Back to the Coast

The drive to Yungay was absolutely gorgeous, again, but in a totally different way. We traveled through high green Andean peaks, and then descended all the way to sea level. The road was really windy and misty, and offered spectacular views at every turn. The driving we’ve done the past few days, from Santa on the coast, to Yuramarca, down past Huaraz, then over to Barranca on the coast, is one of the most beautiful stretches we’ve driven the whole trip. Highly, highly recommended. Once we had descended from the heights, we spent a while driving through a green valley with dry Mars-like mountains on either side. The valley was like the green arm of the mountains reaching down to the coast, and was heavily cultivated. We saw trucks full of apples, roadside stands overflowing with fruit, and chiles laid out to dry, as far as the eye could see.

We stopped at a parqueo in Huacho, north of Lima. The family who run it were incredibly friendly (which is turning out to be the rule in Peru). They wanted to talk all night about our trip, thought the van was the best thing since sliced bread, and actually clapped their hands when they found out this was our honeymoon. In the morning, we decided to give them our blue folding chairs (we’re traveling too fast to use them – we’ve pulled them out all of twice), since we thought they could use them to sit at the beach, or in their parqueo. They *loved* them, and promptly disappeared into their little house to find something to give us in return. They came out with 3 eggs fresh from their hens, tinted green and varying greatly in size, and a loaf of sweet bread special for Semana Santa (it’s delicious). They also gave us their phone number and said we should call them if any little thing came up, they would do what they could to help us out. We are constantly surprised and overwhelmed at how friendly people here are.