Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [308]
These days, busy Peruvian professionals can get online and consult savvy, business-minded shamans via instant messenger. Not quite the same thing as midnight chants and icy dunks in the remote lakes of the Andes.
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Hotels are all rudimentary and most share cold-water bathrooms. Hostal-El Dorado (47-3016; Medina 116; s/d without bathroom S12/18) is on the Plaza de Armas, and has one of the best restaurants in town and a helpful owner. Hospedaje Tres Estrellas (47-3077; San Martín 115; s/d without bathroom S20/27) is another bare-bones budget deal in an old building on the plaza; it also has ludicrously friendly staff. Hostal Danubio (47-3200; Grau 206; s/d S25/30, without bathroom S15/25), on the corner of the plaza, has the most solid rooms in town, all with TVs.
Restaurants to try include the busy Casa Blanca (Unión 304; menús S3.50, meals S4-6; 7am-11pm), which serves Peruvian food and has a cheap menú. The local beverage is rompope, a concoction of sugarcane alcohol with raw egg, honey, lemon and spices – a pauper’s pisco sour.
At the Huancabamba bus terminal, Etipthsa (47-3000), Civa (47-3488) and Turismo Express (47-3320) each have a morning service between 7am and 9am to Piura (S23 to S24, 10 to 11 hours). Two afternoon buses also depart for Piura at 4:30pm and 5pm. To visit the lakes, catch the 5am combi from this terminal to the town of Salala (S9, two hours), from where you can arrange treks to the lakes (S20 return).
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AYABACA
073 / pop 5500 / elev 2715m
For the final three hours of the journey between Piura and Ayabaca (sometimes spelled Ayavaca), the bumpy road starts to climb through cultivated fields and dense clouds and doesn’t stop until it reaches the pretty town of Ayabaca.
This aged colonial highland hamlet is surrounded by green valleys and cloud forest peaks darting out of the fog. Ayabaca’s Plaza de Armas is graced by a 17th-century cathedral with a gold-plated altar and some religious paintings from the Quito school of art, while almost every little house in town seems to adhere to the whitewash neocolonial style with adobe brick walls and wooden balconies. This is small-town highland life at its tranquil best.
Information
You can change US dollars at the Banco de la Nación (Grau 448). Limited tourist information is available at the municipalidad (47 1003; Cáceres 578), on the Plaza de Armas.
Sights & Activities
The overgrown Inca site of Aypate (admission free) contains walls, flights of stairs, terraces (some still in use), ceremonial baths and a central plaza. This territory here is stunning and you will see hazy mountains full of orchids, bromeliads, birds, white-tailed deer and other species. It’s about five hours by truck on a rough road, then a very short hike to the center of the ruins.
There are other, unexplored Inca and pre-Inca sites in the area. Some utterly fascinating and understudied petroglyphs are scattered around the tile-roofed hamlets of Yanchala, El Toldo and Espíndola near the Ecuadorean border, and mysterious caves, lakes and mountains – some of which are said to be bewitched – are explorable.
Ornithologists report outstanding bird-watching habitats. All in all, the Ayabaca region offers weeks of adventures rarely undertaken by gringos.
Visit the area in the May to November dry season when the trails are passable. Raul Bardales (47-1043; Piura 331) guides tourists to Aypate (S150 to S200 per person per day). Segundo Celso Acuña Calle (47-1209; Cáceres 257) is very knowledgeable on the area, and will talk your ear off if you go with him on one of his five-day treks S150 per person