The Grand Tour - Part 2 - Cajamarca

I got a great breakfast in the hotel - many lodgings in Peru either do not serve breakfast, or it is minimal consisting of fruit juice, coffee or tea, two bread rolls and some jam. This means you have to find somewhere (like a bakery) for your breakfast, and there you can get a variety of breakfasts for every taste, like the Americano, which is juice, coffee, eggs, bread rolls and jam, for around 10 soles (£2.20).

The hotel I stayed in

I then rode into the middle of town to explore the centre of town. At 2750 metres above sea level Cajamarca has a pleasant climate, warm days and cool nights, and is a major farming centre, particularly for dairy products, but is also steeped in history, with many colonial buildings.

I then made my way up to the Mirador de Santa Apolonia, a viewpoint giving panoramic views of the town.

I actually found the mirador by accident - I was looking for the road leading out of Cajamarca to a different location, and passed this, so parked up and enjoyed the views. 2 scruffy-looking young boys approached me and told me it was traditional for visitors to give them something in exchange for them singing a welcome song - but lost interest when I called their bluff!

After enjoying the view I continued looking for the road out to Cumbemayo, but every winding street I took led to a dead end - Google maps had let me down here! I eventually asked someone, and the second person explained the route out, but I still had to stop someone else for directions the following day when I set out, and the road I was on would not have been suitable for a car to pass!

The dirt road out of Cajamarca zig-zagged up the steep mountainside, but afforded some spectacular views looking back

Cajamarca, centre left, nestled below in the valley

The dirt road was not in very good condition so I was riding carefully, but I finally came to a junction - and no indication of which way I should go! There was no-one around, and I had seen little traffic, and both roads looked equally well used so I took the left-hand fork, which as it turned out was the wrong one. The road was as bad as before and I soon came across a loaded truck approaching from in front of me so pulled to the side to give him room, and noticed that my carriers were hanging off! One of the two welds on each side had given way due to the bumpy road. Fortunately I was carrying several bungee cords, so managed to lash the carriers back in place, but decided I needed to return to Cajamarca to get this fixed.

Cumbemayo is a local archaeological site, some 3500 years old, famed for petroglyphs, so I was rather sad at not getting there, but did see some of the rock formations from a distance.

My descent back to Cajamarca was very cautious - I was worried the second brackets would shear too, so very gingerly made my way down the mountainside, cursing the welder in Huanchaco and myself for not insisting he had strengthened the welds! Fortunately not very far from my hotel I found another welder - and this time explained exactly what I wanted, though we had to go and find a scrap metal dealer for a section of flat bar to weld across the original bike carrier. It meant that where before the pannier boxes had 2 flimsy welds attaching the bracket to the carrier, the new brackets were welded right across the top of the carrier, and weren't going anywhere! I decided to call it a day and explore some more the following day.

The hotel I was staying at was on the road to Los Banos del Incas, thermal springs, much frequented for centuries by Peruvian princes, so I decided to check them out the next day - well, I visited the part of town they were in, but was a little reticent about bathing in communal waters, with concerns about hygiene, so gave that a miss.

The area is very tourist-orientated, and appears quite affluent, which I suppose reflects the royal past. I spend a few hours wandering round the area then looked for somewhere for lunch. Midday is the time Peruvians have their main meal, but I was looking for a snack so it took a while to find a small eatery in one of the back streets. I ordered a special sandwich, which was ham, bacon, egg and cheese, with chips and a fresh fruit juice to accompany it. After a short wait the juice and sandwich arrived, and the lady disappeared once more in the back. While I waited for the chips I looked at the sandwich, which looked a little "light", and saw there was no bacon in it - so after a few minutes I went to the rear of the small cafe and called out for attention. The lady appeared, so I asked about the chips - "Oh, we have no potatoes", so I asked about the bacon - "Oh, there is no bacon either"! The "mixto" sandwich was good, however, and I wasn't charged for the missing "extras".

I rode back into Cajamarca centre, had a short walk round, to see if I had missed anything and then returned to my hotel, which was extremely pleasant. The restaurant was excellent, too, and the food as good as any I had eaten in Peru, and reasonably priced. 

My time in Cajamarca was up, and tomorrow I would head to Chachapoyas - I was really looking forwards to that, as I had been there before by bus, and was travelling through the Maranon River canyon, which is deeper than the Grand Canyon in the USA.