water splashing on the sides.
The trip lasted 12 hours and finished at night in Nuevo Rocafuerte, the last town on the Napo river before the peruvian border. On the boat, we also met Tatzjo, a 21-year-old guy from Holland travelling alone.
Once there we met a Peruvian, Fernando (There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando...), who took us to a hostel and offered to take us to the other side of the border the following day. Sorted!
Day 2. We woke up early, went to the migration services to get an exit stamp from Ecuador and took our boat to Peru. A picture of the border:
In 2 hours, we were in Pantoja, Peru. The visa thing was very quick. Fernando introduced us to Maryan, a Israeli travelling with his bike and desperate to leave Pantoja to join Iquitos. There was a pekepeke (tiny engine) leaving the day after but the price was way too high for us. He bargained a lot with the captain and finally decided to pay a big part of the trip and was really pushing for us to come with him, so we accepted.
The night at the hostel was nice. The kids (who greeted us with a warm "Hey gringos!") came to do some slack line with Ada and Peter. After they went to bed, we drank and slept in tents to pay less. When all the lights went off, we could see the fireflies everywhere around us, hear the animals...
Day 3. Unfortunately, some ill-intended people heard the price we got (advice: always give the original price or the group price if you're asked, not the one you got for cheaper as some people try to keep the prices high) and stole quite a lot of petrol. It delayed us but didn't prevent us from leaving.
We navigated all day long and it's only at 9.30pm we could stop to cook some food and sleep, in an empty school, lost in the forest. (...why not?!)
Day 4. Same thing: getting up early, very tired, navigating... but this time, we stopped at Santa Clotilde, the time to buy a bit of everything. Peter and I had an argument but as soon as we got back on the boat, we talked and everything was alright. That night, we stopped at a small village and slept at some hosts'. We could also use their kitchen and sleep in our hammocks.
Day 5. We didn't take a shower since Coca, we were very tired and looking forward to get back in a town. Which explains this:
The pekepeke finally stopped in Manta, where we took our first mototaxi to get to the other side of the town, where you can find the Amázonas river. There we could take a rapido (it was kind of difficult to get Maryan's bike on) and we FINALLY ARRIVED IN IQUITOS!!!
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