Leaving take 2

So this time I have checked the 24 hour time of my flight. Everything looks set, I have to get my specimens verified by INRENA at the airport then Im clear to come home. I even think I might be less over the excess baggage limit than normal!

Ive spent the last three days wandering around Lima, making sure I had everything in place to get my specimens home. This settled I also visited the National Museum and the Zoo. The zoo was fun, very busy, with lots of the animals I had hoped to see in the forest.

I did miss my chance to go to Paracas, as cost and time conspired against me. But there is always next year...

Chiclayo, Chapirri and more mud pyramids

After realising I didnt have time to go further north to the great fortress of Keulap and the forests of Chachapoyas, I decided I would head back down to the coast. All transport out of Cajamarca was headed for Chiclayo, so off I went. I arrived way to early and eventually found breakfast. I then booked myself in on a couple of day trips, firstly to see some more ruins, then the next day, to the Chapirri Nature Reserve.

The ruins were interesting, the first and acient burrial tomb from the Mocha culture (I asked if it was because they drank coffee with chocolate in it, but I dont think the guide understood). Anyway, apparently they found a lot of cool stuff in the tomb. We saw "the best museum in South America", which was cool, a display of everything found in the tombs, but I felt I had stopped learning anything after the second room and the other 20 were just "pretty pieces of jewellery". Then we went to Tucume, the place with the most mud pyramids ever. 26 mud pyramids in on site! The views and site were amazing, although the pyramids themselves are highly dissolved!

After an early start the next day we went to Chaparri Nature Reserve, which is a dry forest reserve. Dry forests are very exciting. This one was located at the foot of a big mountain, and was full of birds. The bromeliads were located higher up the reserve, and the guide told me we would have had to start walking at 5am to see them without being out in the mid-day heat. Instead I had to settle for feeding the rescued spectacled bear and helping photograph a snake someone had found. My own camera batteries gave up, so I have no photographic evidence of any of this. I noted 2 important things in my diary "1. I want to go back and live in the lodge at Chapirri for a long time, 2. Chapirri is cool". After the fun of the reserve I relaxed in the central Plaza in Chiclayo, enjoying the warm evening sun before getting the night bus back to Lima.

Cajamarca, like Cuzco but not as good

So Im in Cajamarca, a small mountain town at 2900m in the "northern highlands". The town is essentially like Cuzco but not as good. The ruins are smaller and less impressive, the banos los Incas (where the Inca king was relaxing before his "meeting" with the Spanish) were a bit like a community swimming pool (I was hoping for luxury spa), the inca house,where the Inca king was imprisoned after his meeting, took about 30 seconds to walk round. On the bright sight I found a great Ice-cream parlour called Heladeria Hollanda, and so far Im on 5 scoops, and the night is young. Im back on the bus tonight, which will be 4 out of 5 nights on buses, and I think I will be in desperate need of a hostel tomorrow, when I will arrive in Chiclayo. I also saw 3 species of bromelaid, and my tour group thought I was a bit weird for running up a hillside to take photos of them. I also found out that swimming at 2900m is as hard as anything else at this altitude. Who knows where tomorrow will take me!

Learning to surf

The first destination on my journey north was Trujillo, an overnight bus and a strong coffee and I was ready for some serious sight seeing. The areas around Trjujillo about with pre-Inca ruins, form the Mocha and another culture. The sites are some of the largest in Peru. The riuns themselves are pretty much mud pyramids with painted walls, but the size and scale is impressive. We also got to see some dancing. I tried goat´s meat too, but it was not very nice. The tour finishing in the seaside town of Huanchaco, and deciding the beach was what I needed, I jumped off the bus early and checked into a hostal.

The hostal itself was remarkable, with a swimming pool, free wireless and hot showers, all for a fiver, I could not complain.

Unable to take more ruins I spent the morning learning to surf. This was the most fun I have had for some time, and after 2 hours of lesson I was quite good, but also cold and tired. Still, it was a success and I was happy to have had the exercise.
Now Im heading inland, back up the mountains to Cajamarca...

Missing a flight

So I was thinking that after checking in slightly early to my flight, without my specimens, I would sit down in Lima airport´s starbucks (the only place with free wireless) and write a final post about Lima and the colourful night fountains I had enjoyed.

However, I had not reviewed my flight time for a while, and despite knowing the shee said 10:00, it never once crossed my mind, as I stood in a queue at the HQ of the Ministry of the Environment, that 10:00 was different from 22:00 or 10pm. I calmly went about the day, enduring the panic of having to unpack my specimens because the permits would take yet another week to complete, and finding some way to make them safe, but findable for someone else. Eventually reaching the airport, I saw 2 flights for Lima but none with AirComet. I took out my schedule to check and realised my mistake.

Anyway, this was the second time in the day when I was completely caught off guard. What do you normally do after missing a flight? My first instinct was to get a strong coffee and make use of some free wireless internet in the airport. Eventually I started to sort things out. I called the airline but the mistake being my fault they were not able to help me. I understood but felt hard done by. I have been perfectly on time for 58 previous flights, surely they could forgive me this one and let me on another flight? I returned to the airport in the morning but they were equally uncompromising! So I resigned myself to buying a new ticket. The cheapest option was to wait until Peru until the Monday 17th, flying back with Iberia. This being the case I resigned myself to staying in Peru for another 9 days. Free from work, but not really of sane mind. I chucked a few clothes and a book in my bag and Ive embarked on an abitious travel plan to see much of the north of Peru in the few days I have spere. Luckily my export permits will be ready before I fly so the one big silver lining is that I can return to the UK with my specimens!

One final time on the Trocha

The Trocha is still not my favourite place, and walking it in 2 days with a full backpack was once again hard work. However, with my team , Guido, Payden, Liz and Sally we set off from Paucartambo at 3:30am to watch a stormy sunrise at Tres Cruces before heading into the forest. It took exactly 1 minute of walking to discover my wellies had developed a large split at the base, and had filled up with frozen water! Having changed back into my boots we headed down the rocky upper part of the trail to work in the 2750m plot, before walking down into the rain for camping the night in the 2500m plot. The 2500m plot has space on for 2 tents so 5 of us fitted into 2 x 2 person tents, digging trenches round the outside to re-direct the flow of water away from the tent. I think it was mostly fatigue which meant we all had a reasonable sleep.

We woke up already in the plot so I was able to start work quickly and before long we were hiking again. The afternoon was spent working in the 2000m plot, with the rain once again arriving to add to the challenge. With a team of 5 we were finished quickly and set off on the final walk down, arriving at the mirador at 4:30pm, greeted by an armed police guard!!! A group of bird-watchers were kind enough to take our bags the remaining 5km to the hostel so we ran the short-cut down through the river. My final day was spent working in the San Pedro plot for the morning followed by a river adventure in the afternoon. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect was that after 5 months in the field, I finally saw a snake on my very last day! A small coral snake (the most poisonous) made its way across the road infront of us!!! Later a second snake also made an appearance! Two in one day after 5 months of nothing was quite something!

Now its a crazy rush to get everything ready in time to leave on Wednesday...