February 17th to 20th
The ride to get to Cajamarca was far from pleasant, about 15 hours from Chachapoyas through rough and winding mountain roads in two poorly shocked minibus’s, so myself Elin and Olivia arrive just an hour or two after sunrise bleary eyed and exhausted, though I will say it was much more pleasant enduring such a bus ride with two people instead of alone, and some of the conversations almost make the experience of the bus worth it. That and the fact that Olivia and I started watching Slings and Arrows, in my opinion the best art to come out of Canada in years, if you don’t know it, check it out!
At any rate we hail a taxi who for 5 soles takes us across town from the bus station to a hostel we’ve managed to reserve over the phone from Chachapoyas, Hospedaje Adventura. (Address: Jr. Apurimac N:430 Ph: 964940054 / 076 313033 ) As we drive through the city we glance around at paint smeared walls, cars, and just about everything else, and are very sad to discover we’ve missed the giant water and paint fight that happens every year in February, though there’s still other events to come. As we knock on the door of the hospital, Though it’s not yet 8 am we’re welcomed warmly and shown into a 5 bed dorm which we’re told is just for us and allowed to check in right away. Tired eyes appreciate it and we pass out until the early afternoon.
From there we take a wander through the city which turns out to be surprisingly European in feel, not to mention in my ideal climate where it’s warm but not hot seemingly everyday with surprisingly small amounts of rain. We wander past churches of many different styles and sprawling plazas with lots of smiling locals.
I’m searching for one thing, on a hot facebook tip from a friend met in the Galapagos, Carrot Cake.
I find it before long just up from one of the main streets and a few blocks from the main plaza of the city at Qillpu a fairly new café full of gringo prices, comfy chairs, board games and delicious food and drinks, including little carrot cake cupcakes, which are a welcome taste of home. Over the next few days in Cajamarca we’ll spend many hours here playing Yanif, Scrabble and other games enjoying too much good food and drink.
We spend the rest of the day wandering through town and relaxing at the hostel watching more of Slings and Arrows before heading out for a dinner of delicious burgers at Sanguchon. And then heading back into the main plaza looking for signs of the last few days of carnaval.
Nothing materializes in the main square but I do find Vanilla Coke in a small store, which if you know me, means the entire day’s been amazing. Eventually we head down the street past a beautifully lit up church towards a smaller plaza, which, from a distance, seems more crowded. The gamble pays off as we stumble into the formation of a parade, people strapping on jumping stilts, carrying around dementor-esque black shapes on sticks, fire dancers, and various elements of a marching band.
Carnaval in Cajamarca is a big thing, one of the biggest in Peru, and over various days in February you have paint and water fights, parades, beauty pageants and junior beauty pageants to elect Carnival queens, and countless other traditions. It’s a fantastic place to be and, as the parade starts, I find myself wishing we’d made it here earlier.
We follow the parade through the streets to the main square alongside an ever-growing crowd of revellers, enjoying the raucous atmosphere and infectious energy of the crowd, and also noticing the massive coffin at the back of the parade. We find out the parade will end when they bury this coffin which is decorated with a huge doll like face and does not hold a real human being.
Eventually we get tired of the crowded and hectic streets and head back to our hotel, but here’s a video. (video coming soon)
Tomorrow there’s one goal in mind, Dentistry of course (Though not for me, at least not yet). Of course the motivation for this wanes as the night stretches on and we watch too much Slings. Still, when we do manage to get up we wander out into the streets in search of a dental clinic found online. But on the way we’re in for a surprise finding a store that sells cheap and cool scrunchies And amazing stickers. The 5 year old in me is ecstatic.
We follow the google maps instructions to the dental office only to find it utterly non existent, and after wandering around and asking some friendly locals we hop in one of the Cajamarcan tuk tuk which are entirely enclosed and look great. Paired with the huge number of Volkswagon buggies in town it makes Cajamarca Traffic some of the most appealing I’ve seen.
The enclosed moto-taxi is oppressively hot and what was at first a great look now seems quite stupid, but the crowded and sticky ride gets us where we need to go and we climb out at San Jose dental centre, only problem is it’s closed. But all is never lost and we cross the street, see a huge billboard and take a chance, wandering in to Clinica Dental Cajamarca (doctor name; Miguel Laca Montoya Address: Los Sauces 308 Urb. El Ingenio – Cajamarca Telephone: 076-366476 / 076 – 362846 Email: clincadentalcajamarca@yahoo.com)
I use my ever growing Spanish to inquire if they accept walk in’s. The office is modern and the receptionist very friendly as she tells us the doctor can indeed see Elin before showing us up to a waiting room with a comfy leather couch and a big flat screen tv.
We wait for a while and meet the friendly dentist before Elin and I go in, me to translate, her to have her teeth examined, cleaned and fixed. I won’t go into the details of it, but while the translation is not smooth it does work and everyone who needed to gets their teeth fixed does.
We spend more time at Quilpo where I take entirely two much joy at beating two second language speakers in scrabble (In my defense their English is impeccable) and then we head back to Hospedaje Adventura to watch more Slings and Arrows. The next day we’re headed to Banos del Inca, a small town near Cajamarca famous for it’s hot springs, followed by another dentist appointment.
Alarms sound before we’re ready for them but we force ourselves up and out into the town to catch a public bus to Banos del Inca for a couple of soles each and about a half hour later we;re walking up to the very touristy, though still considered spiritually important Banos del Inca. Historians claims that Atahualpa himself, a leader before the Spanish conquistadors, bathed here regularly.
At the entrance we peruse the list of services and choose a hydro massage which is supposed to last an hour and costs somewhere around 20 soles. (It’s been too long and I lost my notes) The list of services is long and surprisingly decent value for a tourist gem and we’re all smiling as we enter, still in need of relaxation after the long night bus from Chachapoyas, and for the coming night bus to Huanchaco.
We are shown to a waiting room outside and spend about 20 minutes waiting before being ushered into a room with three small hot-tubs filled with steaming hot water and massage jets. We slip in and let our muscles unknot as we chat and smile. The hour is lovely and the mineral water certainly does make the skin seem less clogged, but If I was to do it again I’d follow it up or replace it with an actual massage (1 hour for about 20 Soles).
Either way we walk out feeling a lot better and snapping some photos of the natural springs dotted through the complex and all the locals and tourists alike come for these legendary waters and their healing powers. Then we hop into one of the local buses back to Cajamarca and head back to the dentist office for some follow ups before heading back to Qiilpu cafe and spending the majority of the day there until the time rolls around for our night bus to Huanchaco. It takes less time and costs about 30 soles for a semi-cama place on a somewhat comfortable bus, at least until the AC breaks down and no windows can be opened. Oh well It will be nice to be back on the coast.
