Me encanta Peru!

Our adventures at Cumbe Mayo

Us loving Peru




Chillin in the back of the dirt truck- so legit
So on Saturday neither of us could stop saying “I LOVE Peru!”  It was a perfect Peruvian day!  We started out in the perfect, clear, sunny weather (a blessing since it can decide to pour rain at any minute without warning).  We took a bus to Cajamarca where we began hiking straight up the mountain. 

About 45 minutes in (I was already tired), sad I know, but it was steep!) we got a truck hauling dirt to stop and give us a ride.  We rode up the mountain in the back of the truck- yeah we’re that legit.  It was perfect because we had a view of the gorgeous mountains and Cajamarca below.  Feeling the breeze and having an unobstructed view was worth the bumpy ride (I’m pretty sure I still have a couple bruises).  We decided this was a true South American, once-in-a-lifetime experience.  I can’t begin to tell you how perfectly happy we were in the pile of dirt in the back of that truck. 

Some of the beautiful views of Cumbe Mayo

We got dropped off at the road leading up to Cumbe Mayo and paid the nice truck driver a sol (about 35 cents) each for the half hour drive.  We finished walking the rest of the way up to Cumbe where we got to hike around and see all sorts of cool rock formations and aqueducts.  It was so awesome!  We got to climb around a little on the rocks and look at cool petroglyphs!  The aqueducts were personally my favorite part (I know that sounds a little nerdy, but trust me, they were awesome).  They were pre-Incan, so over 2000 years old.  I have no idea how they made them so straight and smooth and made them run at perfectly right angles. 

At any rate, we saw the cool stuff and then we were considering taking one of the tour buses back down the mountain.  Until we found out it cost 10 soles (about $3.50), so we decided to walk home.  I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony that we, the supposedly rich Americans, were too cheap to pay $3.50, but all the Peruvians had paid more for the ride up and a complete tour.  So we started walking down the road hoping that there would be another truck hauling dirt.  Luckily one of the tour buses we decided was too expensive was full of a group of people who decided to convince their bus driver to give us a ride for free when they saw us walking!  They were nice and we told them Cynthia is Shakira's sister (a favorite prank of ours).  I hope they didn’t actually believe us, but I don’t really know. 

They dropped us off in Cajamarca and we took another bus to Baños where we had lunch/dinner.  The restaurant was a little sketchy, but we are glad to report no one got sick! We got soup (which we didn’t eat), lemonade (which we also didn’t drink) and Saltado de Carne (steak and fried vegetables, which we did eat!).  All of that for only 4 soles! (about $1.25)  We of course chased it down with dessert from a delicious dessert shop down the road.  I got Maracuya Mousse and Cynthia had Crocan de Chocolate.  Of course that didn’t stop us from making oatmeal cake that night.  At any rate, it was an awesome day.  And I love Peru!