Just got back from Peru

Leaving bus station in Lima for Caraz, 12 hours with traffic one way. These rigs are pretty nice, double decker and we had front row seats on the top so panoramic view. Drivers down there are crazy, literally crazy. Peruvians don't seem to get in much of a hurry until you put them in something with a motor, then they haul balls everywhere. There seems to be this unwritten rule that as long as you honk your horn when you drive you can do whatever you want. Don't want to stop at the light? 2 quick beeps and you are good to run it. Need to move over 3 lanes? Honk the horn and turn the wheel.


Looking down from our seat in the bus - this is how you ride someone's [censored] in Peru.


Lanes? We don't need no stinking lanes..


This was coming down a long set of switch backs in the middle of night on the return trip. Not sure what kind of suspension they run but it is tight. Thought we were gonna die a couple times, driver hauls [censored] all the way down. Pic sucks because they don't run AC and the window had a lot of condensation. I had a paper towel salvaged from dinner I kept wiping it down with but like toilet paper down there, you don't have paper towels unless you bring your own. I tried to get a pic of something crazy, basically we were fixing to go into a sharp turn and bus driver honks his horn and starts to pass the little car. I didn't get a good pic but about the time we get alongside the car a short bus comes around the corner and we are in his lane with the little car next to us. I thought "somebody is fixin to die" Not sure if anybody did, bus driver honked and then moved back into our lane. Not sure if little car braked or went onto that little shoulder or what but we barely missed the other bus.

We rented this taxi and driver for a day in Lima. Head to Chaclacayo, which is uphill all the way and I look over at the odometer and its showing 820.000 km. Dang, thats a lot of miles. Little while later steams starts coming out of the hood so he pulls into a station. My wife says "get out and help". Ol Carlos didn't need any help, he already new the thermo switch on the radiator hose running his electric fan had quit. He took a pair of pliers, bypassed the switch to get the fan on, filled it up with water and we got down the road. Only problem was battery didn't have the juice to run the fan and start the car at the same time, so we did it the old fashioned way when there wasn't an incline to park on. Thank goodness for manual trannys...




Cool old Willys Wagon in Caraz, it has seen some miles.



Pic from from seat of mid 90's Toyota Corolla taxi we took on about a hour and half trip up the mountain to Lake Paron. I told our friend from down there with us that you don't drive those kind of roads in Texas unless you're in a pickup. Tires half bald, front end loose and rattles, I thought we were going to die a few times. Have I mentioned they haul [censored]? He hauled [censored] all the way up and down, would honk his horn every time he got to a blind curve to let anybody that might be coming the other direction we were there. Still almost hit a little suv head on coming up the mountain and that guy was pissed. Did hit a dog passing through a little village coming back down. All the kids and most the dogs knew about the honk rule, one of the dogs didn't though and got a mouthful of bumper.

Sounds like a 12 hour long roller coaster ride....

Can’t wait to see more pics...

I'm going to have to post more in a little bit, they upload thing keeps freezing up on me.

That was on our list for trips this year, looking forward to seeing pics also.

Lake Paron.

Cool pictures.

I went in 2012 to see Machu Picchu and really enjoyed it there. I'm enjoying your pics and looking forward to seeing more of them!!

"All the kids and most the dogs knew about the honk rule, one of the dogs didn't though and got a mouthful of bumper."

I don't why but I found this line to be hysterical!!

Few more from Lake Paron and the drive up to it. That was an easy day if you don't figure the crazy taxi up and back. Basically drive up to it, but at 12,000 ft I didn't have a lot of get up and go up there. Spent a couple hours just hanging out and enjoying the views.

Few pics from our hotel in Caraz. Very nice people and good place to stay. The lady that ran it lived on sight and let me use her kitchen to fix up some gumbo - guinea pig and chicken, couldn't find any andouille or decent looking link sausage though......

Small Church in Yungay they built to remember the earthquake / devastation of 1970. Our friend said they people survived by climbing on top of this rock. I thought the stonework was really good, didn't look like they used hardly any mortar.

Few pics from Caraz. They grow a ton of flowers up there, pic of the square, 1800's cathedral where we went to Mass on Sunday.

Yumm!

Laguna 69, we did this hike on Wednesday. When my wife brought it up I said you are crazy, I don't even walk that far in Texas. No way we can hike 7.5 miles and climb 3000 ft to an elevation of over 15000. But, had a few beers the day before and agreed so we did. Took 5 hrs up and almost 3 down, the kid with us has done it 8 times. Says usually takes him about 1.5 hrs up. We took a lot of breaks. I have a little bit of fear of height and about 100 meters from the top had myself a little panic attack. We could only go 50ft maybe at a time, take a few minutes to recharge and then do another 50 ft or so. I get there, the wind is picking up, its steep with cliffs on both side. Don't have the energy to go up, don't have the energy to do climb back down, don't want to die.....took me a couple minutes to get composed and then went on up.
These are from about the 1st half of the hike. The pics don't really do the scenery justice. It was way more beautiful in person and it is way higher than it looks.

think this is lake 68, its in a little valley about halfway up to 69


This is about 100 meters from top where I had my little freak out.



Lake 69


This is what a middle aged out of shape guy from Texas does when he makes it all the way up - takes a nap


Me and my oldest rockin it.

What is this?

Guinea pig

Looks like y’all had an awesome time. Sure are some pretty views.

Great pics of a neat trip Was this a vacation bucket list type trip or ??

Very cool and great pictures. How was the Guinea pig gumbo? I heard Guinea pig taste great. Seen them cook with it on a few cooking shows.

Looks like you guys had a fun trip!

Looks like a lot of fun and some really good pics.

Congrats Chalet!!!

Wow, those pics are awesome. So, that big one, 69, was straight up vertical climbing, like almost on your hands and knees? Or just real steep? And that water is beautiful! I noticed a sign saying you can't swim...I wonder why that is? And what was the temp on 69? Everybody appears to be wearing shorts. Glad you enjoyed and thanks for posting about it!

Little back story on the trip. Never had much interest in Peru personally but my wife and oldest started helping out on some mission work in Lima six years ago. It was originally going to be a one time thing but over the years we have become pretty involved in it now as a family and have all been down there at least a couple times. Obviously have developed some friendships there and this was mostly a sight seeing trip. Airfare down there is not bad and everything runs about 1/3 of what it costs here so it is relatively inexpensive to go.

Lima is pretty dirty, overcrowded, noisy place. It has some nice areas but most of the places we spend time while there you don't go out alone, you don't take your cell phone out, keep vehicle doors locked, etc. Caraz and other cities/towns outside of Lima are way nicer to visit.

Guinea pig is ok, I wouldn't go out of my way to eat one. Most places that serve it have a picture on the menu of what looks like a whole, dead, fried rat on a plate. I've had it that way, in gumbo it is much better.

I put my hands in the water at 69, it is straight off the snow pack / glacier melt so it is cold. Not sure why you can't swim but guessing its to preserve the beauty, clarity of the water and possibly to keep people from drowning. It was below freezing and chilly when we checked in at the park station that morning. There was ice patches in the shady parts of the trail heading up. I'd say probably in the low 50's at the top. Little chilly with the wind but the sun is intense and I was working out so only my hands were cold, lots of people were in long pants and windbreakers. On the way down a guy passed me and said, "man, aren't you cold?" That last climb is the hardest, its not vertical the trail is just real steep and has a lot of larger rocks.

I'm to old for that one. Glad you had a good time thanks for the pics!

Looks like quite the adventure was had.

It was fun. I'll say this though - I am pretty damn happy to be home in Texas.