Marian Johns' Journal of the Desert
Explorers trip to Peru in 2002
Images by John Page unless otherwise noted
Day 23, September
26, Thursday
Chiclayo to Chachapoyas See
Map
Sept. 26, Thursday – We drove north on the Panamericana about 60 miles, then turned east on a paved road and began the climb up to Porculla Pass – about 7,000 ft, the lowest pass over the Peruvian Andes. The road then dropped down to the town of Jaen in the Rio Marañon valley. From there, we followed a tributary, the Rio Utcubamba, to Pedro Ruiz and then on to Chachapoyas.
I felt lousy the whole way – I’m not yet over what ever started last night, but at least I wasn’t in frequent need of a bush. I didn’t even have enough energy to get out of the truck to take photos of this beautiful area.
Most of the way between Jaen and Chachapoyas, the road was gravel and full of chuck holes, but the scenery was exceptional. The Utcubamba River cuts through a spectacular area of high vertical cliffs. The vegetation is lush – green and tropical. It rained – not a surprising event, considering the jungle we traveled through.
By late afternoon, we finally reached the side road that took us up the mountainside to Chachapoyas, the small town where we stayed at the Hotel Revash. I was feeling worse and I was cold besides.
For such a small, off-the-beaten-path town, our hotel room has a nice bathroom, all color coordinated – except it looks like they never finished the tile work around the tub/shower. Thank goodness the water in our bathroom was super hot. But there was no toilet seat, so I had to sit on the cold, porcelain edge. Then, I filled my hot water bottle, took two Cipro tablets and felt even worse. About half an hour later, I threw them up and felt better. Went to sleep cuddled up with the hot water bottle – so glad I brought it. I skipped dinner, of course.
