Marian Johns' Journal of the Desert
Explorers trip to Peru in 2002
Images by John Page unless otherwise noted
Day 20, September
23, Monday
Caraz to Trujillo See Map
Sept. 23, Monday – This morning we made our way out of town and headed down the hair-raising, breathtaking, Cańon del Pato, an enormous, deep gorge that has been cut by the Rio Santa. Sheer cliff faces tower several thousand feet above the river, and it is so narrow in some places, it resembles a slot canyon. We passed by a rickety-looking suspension foot bridge. A fellow just crossing, asked for a lift which he was given – riding on the truck pickup bed. We also passed a small, but spectacular side tributary with a seven-tiered waterfall that must have been hundreds of feet high.
The dirt road that has been blasted out of the canyon walls has no guard rails. As it wends its way toward the hydroelectric facility at Huallanca, it passes through 35 tunnels. I didn’t notice an intake for the diverted water and can’t imagine where the tunnel was, unless it was directly under our road bed. By the time we reached the coast, Joann had counted 47 tunnels total. The drive was spectacular, but also long, hard, bumpy, and dusty, yet worth doing – at least once.
In Trujillo, we stayed at the Hotel Continental. It has an elevator, the first one we have seen on the trip – hurray! Went to a bank up the street and used the ATM to get 1200 soles which should be more than enough for the rest of the trip. We all had dinner at the nicer-than-usual Mochica Restaurant. Mine was fish and rice with onions – good. Also had an avocado salad, but not as good as previous ones.
At dinner, Kathy and I were surprised (at least I was surprised) when Mary and John presented us with gifts from the group as a thank you – me for planning the trip, and Kathy for making all the reservations and being our Spanish-speaking liaison. Kathy was given a lovely necklace made of purplish spiny oyster shell? - I think. And they gave me a replica Chavin–style, stirrup-spout pot, and a Seminario (Urubamba pottery shop) serving tray with a unique duck design. Mary was very observant and remembered things I had admired in tourist shops. I actually didn’t have to be much of a trip leader once we got to Peru. Seems everyone pitched in and took care of things. The men, for instance, just assumed it was their job to change flat tires, take the trucks to secure parking lots each night and load and unload the luggage each day. They also installed the radios each morning. Others, especially Mary, became navigators when we arrived in new towns. I didn’t have to do much at all – just made a few decisions now and then.
