Leymebamba
Trip Start
Feb 06, 2007
1
74
332
Trip End
Jan 14, 2008
Leymebamba,
Peru
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
We are back to cornflakes today. Rice, meat, chicken three times a day gets a bit monotonous. The chicken is tending to be a bit like rawhide, one almost needs a chain saw to eat it. The meat, well, in a stew its not too bad, but generally as a steak its is tough. But it is what the locals eat and it's cheap. Sometimes the rice and potato is cold, sometimes hot drinks are not so hot.
After breakfast we trotted up to the bus station where we bought our tickets to Leymebamba. We then tried to locate a 240 volt immersion heater that can be put in a cup. No luck.
We caught the bus at 12.00 noon and had a very enjoyable trip on a rough, scenic road. It certainly was worth buying our tickets early as we had the choice of seats. At 11.30 all the seats were sold and some seats were far from comfortable
Pic 1
. We arrived in Leymebamba, where it was raining. Barb left Pete on the corner with the packs and scooted off to check the two hostels in town. The La Petaca Hostel was on the Plaza, had a double room with bath overlooking the square and nice comfortable beds for 35 sol. Hot water.
We then went for a walk around the town and we were pleasantly surprised by how friendly the people were. The drenching rain did not deter anyone. We could see that we were going to like this town.
Thursday, and its Pete's turn to feel ill today. Nothing too drastic and we suspect it is possibly the water from somewhere over the past few days. Overnight some travelers on tour stayed at the hotel and left at 4.00am, noisily At 7.00 am another tour group arrived from Chachapoyas to go to Laguna Las Condores on horseback. It is 8 hours there on horseback or 12+ hours if walking, and of course the same time coming back, but from all accounts it is a site well worth visiting.
We have not had good experiences with horse riding and on looking at the horses there was no reason to suspect it was going to be any better. A 12 hour walk over steep and sometimes muddy tracks going up to 3800 metres is not for us, especially if it is raining
Pic 2
.At 8.00am we set off along the Inca road to the museum. This is about 4 kms away along a very scenic route. We were a bit disappointed that there were few birds to be seen. The archeological museum is sponsored by the Austrian Government, is set in a garden setting and contains antiquities from the former Chacha people of the region. Of particular interest is the mummies found in Laguna Las Condores. We were able to appreciate the sarcophagoses that we had seen at Kuelap. There are displays of handicrafts that had been found in the tombs and these are in perfect condition.
After visiting the museum there is the pre-hispanic track that leads to Laguna Las Condores and we followed this upstream for some kilometers. It is very scenic, passing waterfalls and many farms. The entire area is surrounded by mountains. After watching a man on horseback negotiate the very steep muddy and stony track we were doubly glad we had not taken the tour.
Pete's stomach problems seemingly have resolved themselves. We visited Palmiri, the town adjacent to Leymebamba. This town is like a poor relation to Leymebamba and we think that western tourists wandering around were a bit of a novelty. Children followed us around and wanted us to take their photos.
Briefly, Leymebamba is an excellent stop-off between Chachapoyas and Celedin, and the museum a don't-miss. Pete's dinner was about the worst chicken, the toughest that is, he has had. The rice and potato was cold and the tea almost cold.For A$1.50 I do not suppose you can expect much else.
