Day 12 - Leymebamba to Cajamarca
We didn't do a lot today. Magno, the driver, did, though. We were all in the minibus for a long time.
The hotel laid out a very early breakfast so that we could get going. There are a lot of road-works between Leymebamba and Cajamarca and it wasn't clear until late the previous night what time we'd have to leave.
As it happened, we'd got lucky. The road from Leymebamba that we'd travelled yesterday was being closed for a large period of time, but the expected roadworks on the road ahead had been postponed due to the poor weather. We still had to get to Celendin before 2pm in order to use the main road, or at least that's what we understood when we left.
I spent much of the day reading a biography of Vladimir Montesinos, the Peruvian spy-chief that played power games within Peru and with the US, predominantly.
The views from the road were pretty spectacular and there were plenty of opportunities to see people in traditional Peruvian clothing.
We actually did arrive in Celendin at around 1pm, only to find the road closed. Magno then followed a succession of increasingly unlikely looking diversions until we finally arrived in Cajamarca and at the hotel.
We were so exhausted that we couldn't even summon the energy to walk the two blocks to the square. We examined the menu in the hotel and had a selection of things including a cúy (guinea pig) that basically tasted like fried chicken with a hint of rabbit.
And that was that for the day.
The hotel laid out a very early breakfast so that we could get going. There are a lot of road-works between Leymebamba and Cajamarca and it wasn't clear until late the previous night what time we'd have to leave.
As it happened, we'd got lucky. The road from Leymebamba that we'd travelled yesterday was being closed for a large period of time, but the expected roadworks on the road ahead had been postponed due to the poor weather. We still had to get to Celendin before 2pm in order to use the main road, or at least that's what we understood when we left.
I spent much of the day reading a biography of Vladimir Montesinos, the Peruvian spy-chief that played power games within Peru and with the US, predominantly.
The views from the road were pretty spectacular and there were plenty of opportunities to see people in traditional Peruvian clothing.
We actually did arrive in Celendin at around 1pm, only to find the road closed. Magno then followed a succession of increasingly unlikely looking diversions until we finally arrived in Cajamarca and at the hotel.
We were so exhausted that we couldn't even summon the energy to walk the two blocks to the square. We examined the menu in the hotel and had a selection of things including a cúy (guinea pig) that basically tasted like fried chicken with a hint of rabbit.
And that was that for the day.