I'd like you do to a little experiment to better understand this entry. Take the chair you're sitting in right now and place it on top of your washing machine. Load lots of clothes all on one side so the machine will be out of balance. (You may need to temporarily remove the chair to accomplish this.) Now set the machine to the spin cycle and sit down in the chair atop the machine. Continue this for 33 hours and come back to the computer. Don't forget to bring the chair. That approximates my journey into Peru.

I left Loja, Ecuador on Sunday morning with the vague idea that I needed to hurry through Peru to get to my reservation at the observatory in Chile in less than two weeks. Whatever I miss in Peru I can come back to afterwards. I ended up traveling for 33 hours. Six hours from Loja to the border. Two hours jammed into a shared taxi to the nearest town. An hour to a town big enough to have a bus station. Eight hours overnight to Chimbote, the ugliest, smelliest town I've encountered yet. Then ten hours over a crappy, one-lane road through some of the most stunning scenery I've seen. Does that add up to 33? The rest was made up by sitting in bus terminals waiting. I became a bit worried about deep vein thrombosis and made sure to flex my butt and leg muscles from time to time to prevent blood clots.

I was unable to think but was otherwise healthy and in control upon arrival.

Entering the Canyon del Pato

Although it was a bit unnerving walking around Huaraz at night looking for a hotel knowing I wasn't at my best in terms of looking out for people up to no good.

"At first it looked like a horrible construction site."
I musn't gloss over the last leg of that journey. There's an easier way to get from Chimbote to Huaraz, but I of course took the difficult, scenic route. It reminded me of my journey through central Guatemala with Aaron and Rinat. There were no other gringos and it was simply amazing. The coastal part of northern and central Peru is desert. So this canyon we ascended was devoid of most any plant or human life. At first it looked like a horrible construction site, bulldozed over and left as piles of sand and dirt. But then I realized this is how it really appears.

The road follows an old railroad bed through the canyon. So it's one lane and often drops off precipitously just inches from the vehicle. It also passes through nearly 40 tunnels along the way. Some just a few feet long. Others round long curves and you can't see the other side when you enter.

Hydroelectric Plant atop the Canyon del Pato

Most are not covered on the inside so you see the chisled rocks around you. This goes on for about seven hours of the ten hour trip.

"It's entirely safe by all accounts."
Huaraz is a nice mountain town. Usually full of gringos in the dry season, I hear. But that's not for another month or so, so I only see a few other tourists. The area is full of peaks approaching or exceeding 20,000 feet. Most are covered with glaciers. It's astounding. Thursday I'm going on a four-day hike around one of the biggest mountains here. Can't remember the name, though. It's supposedly the second most popular hike in Peru after the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu. Should be fun. I'm renting gear from an outfitter here and expect I'll meet some people on the hike. Either way it's entirely safe by all accounts. The trail easy to find and the weather no worse than rain storms.

But first, a trip tomorrow to the ruins at Chavin, several hours away. It's a day trip with a tour company. The ruins are from a society that pre-dates the Incas by a long time. Can't remember their name either, though. So probably no more entries till next week. Notice that I've conveniently arranged to be in a tent in the woods over Easter weekend. "Semana Santa," as they call it here is reportedly a mess. Festivals everywhere with every bus to every place jammed full. So long as they're not all going camping I should be fine.

Till next week. And by the way, the stereo in the internet cafe is playing Bryan Adams singing "I Do It for You." In Spanish. It's seriously him singing in Spanish.