We left the bright lights, heavy traffic and endless fog of Lima, headed for the mountainous terrain of the Huaraz area. The latter part of the drive there from Lima is beautiful, through huge valleys and beside fast-flowing rivers. Huaraz city itself is nice, although would not be described as particularly, aside from being flanked by some seriously impressive mountains.
We set out on our first full day to visit the Laguna 69. We had heard how beautiful both the lagoon itself was, and the multi-hour trek to get there. While it would likely be a big push for the kids, we were determined to get there. Great plans and all that…
Our first obstacle came not long after setting off. The decent tarmac road of the city abruptly ended and really difficult ripio or unpaved road followed. After about 1km of this we pulled into a locals house trying to turn around. As it happened, he happened to be a taxi driver and offered us a lift to the beginning of the trek. Delighted, we piled in and were back on the road. Our second obstacle came when the heavens opened, just after we departed the taxi. We bided our time in the hope that it would let up. When this failed, we proceeded anyway, again in the hope that Mother Nature would do us a favour. Our third obstacle came in the form of a large unwelcoming bull, who refused to let us pass on a narrow path. Perhaps he was also annoyed by the unrelenting rain. Whatever his reasoning, at this stage we felt that further progress along the Laguna 69 was not what fate had in store for us, so we retreated back to home base. We did get to see some incredible lakes on our descent, so all was not wasted.
Our second day in the area proved even less successful, as altitude sickness had KO’d Laura it seemed. This meant our day trip to Laguna Peron had to be cancelled. We thus thought that perhaps it was time to leave the mountains for us and sample some Peruvian sea level sights.
Trujillo was our fist stop back along the coast. The city centre was a lovely mix of colonial architecture, bright colours and welcoming locals. We spent a couple of days happily wandering the streets, sampling local delicacies and visiting locals museums. The highlight of these was the toy museum close to the main square. With an incredible collection of toys dating back more than 100 years, the museum showed the evolution of toys in a remarkable way.
The adobe archeological ruins of ChanChan lie just outside of Trujillo. We found this a very interesting sight, not only due to the snake we saw slithering by at the ticket desk!
The Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan was a wonderful spot in Lambayeque. Almost out of place with its surroundings, this gem of a museum is wonderfully modern in its layout yet still retains the historical integrity of the endless artefacts on show there. Definitely one we would recommend while travelling the PanAmerican Highway.
One thing we would not speak highly about is the rubbish situation in Northern Peru, particularly on the PanAmerican road. Dumping of rubbish seems to be the way that locals deal with their rubbish (the government only offer refuge solutions to those living in cities). The quantity of rubbish beside the road seemed to morph and multiply the further north we travelled, and really did put a dampener on the area for us all.
We spent time in some great campsites as we travelled further north, culminating in our stay in Los Organos. Besides our wonderful hosts, and some great Brazilian and Colombian friends we made, we thoroughly loved marine wildlife spotting. This included amazing humpback whales, huge green sea turtles and numerous pelicans. We had been in search of the humpback whales for a number of months so were delighted so get to see them so well while in Los Organos. From there we headed north, briefly stopping in another beach town Tumbes, before crossing the border into Ecuador.
Our trip north from Lima had been up and down for more than a few reasons. We loved some of the incredible beauty we saw, from mountains and coasts to whales and turtles. Yet the altitude proved a challenge in the mountains, and the rubbish of the coastal areas bordered on the depressing at times. We were glad we chose the route we did, but can see why others may choose to travel differently to reach Ecuador.