Cajamarca to Trujillo

ihana.com - big trip - diary - peru - july 2003

Friday 25 - Monday 28 July

Feeling better the following morning we awoke to the delights of Cajamarca. Not being too numerous it doesn't take long to take them all in. We had a great view of the town after climbing the curvy stairs (and flirting with some curvy girls) to the top of Santa Apolonia hill. This town is also the place where Pizarro captured Atahualpa and held him in the Cuarto de Rescate, an old Inca building which you can visit. Its boring to say the least with the exception of some excellent paintings in the entranceway.

By the evening we were ready for some partying. The following week was to be full of local festivities in line with Peru's independence celebrations. The locals and peruvian tourists alike were buzzing about the main plaza and we asked a group of giggly girls where to head for bar and disco action. First we were pointed to a bar in the plaza which was full of women. Great, except that the nearest ones were obviously the pricey type and were flirting with some old geezer. However a table packed solely with local girls attempted to swallow us up and we spent the night dancing with them. Viva Peru!

Next stop was Trujillo again. This time the sun was out so we got nicer photos and bumped into some girls again. Seemed like we were on a roll. After another night in the disco we dragged ourselves back onto the road and ran the desert highway towards Lima.

The Pan American is dotted with all to regular police patrols who will stop us if they notice the landy and ask for ID followed by either daft and friendly comments or a half hearted attempt at getting a donation. Speaking good spanish definitely helped us pass every stop without problems.

We thought we were done for at one roundabout when B didn't notice it and drove straight from road to the other, bypassing the whole junction - right in front of a copper. He blew his whistle and came over to us when we stopped but miraculously just told us to drive a bit more carefully.

On the last bit of highway coming into Lima we almost ran into a police checkpoint which was slowing down cars near a roadside festival. Going too fast, T fell foul of the policeman who said it was time for a multa (fine). He got out his book and started writing it out but gave up after some sweet talking and pointing out that we were sure that the law said that landy driving foreigners are immune from prosecution.

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