All quiet on the Northern front -Cajamarca

At breakfast my host suddenly told me that he did not think it was a good idea to go to Cajamarca! He had spoken to friends up there was still trouble with the Miners, so much so that the Tour companies had been cancelling their bookings there. A few days ago the news talked of three dead and a state of emergency. As I had booked an hotel I thought that any trouble would be a roadblock, if I met one of those I would turn around and find another town.

The first few hours were through yet more desert but eventually I got to the junction that would take me inland and in to the hills. The road from the junction was only 200 kms but the petrol station attendants had suggested it would take 5 hours!!!

Almost immediately the scenery changed and it was nice to get amongst the hills, trees and the twisting roads.

This is a man made lake, apparently part of the local conflict is to do with the water demands of the new mines & how they will affect the locals and their farming.

There are many big trucks trundling up the hills, we would all climb 3,000 meters before dropping down in to Cajamarca at 2,500. I can see why it would take 5 hours in a car as, without the bikes ability to overtake quickly, I would not have done it in 3.5 hours. Most of the road was good tarmac but there were a few stretches of gravel.

Down in the desert a lot of sugar cane is grown - with the benefit of irrigation obviously, the small scale farms still use horse/donkey power. Up in the hills you begin to pass rice paddy fields and best of all , you can see them "ploughing" the slurry with cattle. I stopped to take this picture in a tiny hamlet and I was soon surrounded by kids and toothless grandparents. They were so excited and asked far more questions than I could understand or answer. They didn't have much more than their adobe houses and the clothes on their backs but I didn't see one person without a broad grin (with or without teeth). One lady I think, was called Juanita, because she had one tooth left from her upper set.

Once you get to the top you look down on the valley in which Cajamarca sits.

My hotel would have been relatively easy to find as it is on Plaza de Armas (the centre of all towns) but they are doing a lot of roadworks which meant many roads were closed. As I was stuck in a traffic jam a couple of quite large guys on quite a small motorbike pulled up next to me and started to chat (they ALL love the bike). they kindly showed me a way to get to the hotel and we had a brief chat before they disappeared back in to the traffic, their arses hanging off each side of the saddle, poor little bike.

This is a pucker hotel right on the Square and with a Car park rather than reception. The trouble is, the entrance to the car park required me to rejoin the traffic and retrace my tracks to the entrance!

There was no sign of any trouble but it was another long day on the bike so I had a few beers and an early night in nice crisp white sheets!

It is a very similar town to so many in south America, the Plaza de Armas is the centre, with gardens, fountain, chairs for old men to sit and chat to their friends. A few shops and a few churches. I also got my shoes polished again. There was a bit of a crowd and I was the butt of plenty of jokes judging by the amount of laughter - all good fun and I have got very nice shiny shoes now.

Cajamarca's history is in the events of 1532. For those who read the blogs and paid attention you will remember the nasty character Pizzarro.

Atahualpa had beaten his brother in a battle for the Inca throne in Quito. On his way to Cusco with his army of 80,000 soldiers, he stopped at Cajamarca. Pizarro and his 170 soldiers charged there to meet him. Pizzarro made unreasonable demands of Atahualpa which he had to refuse, giving Pizzarro the excuse to declare war on the Inca's. The Spanish with their arms were able to massacre thousands of Incas and captured Atahualpa with virtually no loss. The Conquistadors were actually trapped but somehow convinced the Inca's not to attack Atahualpa gave them the famous ransom for his release -  a room filled with gold and twice as much silver. Pizzarro took the money and murdered Atahualpa anyway. All in the name of Catholic God, nice eh?

 "The Ransom House" where all this happened, still exists and is protected from the elements by a rather gaudy orange "umbrella" The stonework is identical to that at Cuzco.

The Bowler hats of the south give way to the over-sized "Stetsons" of the North. Some of them are huge. I am not sure if they are made of very fine straw or coarse fabric, they look the part though!

This is what the Plaza de Armas is all about!