Waterfalls and Huge Reed boats!

We had a really crappy sleep last night staying next to the mall in Cajamarca!! AFTER the mall closed at 10pm they had some type of concert happening out front of the mall but we could hear loud and clear where we were parked!! And it went on until 4:30AM!! Strange since this is a Monday night and there are people living close by.  Guess we should have gotten dressed and joined the party! LOL!!

First stop is a propane place but they didn't have the right adapter to fill our tank. So on we go, in Trujillo there are a few propane dealers and have read that some will fill tanks attached to the vehicle, now that would be nice!

We drive for awhile then pull off the highway to go hike up to some falls. I'd seen these falls (or pretty sure these falls) in some of the pictures used at some Cajamarca tour companies advertising their tours. It's only about 1.5km hike to the falls. We get parked and follow the path showing on maps.me which is taking us up a steep road first and then we crossed over to a path going down and connected to the path we should have taken! We get down to the stream and head towards the falls.  Nice falls with a swimming hole at the bottom. We then followed the path on the opposite side of the stream to head back to Vanna.  There is another set of falls we pass along with sheep tied down and enjoying the green grass.  Seems most animals are tied down with a rope - guess to stop them from wondering to far from the farm ;)

Watching a farmer still using oxen to plow his field

Looking down from the path to the falls

Roots still keeping the trees alive- these are the disliked Eucalyptus tree roots (see more info below)

valves to open the irrigation canal from the stream when water is needed in the fields

Old portions of rock walls that would have been used to define the owners property

Baaaaaaaaa!

And there is the waterfall, think during the rainy season it would be quite specular 

Dwayne crossing the stream

Looking down at the 2nd waterfall

And the bottom as it pools, but the water is not very clear 

Then just a small stream continues along

Odd to see such a nice house along the path - seems empty though

Lots of air plants in these trees

Another farmer working his small field

Beasts of burden :) and the wife pulling out the weed

Bought this Puffed Corn - tastes like puffed wheat but only corn - not bad :)  

Next stop is at Laguna San Nicolas which is about 7 kms off the highway on a dirt road. This is another place I saw on the tour pictures. There should be large reed boats on this lake. When we finally get there - doing only 20kph is very slow- we find the restaurant and boats along with a reed island!  So we park and walk out to the little island to see the huge reed boats. Then we decided to have lunch at the restaurant. This time I try something different that I'm not sure of but it is something pork LOL!! Dwayne has the trout.  When the meals arrive - no soup today, I had translated the menu after and found out I ordered pork jerky deep fried - interesting!! Actually it was not to bad because it wasn't really thin jerky.  Dwayne's butterflied fish looked good, but he hates picking out bones so we traded plates :) I pull out the back bone and get rid of most of the bones.  It was pretty tasty but I think Dwayne would have liked to have had the Malanese chicken like he had yesterday😉 Today's lunch is more expensive S/28 ($9C)

Lots of pretty dahlias along the road to the lake 

How the reeds are dried

Pathway to the island- which is just piled up loose reeds

A little squishy but I didn't fall through!!

Then across a bridge that Dwayne just HAD to bounce! BOYS!!

Now these reed boats look more comfy to ride in then those on the coast

Neighbour fisherman

Looking back at the restaurant

My Cecina frito cerdo 

Dwayne's trucha- the potatoes in the sauce was really yummy!

Laguna San Nicolas

We head back to the highway and continue going. Once we got to San Marcos, a pretty big town we decided to fill up the water tank since we found a large gas station with a good tap. As Dwayne is filling it up he see's that the water is pouring out the bottom! 😡  There are a couple of concrete ramps that he can drive up and check under Vanna and see what the problem is. Well,  seems that most of the filling hose is cracked and needs replacement, guess being 22yrs is one reason.  He goes to a couple of hardware stores but doesn't find anything to use as a replacement. The hose starts on the driver's side where the filling tube starts then goes under the van over to my side and then into the holding tank. There are lots of heat shields he has to get around - guess quite the mess under there! No amount of duct tape is going to fix it in the meanwhile!!! My way of fixing things! LOL!! So we will have to just use jugs of water for washing etc until Dwayne can fix the problem. Next city is Trujillo where he should be able to find parts - I hope!

