July 19th 2024 – Cajamarca, Peru

For 2 days we spent a lot of time with Jamie and Fin. Conversation flowed freely and so did the wine one evening. It was my birthday. We visited a highly commended pizzeria for dinner. They didn’t have wine on the menu but the owner directed us to a wine shop where we could buy some and enjoy it at the restaurant. The pizza was one of the best I’ve ever had. The wine picked by Jamie suited it well.
Not only did Jamie and Fin pick up the tab, they also gifted me a bag of mixed chocolates. It was a nice gesture and much appreciated!

The last day together we went to see a viewpoint 9 km out of town.
A cab took us there. It was a nice place with good views of Canyon del Sonche. We grabbed lunch in a village by the canyon before walking all the way back to Chachapoyas. Kat found a little surprise in her soup.

On the morning of Jamie and Fin’s departure I dropped by their place to send them off.

Kat and I stayed in Chachapoyas for another 3 nights. The main reason was to read up on Peru and draft a rough itinerary for the following weeks. It quickly became apparent that Peru is big and has a lot to offer. We decided to primarily focus on the riding and the scenery.
While traditional museums usually bore us to death, ancient sites and ruins of lost civilizations fuels our imagination so we included a few of those.

Another thing I had hoped to do while in town was to find a new pair of shoes. The ones I have are almost worn out. It turned out to be an impossible challenge. I visited more than 10 stores in town that had the kind of shoes that I’m looking for. Not one of them had anything big enough for me. With a size 45 I’ve never encountered that problem before.

Chachapoyas was a nice place to spend a few days. Our hostal was one of the nicest places we have stayed for a long time which added to the experience.

The town itself had a pleasant atmosphere and everything we needed to be comfortable. We did a lot of walking and got to know a few people. One of them was the owner of the place where we had pizza on my birthday. That night he invited us to come back another time and try out some pasta dishes he considered adding to the menu. Kat and I took him up on that one evening. We had a long talk about his dreams and ambitions for the restaurant while we shared some rather delicious and creative pasta dishes.

It was great to get back on the road after being stationary for 5 days. We left the city on a dirt road winding its way into the mountains. It was well maintained with no traffic and scenic views.

The road took us all the way to Nuevo Tingo where we had booked a room.
Nuevo Tingo is a village at the top of a mountain overlooking the Utcubamba Valley. It was founded back in 1992 when serious flooding made most of the population from Bajo Tingo, located in the valley below by the Utcubamba river, relocate to higher ground.
An afternoon stroll revealed a quiet village with an impressive central square. We spend most of the afternoon and evening at our hostal, chatting with our charming host Juan José and the only 2 other guests.

Nuevo Tingo is the gateway to the pre-inkan walled settlement of Kuélap, which is considered to be the Machu Picchu of Northern Peru. Kuelap is located at a higher elevation than Machu Picchu and it is significantly older. Prior to our arrival it had been difficult for me to figure out exactly how to get there. Now I know. Let me share with you what I have learned.

There are 3 ways to reach Kuélap from Nuevo Tingo.

  1. By car/motorcycle on a 37 km dirt road that will get you within 1.5 km of Kuélap. You’ll have to cover the last stretch by foot or on horseback.
  2. By foot following a 9.3 km hiking trail that takes you from 1.900 to 3.000 meters
  3. By using the cable car system. You get on a bus 200 m from the village square. 10 minutes later the bus drops you off at the cable car station. A 20 minute ride in the cable car delivers you to the same place you could have reached by car/motorcycle and you have to walk or ride the last 1.5 km.

We had decided to use the cable car. Armed with entry tickets for Kuélap bought online (the only way to buy them) we showed up at the bus terminal at 8.30 in the morning. There were no other visitors around.
The cable car ride offered amazing views. We made it all the way to Kuélap without seeing another visitor.

Kuélap is a work in progress.
The infrastructure surrounding the place is more or less in place.
When traveling there by road or cable car you arrive at the visitor center. It’s very well done with a small museum, an art gallery, stalls selling local crafts and a cafeteria. They are still working on the trails from the visitor center to Kuélap.

Kuélap itself is still being excavated and huge efforts are being made to preserve it for the future. As a result there is only limited access to the area. What we were allowed to explore was impressive.
One of the custodians patrolling the grounds told us that the work would take at least another 40-50 years – if they kept getting the fundings needed.
We had the place to ourselves throughout our visit. It was a great experience. Only as we left and headed back towards the visitor center around 11 pm did we encounter other visitors. From then on there was a steady flow of people arriving, but it never got crowded.
I imagine that we experienced the quiet before the storm. Kuélap is still relatively unknown. That will change if it, as expected, becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The infrastructure is in place for it to receive the same amount of visitors as Machu Picchu.

We left Nuevo Tingo under a clear blue sky the following morning. It was pleasantly cool as we made our way up the valley along the Utcubamba river. After about an hour we started gaining altitude in earnest. The road was rough and the scenery breathtaking.

Calla Calla pass presented us with a magnificent view of the mountains. The scale was stupendous and difficult to convey with a picture, but I tried.

The temperatures went from 10 to 30℃ as we dropped down to the lush jungle in Marañón Valley at 800 meters elevation. Potholes and frequent gravel sections made it difficult to get into a good flow, but the scenery continued to make up for that.

Road 8B, that we had followed all day, crossed the Marañón River and zig zagged up the mountains on the other side.

At +3.000 meters we crested another pass and were treated to a panoramic view of Celendin.

It had been a long day in the saddle when we pulled up in front of a hotel by the town square. Fin had recommended the place to us. Him and Jamie had stayed there a few days earlier. The selling point was secure parking for the motorcycles in an inclosed courtyard. To reach it we had to ride the bikes through the lobby.
During our search for dinner we encountered a parade with small kids dressed like Disney characters. I’m usually pretty indifferent when it comes to children, but some of these were rather cute.
Celendin turned out to be a lively town.

We enjoyed a slow morning. Breakfast was included in the price. Our hosts joined us at the table.
They turned out to be real chatterboxes. One of the stories they shared with us was about 2 Americans who had stayed with them the previous week. Our hosts had been shocked by the amount of alcohol they had consumed and by their lack of table manners – they were shaking their heads while describing how one of the gringos had shoveled food into his mouth with the fork held in his right hand. — (head in hand).
It was late morning before we managed to get away.

We picked up road 8B outside of town. It had transformed from a mostly single lane potholed nightmare to a wide ribbon of smooth tarmac flowing through the mountains. The section from Celendin to Cajamarca is one of the best roads I’ve ever ridden. It was a collection of perfect corners ranging from tight hairpins to fast sweepers at altitudes up to 3.750 meters (12.300 feet). The occasional farm animal and oncoming traffic in the middle of the road reminded us to keep the speed at a reasonable level.

After riding mostly empty roads all day Cajamarca greeted us with some proper Peruvian city traffic. With a combination of aggression and caution we zipped through town at a good pace.
We are staying in town for a few nights. Mainly to sort out practical matters. Most importantly I need to find a new pair of shoes! Hopefully this city is big enough to have what I’m looking for.