From Maya to Inca: Celendin to Cajamarca

Monday 8 July 2013

Celendin to Cajamarca

I don't normally get the chance to do this but I wrote my last post almost straight after the bus ride, and if I'm honest I was feeling pretty smug and pleased with myself for having taken this route, survived the vertigo, and got away with it.

The next part of the bus journey wiped the smile off my face. Ten minutes out of Celendín, now in the dark, the bus ground to a halt and all the men were asked to get off the bus to reduce the weight, and therefore the danger, on a really narrow part of the road. Was this some kind of twisted Peruvian logic?! Isn't it women and children first?! It's all very well weighing less but I would have been much happier standing outside the bus on ground "afirmado" if there was any risk whatsoever of the bus toppling over the edge! But I lived to tell the tale and vowed never to travel on these kind of roads again. There's no need to push it. I spent the rest of the bumpy two hours to Cajamarca gripped to my seat, and wished the old man with the oranges was still sitting in front of me. For some reason, it was a comforting thought. Eventually, after what seemed like another 8 hours, somehow we made it. I leapt out of the bus onto the dark, noisy streets of Cajamarca and went off to find my hostel and some safe, firmer than firm, ground.

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Interesting facts

Another slightly subjective fact. Peruvian mountain roads are among the most dangerous in the world.
Kuelap is a Chachapoya fortress in Northern Peru built before Machu Picchu.
Peruvian men are the most persistent men on the planet.
Blue zones are called blue zones simply because Dan Buettner and his research team (who first identified the blue zones) used blue ink to circle the areas on a map with the highest life expectancy. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Inca civilisation arose from the highlands of Peru sometime during the early 13th century.
Contrary to popular belief, Panama hats are not made in Panama but in Ecuador.
Ten of the volcanoes along the Avenue of Volcanoes are higher than 5000 metres.
Rafael Correa has introduced the "pico y placa" system in Quito, following the Colombian example, "pico" meaning "peak" and "placa" meaning "plate". Cars are restricted from circulating in Quito on certain days during morning and evening rush hours according to the last number of their registration plate, in order to ease traffic congestion.
Quito is 72 kms long and 10 kms wide.
Quito is the oldest capital in South America and lies 2800 metres above sea level.
The sex of the tortoises bred in the breeding centre in Puerto Ayora on the Galapagos islands depends on the temperature of the incubators. The eggs kept in incubators at 29.5 degrees celsius become females and those kept in incubators at 28 degrees celsius become males.
The giant cacti of the Galapagos islands are the only species of opuntia cactus in the world that grows like a tree.
Legend has it that the Incas discovered the Galapagos islands in the fifteenth century but no solid evidence has been found to prove this.
Slightly subjective. Playa del Carmen sells the most expensive ice cream in the world. But it tastes pretty good.
The piece of lime in the top of a bottle of beer was originally not for the taste. It was used to wipe the rust off the rim.
Mayan mothers used to wrap planks of wood around their children's foreheads to flatten them.
The dazzling blue ocean along the Mayan riviera is due to the fact that there are no rivers feeding into it. And because of the lack of nutrients flowing into the sea, there is also less animal life along this part of the ocean.