Tarapoto

So after spending another day or so in Cusco we headed back to Lima to catch a flight later that night to Tarapoto.  Tarapoto is located in the North East, it is considered to be part of the Jungle.  We were really ready; we both had enough of the cold of Cusco and were ready to get back to the heat a little.  We had about another week of vacation planned out there.  My host family is from that area so I was very excited to get an idea of this place they always talk about!  We first arrived in the city of Tarapoto.  It wasn’t a very nice or clean city, but we stayed at a neat hotel that had a very jungle vibe.  My friend had spent a week there before we got there and had sent me an email of suggestions on where to visit.  So our first day we headed out to a town called Lamas.  It’s located up above Tarapoto and the climate is a little milder not quite as hot.  My friend had said there was a castle we needed to see there.  So I thought we would see the ruins of the castle or something!  But nope!  Lamas was a town similar to Chipillico, a little nicer with roads and nicer homes, but for the most part not a very rich town.  However, we were very confused when we came across the castle looking for ruins.  It was a very real and functioning castle.  After talking to the staff we found out the castle was built 6 years ago by some Italian guy who liked the climate of Lamas and he built this castle to live in!  We were able to tour it, and it basically had art work displayed and it was very beautiful just crazy that its neighbors were homes very similar to Chipillico.  Apparently he also rents rooms to artists and owns a restaurant in Tarapoto.  We were able to get a great view of Lamas and the surrounding towns.  There were so many houses with their grass reed roofs.  It reminded me exactly of what you would see in a movie about the jungle! So I was very satisfied!

Later we came back down to Tarapoto to eat lunch with the hopes of later heading off to visit some waterfalls.  We found a simple restaurant and ordered what would be a typical dish in Piura; however, we were disappointed to find out that that particular area has a little twist on what we consider a typical dish.  Later we attempted to try and see waterfalls but we couldn’t get a car out there so late so we called it a day.

I had already scheduled 3 days in a place called Laguna Azul outside of Tarapoto, so the next day we headed out there.  We knew it would be about a 2 ½ ride there but that was all we knew.  About 30 minutes into the trip we turn off the nice paved road down a nice muddy road and all that lies in front of us is a huge, wide, dirty river!  So we knew at this point we would be going in a ferry.  The ferry was on the other side of the river so we really couldn’t get a good look until it started heading to our side.  It honestly looked very scary.  It looked like someone said “I’m going to build a ferry, what do I have lying around my yard to do that”.  It was 3 old boats with wood planks across them to hold the cars.  Each boat had a motor but it seemed like if they were lucky they could get one or two working at a time.  Plus, were not talking about some calm river, this river had a strong current.  But as always in Peru, I was no shocked when they made the entire trip across the river look easy!  These people can always make something out of nothing and make it work!  They even sold popsicles on the small ferry! 

After the ferry we started heading up muddy roads up the side of the mountain.  We reached a point where cars were in front of us waiting.  We got out of the car to see what was going on.  There was a curve in the road where there had been a land slide and rocks were covering the road and a van was unable to get through because of one gigantic ride.  So we all got out and the men did the work to help the van, even Edgar.  They used ropes to help move the rocks together and then they all got behind the van and pushed it through.  Then we were able to get through.  We get moving along, it was like we were reaching the top of these small mountains, passing all the jungle homes and a river.  And then in the middle of it all was a valley with the Laguna.  The town was identical to Chipillico, poor and located on the side of this lake.  Tarapoto had advertised this Laguna everywhere as a tourist spot but once we got there we discovered the only tourist part were a few hotels that had been built on the lake but as soon as you left the hotel there was nothing but a poor and kind of sad town. 

I had booked our hotel in advance, and we had a neat place located on the Laguna, sort of run down but we had our own cabana and there were lots of hammocks and a pier into the water so we were happy.  We were even happier when we went to order lunch and everything was reasonably priced and came with a ton of food.  There is a family who lives at the hotel and takes care of things and we got to talking to one of them who explained a little history of the Laguna.  Back in the early 90’s when there was a lot of terrorism in the jungle a terrorist group had camped out there and didn’t allow the people to leave.  They were there for 4 years and the people lived in fear.  Then another terrorist group came in and the two groups started fighting and the Peruvian military got involved and ordered all the people of the town to the plaza.  From there they people could watch on opposing hills of the Laguna bombings and fighting it sounded really terrible.  And from that you sort of get the vibe walking around the community that it is a community that has really suffered and although they want these tourist opportunities to make more money, they aren’t quite sure of it all yet and a little leery. 

In Laguna Azul there wasn’t a lot to do.  We did a lot of laying in hammocks, and me some swimming.  One day we had heard there was a waterfall, but to our surprise it was at the top of one of the hills in a military base.  We went and checked it out; it was very beautiful but not really sure it could be considered a waterfall, a little small.  But it was an adventure!  We also took a boat ride into the lake with a tour guide.  We found out that there is an inactive volcano on one end of the lake and I was able to jump off the boat and go swimming.  He also took us to another part of the lake where there were artisans set up to sell us stuff.  When we got off the boat we were greeted with bananas stuffed with all kinds of stuff wrapped in leaves.  I got a banana stuffed with cheese and Edgar ate one stuffed with meat (he couldn’t tell me what kind of meat) and peanuts.  It was really good!  Then everyone had little shot glasses of different jungle liquors they were trying to sell.  I tried a few because it was inevitable at times, and Edgar drank a lot more than me!  We bought some stuff and some kids tried to get his giant boa constrictor for me to take a picture with, I politely declined!!!!

Later that night we went to bed kind of early, but neither of us slept well.  I was kind of freaked out all night long.  The next morning I said something to Edgar and he said the same thing, like he was scared all night long.  I think their crazy jungle drinks might have had some kind of weird affect on us.  Edgar agreed, but who knows!!!

We spent lots of time in hammocks people watching, it seemed like some people had their fields across the lake but instead of taking donkeys like in Chipillico, they would hop in their boats.  Some people had boats with motors, and other had hand carved canoes and they would paddle furiously across the lake, and you could just see their very muscular chest and arms like they had done that their whole lives.  Sometimes we would see people actually up to their neck in the water, but with nets and they were fishing.  Another very odd thing was the number of transsexuals.  Edgar said he had always heard there were higher populations in the jungle and it seemed like there really was.  My host family commented on the same thing.  I am somewhat curious to find out why that is. 

The last day in Laguna Azul was a tough day because we realized it was coming to the end of our vacation.  It was raining as we were leaving and we were really sad to say goodbye.  Turns out that rain continued very strong for the next 8 days and became really dangerous, so it was good we left when we could.  We spent one more night in Tarapoto, which was pretty uneventful.  Normally Edgar and I have the tradition of hanging out in the plaza, but the plaza in Tarapoto seemed a little shady so we didn’t really do much.  Plus, I hadn’t been feeling well and realized that I had gotten strep throat which really made me miserable. 

We made it back Lima and spent one night there, I showed Edgar all I knew of the Miraflores area in Lima, which isn’t much.  We checked out a few parks, ate some good food, and waited for our bus to take us back to Piura and back to our lives. 

When we got back to Piura I had to get back to Chipillico because I had a training the next day with the mom’s in my project, absolutely no time to rest and come back down from the vacation high.  Lucky for Edgar, he was on vacation the entire month of April so he had a few more weeks of fun! 

I have just a few months until my other vacation to the Galapagos Islands!!!