We had to have an early start because we were taking a trip to Caral which is a series of very old ruins (I have heard it said they may date back to 5000 years ago) about 3.5 hours north of Lima by car. Well technically as we found out by bus it is really not that far north but it is a lot of unpaved road for at least an hour to get there. From what I understand the current route there is through private property and the owner does not want it paved. Towards the end of the trip the guide said they may be able to build a bridge over a river from an parallel highway and the access would be much simpler. In any event, we got up and packed up and got cleaned up and met Daniela's English tutor Robert who is from New Mexico at the lobby. The hotel breakfast was not open but they had prepared us bag breakfasts of fruit, cakes and juice. We took a taxi to the starting area where the tour bus was waiting. Daniela's cousin Diana was there already but her sister and Edwin were not. They were lost I think and we ended up driving the bus to meet them along the way and picking them up.
The tour was in Spanish so I missed fair bits of information. Daniela translated much of it though. The guide started the tour with a prayer. Then after a little bit she handed out some snacks which were little apple pies and chicken sandwiches. The ride was a fairly long ride along the coast for a while in a route called the pasa mayor which apparently in the winter months can get very foggy and windy and is dangerous then. It wasn't too much of a problem for this trip though. We then passed inland and it was pretty much a long ride through the desert. There was not really a lot of change in the scenery along the way. We did stop at a gas station for a short time and got a cup of coffee while we waited. Then it was back on the road. As I said earlier we had to turn off the roads into dirt roads and the remaining hour of the trip was really that.
At the site we changed from the bus guide to a local guide who took us around the ruins. They did this fairly quickly after we got there. Basically there was enough time for bathroom visits and a quick look around the entry area. I did not get the name of the guide. This also was done in Spanish. At first our group kept up with the guide and I was able to hear some of what he was saying and Daniela translated most of that but eventually the rest of them got board of the narration and we missed all of what he was saying. The structures were pyramids that were build from rocks that were taken in from a significant distance away. The pyramids mainly appeared to be sacred structures and there were only about 20 domiciles found in the site. They explained that the structures were made of smaller structures built on top of each other. This allowed them to build large pyramids safely. At the main temple building they said they found evidence of sacrifice. The site had several temples and also a theater/arena though I am not sure what it was used for.
The tour took us about an hour and a half to complete then they brought us back to the entry area where we had lunch made by some locals. It was pollo o pato con arroz (chicken or duck with rice). Daniela and I had chicken and Robert had the duck. He said the duck was very tough. The chicken was a bit overcooked but probably because they had to transport it in cooked. The rice was good. We had chicha morada with the food. After lunch we had a few minutes to look at the trinket sellers then it was back onto the bus to start heading back.
We rode for the hour out of the dirt roads then for maybe another 15-20 minutes where we stopped at a lake very near the ocean. The lake was fresh water even though you could see the ocean so close. We took a rowboat ride on the lake and Edwin and Donna took their own little boat. Then we went to the small food stands (looked like a beer garden) and ordered a couple bottles of Pilsen Callao. Edwin and Donna had some ceviche and Diana ordered a chicken dinner (I think she got the overly tough duck too). We finished that up and were back on the road. the guide finished with a sign of the cross because two of the guests were staying in the haunted castle that night. That was Daniela and I staying in the castle in Chancay. Daniela hadn't heard the haunted story before she reserved the place or she probably wouldn't have reserved it. She looked so panicked at first. The guide put on Rango (in Spanish of course) and we made it most of the way through before we were dropped off at the castle.
We said goodbye to everyone and immediately got checked in. There was a small screw up but nothing fatal. We were put in the castle in room C5 which had a balcony and a lot of room. We had a bottle of local wine too. We didn't have dinner but we were full. We walked around for a bit and then settled in for the night. No we didn't find any ghosts.
The pictures from today are found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment