So glad I did the walking tour of Barranco district yesterday – I found the starting point at last and our small group caught a local bus from Miraflores to the district (.50 cents) where we met another bigger group and split up into two for the English and Spanish speaking guides. It’s an interesting district with lots of character – large colourful murals painted on walls, Spanish colonial buildings, artisan stuff for sale.

The Bohemian district of Barranco, Lima.

This morning dawned grey with a heavy sea fog enveloping the city, not uncommon at this time of year. It took ages to get out of the city because of the gridlock traffic and the fog. We hugged the coastline for hours, often in the fog and traveling at 50 kph until about 3pm when we turned inland towards Huaraz, another 3 hours on, through desert and mountains. Prior to that there was a lot of agriculture along the coastal strip – the usual crops I’ve seen elsewhere but also what I think was asparagus in huge acreages in the sandy soil, which I know is the kind of soil it likes. Being a crop that needs to stay in the ground year after year in order to produce, the vast expanses of sandy soil along the coast are perfect for it. The meal service on board offered hot options off the menu of about 10 options – I booked the meat option which was spaghetti with a basil pesto and meat, a cold root vegetable salad and sweet cake for desert. About the same as you’d expect to get on any airline in economy class. You choose your preferred meal option when you book your ticket. The cleverly designed meal trays, which tuck away when not in use, have the ability to compensate for the sway of the coach on winding roads so drinks are less likely to spill. As we began the climb from the coast to Huaraz there were mosaics of different coloured spices and vegetables spread out on the ground drying around villages, which brighten up the otherwise grey/brown of the desert sand. I managed to capture one or two shots as we sped by but would’ve liked to have been able to include all the different colours, especially the bright orange peppers. 

Red jalapeno peppers drying in the sun.

The climb up to this altitude of around 4,000 metres involved untold numbers of switchbacks in order to be able to manage the steep mountainsides. The bus eventually arrived here about an hour late and well after dark. Eifilien, the hostess, introduced me to the facilities in the house and it looks good – she assures me there’s plenty of hot water in the shower. The bedroom’s large with a double bed and everything’s spotless. She lives next door. Two other guests, a young couple from Korea, are in the other bedroom and they speak excellent English, so we’ve already discussed what there is to do and see around here. They’re doing a five hour hike around Lake 69 tomorrow but I think I’ll just have a rest day. There’s a street vendor very close by where I was able to get a hot meal after I got here – the usual, a generous serving of chicken schnitzel and chips with lettuce salad - $2.50. I’ll look for something healthier tomorrow. There’s a good kitchen here I can use so maybe I’ll look for some leafy dark green veg like silverbeet. And a decent beef steak, which seems to be a rarity in Peru (a lot of the butchers in the markets have all kinds of meat on display but often it’s not identified and seldom ever has the price per kilo on it, so I just pass it by). Supermarkets, on the other hand, have it displayed and priced just as it would be in NZ. If you order a steak meal here, you’ll almost always get a piece of not very tender uncoated beef schnitzel. Not sure why – maybe it’s because the meal would cost too much for the locals otherwise. So, 9 hours on the bus and It’s time I turned in for the night. Catch up tomorrow. Ciao.