Saturday

We went to Chavin today, thought to be the oldest remains in Peru until Caral was discovered recently. The hardest part of the trip was the bus ride to there. Only 150 km but 4 hours each way. We went through the valley that Huaraz lies in and then turned east to go over the continental divide. We first stopped just outside Huaraz to take pictures of some kilns along the side of the road. They were making bricks for construction. Local mud and wood chips, dried in the sun for 2 to 3 days, and then stacked in the kiln and fired for 4 days and 4 nights. 1000 bricks cost 540 soles, around $200. Not sure how many bricks you need for one of the small houses they have here.

We then stopped at the top of the pass close to 14,000 feet high, really a tunnel 500 meters long. On the other side of the tunnel was a statue of Jesus Christ and further down the road we stopped at the entrance to Huascaran National Park to see a lake and use the bathrooms. Then it was back on the bus to the town just outside the ruins of Chavin for lunch. We spent about 2 hours at the ruins and got back to the hotel at 8pm. A couple of folks walked into town but most of us had dinner in the hotel. Tomorrow we start at 8am and we are told the bus ride won't be quite so long, hopefully getting back by 5pm, maybe even 4pm so we can go to the thermal baths just up the street. A very tiring day riding on the bus, but it was interesting as well.