Peru Travel Report 7: From Huánuco to San Pedro de Cajas

From Huánuco to San Pedro de Cajas

As mentioned in my previous post, my whole trip was outlined rather spontaneously, but especially this part was totally last-minute.

Julia and me, having dinner

As I didn't feel safe nor comfortable in Huánuco, I wanted to leave directly the next day after a short visit to the near-by ruins. So, on arrival I bought a ticket to Huancayo. Decision #1.

Cutest baby ever - but unfortunately the better pic was eaten by the virus...

But then it came to my mind that it could be a not-so-splendid idea to travel overnight in an area where I didn't feel safe even during daytime. Change #1: Go to somewhere else while there was still daylight.

 

Actually, I was lucky because I could return my already booked bus trip. It was the very only time that this worked...

So, the next plan was to just take a shared taxi and go... to some place which could act as a stopover on my way to Huancayo. "Driver, I'll get of in Cerro de Pasco".

Cerro de Pasco is Peru's highest city, famous for its rock formations... and its unbearably could nights. My fellow travellers were talking with mixed feelings about this wealthy but ugly mining city.

During the trip I talked with Julia, a maca juice producer from Huánuco. She told me that she was on the way to Junín in order to find new maca fruit vendors. Apparently, this "superfood" is, just like quinoa before, becoming a trend in the US - and even China. And just like in the case of quinoa, the price of the maca root is rising considerably due to the high international demand. Good in macroeconomic terms, but detrimental to small domestic producers like Julia.

As so many times in Peru, after have gone to bed at 9, I woke up at 5 and could enjoy the sunrise and the town coming to life.

What she told me about Junín sounded more intriguing than what I had been told about Cerro de Pasco. Change  #2: "Guys, no need to show me around Cerro de Pasco (what a fellow traveller had offered me before) - I'll go to Junín." Strange looks between the rest of the group - "who the hell was this German guy? Did he have any plan at all?" Well, truth to be told - no, I didn't. Perfect freedom in decisions, that's proper vacations!

Just before the arrival in Junín, Julia unveiled that she actually wouldn't go off in Junín, but go on a bit to a small village called "San Pedro de Cajas". According to my travel guide it's the centre of wooden handicraft depicting scenes of daily rural life.

Julia asked if I was interested in going there. Not much to do or see, but a unique opportunity to catch a glimpse of authentic Peruvian rural life and to buy some souvenirs for my Mexican friends whose departments were stuffed with all my belongings I had left back after giving up my Mexican flat.

Change #3: For sure, let's go there!

We got off in the middle of nowhere at an intersection where we would have to wait for a shared taxi which would finally take us to San Pedro de Cajas. However, due to several "unlucky" circumstances (local near-by trade fairs which were occupying all the taxis, etc.) we were waiting a looong time. It was beginning to turn dark, and really cold, standing there in the wind blowing over the steppe. In fact, I was surprised that such an off the beaten track destination was featured in my book, at all.

Even hitchhiking wasn't an option, because in Peru overland traffic is still rather limited and the infrequently passing mega trucks didn't show the slightest inclination to slow down.

At least we were not the only ones waiting there, so we didn't feel totally lost. Finally, a taxi came by and the last part of the trip to San Pedro de Cajas. Although not long in terms of distance, it took as a while to arrive, because the driver apparently didn't have a driver's license - or he was just blind. Or both.

He drove sooooo slowly and still either almost hit rocks, or he drove precariously close on the brink. Already in the city he even oversaw a plastic cordon and was just driving through, wondering that the road suddenly ended. Man.

Well, as you might have guessed from the pictures, we finally arrived. There were no hotels or hostels, but Julia knew a family who rent some rooms. Dropping the bags and directly heading for dinner, she told me about her plans. Still that night she wanted to talk to some maca producers and check out the current market price. If she wasn't lucky here, she would have to go back to Junín, which probably mean to accept higher prices. Maca was rare those days, not only due to the aforementioned global demand, but also because of the season, which for this root still had to begin. Warehouses were empty.

It was interesting to see, how "simple" business processes were here in the middle of nowhere. We just walked along the dark roads, knocking doors here and there and asked for maca and its price. It also showed how important it is for even the smallest business to have proper infrastructure in a country: When I asked Julia why she didn't organize her "supply chain" via phone, a local agent and mail shipping, she stopped my thoughts blandly with a wave of her hand: No direct shipping between this area and Huánuco. So she had to accept the long and tiring trip every two weeks - or more often, depending on supply and demand.

After having traipsed several doors, Julia concluded that she wouldn't be lucky in San Pedro this time. So the next day she would go back to Junín. She offered me to come with her, but I preferred to experience a bit more of this beautiful town by day. As she intended to leave very early the next day, our "good night" also meant "good bye", but I promised to call her when I would be back in Lima and tell her the prices on the central market there. As an anticipation: I called her without good news, as the price in the capital - as you might have expected - was even higher.

The next day in San Pedro de Cajas I took lots of pictures, made the short walk to the local "attraction", namely a mineral spring which was so unspectactular that I totally understood that it was not even mentioned in my travel book.

Sadly, due to a virus which apparently settled down on my memory card back in an internet cafe in Chavín de Huantar, I lost all of the images and even after many hours of recovery attempts I was only able to bring back the ones you see here. As always in such cases, you have the feeling that all your best photos were gone forever. But hey, it's holiday. Not worth to be upset. I bought a new memory card as according to several internet sources this virus settled down directly in the flash's microprocessors, making it invulnerable to formatting. But hey, cards are cheap these days and at least I had a backup of my photos on-line, so not too bad. And: San Pedro really was the place to make some good bargains in handicrafts. Too bad my backpack was already overflowing with warm clothes I had bought after having noticed that my Mexican apparel was not enough at all for the Peruvian climate. So I only could by some tidbits for my Mexican homies.

No souvernis for you guys, sorry ;-)