It's now 4:30 so we aren't going to get to the site I had picked out by a lake so we back track a few kms and park on a viewpoint that over looks San Marcos. Nice spot and also seems to be a place where young couples come to be alone :)  Even saw a girl walking around with a recorder - you know the flute we all had to learn and still have to learn in school! Guess she also has to learn to play it. Poor girl!! LOL!! I guess the Peruvian Pan flute is to difficult to learn instead of the recorder!

I took some pictures of the city at night but they were all fuzzy, guess I need a tripod. But one came out not to bad to show the lights in the town. We enjoyed a very quiet night in this spot, think this has been our best boondocking spot 😁 But Dwayne didn't like that the pine trees nearby were causing his allergies to act up.

We're above the rainbow!

Love the highlands

My shaky night pic of San Marcos below us from the viewpoint- but it was beautiful to see

And in the morning with a cloud cover

The next day we continue to Trujillo and I decide I want to drive for awhile. Of course what starts out as a good highway doesn't take long before it is just pieces of pavement, mostly one lane and lots of pot holes!! Also having to dodge sheep, dogs, chickens LOL!!  Lots of rain damage. Can only do about 30kph on the best parts. Lots of new bridges to replace ones that have probably been washed out.  After about 1.5 hrs of this I've had enough! I pull over so we can have lunch and then let Dwayne drive again. I'll wait until the road gets better because anyone who drives a motorhome you know what happens when you hit the pot holes and speed bumps to hard! EVERYTHING shakes and rattles inside!! I missed one speed bump driving thru a town and Dwayne got out to check to make sure the box was still attached to the back of Vanna!! LOL!!  Oh course it's not long after we start out again after lunch that the road is good again!!

The highway ends up getting up to 13,500' and we were in the clouds again. But it wasn't as thick as other times, But still not fun driving thru! At least once in awhile it did open up and we had beautiful views of the highlands and lakes, but boy was it cold up here! Lots of copper mining in this area.

Yes this is part of the main highway. Think that road to Zumba gave us lots of experience LOL!!

When the road is good its great! 

Copper mine in the background

Well at least he had lights on his tractor!

This highway continually goes up and down :) 

Small lake with the clouds touching it

A local watching his cows

They cut down lots of the controversial Eucalyptus trees which is not native to Peru - brought here from Australia in the mid 50s. Used for burning in stoves, building and oils but the tree takes lots of the ground water to grow.  Large areas are planted with these trees to later be harvested because they are hardwood. But it does smell nice driving through here :) 

So many different crops to give different colors to the mountains

This is one huge statue on the side of the mountain - that is a house on the left of it. 

And how would you like to say you live in Shitabamba!!

They do have nice buses here - passengers are nice and high for good views.

 Another copper mine in this area - also not liked by the natives of Peru

Following slow trucks downhill like this one full of coal is what made our 300km drive take 7 hrs!!

Thru that valley where the sun is setting is Trujillo 

We finally get into Trujillo and find a parking spot by 7pm! It's in a secured area since I don't like coming into a big city at night and then trying to find a spot to park that is safe.  Charge for parking here is S/15 ($6C) LONG drive today. Lots of slow trucks going downhill. Tomorrow we'll go to the hardware and see if Dwayne can find the parts he needs, and then we'll have to find a place he can work on Vanna. Hope it can all be done in a day :)  Oh and I guess only the locking pin broke on the spare tire rack - again. But at least the rack itself is still in one piece :)

This is the size of hose Dwayne needs to replace

And this is the reason we didnt go to Kuelap - it would have taken us probably 8-9 hrs of driving to get there!