back from chavin!

a parent of one of my highschool classmates had a genetic defect which allowed him to climb everest multiple times wtihout oxygen. i was pretty sure that i was not a superhuman like him….but always thought that i could handle my altitude. turns out i’m really really weak. after the first day of our climb at ~2.5 miles above sealevel….i puked. the next couple days were better (no puke), but shortness of breath and headaches were the norm.

out there (in the cordillera blanca), you lose sense of time and place. climate can change from cold/windy to warm/sheltered in a heartbeat. landscape can change from grassy plains to snowcapped peaks (which seem very out of place). terrain is dry or swampy. one thing that is consistent, though, is the presence of cow and sheep shit….everywhere. seriously, you cannot escape it. it doesn’t help that there isn’t much wildlife (insect or animal) up there, so things tend to linger.

not too many people inhabit the path. the first and second days we passed a few small family farmers (cattle/sheep). after the pass…things began to change, and about 10km from chavin eucalyptus trees appeared as well as small villages with pople dressed in colorful indigenous garb. one woman we met on the trail didn’t even speak spanish. it’s cool being in such a different environment, which is quickly fading, as roads and telecom become more common (they’re building a road as we speak). it’s especally amazing to see schools and other large structures up in the hillside, where every single brick (or window, metal fence, etc.) is carried up on the backs of men and mules.

chavin is another interesting place. home to a 3k year old religious cult, there are some awesome archaeological sites, which francois was able to give us vip access too (he worked on the dig for a couple of summers). the chavin temple features tons of narrow passages which archaeologists (and, sometimes, their friends) can crawl through and admire the stone structures which have survived earthquakes, landslides and everything else. we were also fortunate to be in chavin at the end of their big annual festival, which featured street food/games and a bull fight in their brand-new (under construction) bull stadium. why would a small town of a few thousand people be building a $2 million stadium only big enough for bull fights? well, it turns out that their copper mine has been paying huge dividends recently ($20-50 million / year). still, a hospital and fast internet are nowhere to be found.

so is the hike from ollero to chavin worth the pain? …depends who you ask. francois’ done it three times and would do it again in a heartbeat. tessa enjoyed the untouched asspect of it, and might do it again. i’m glad i did it (no regrets), but once is enough for me — i have the pictures and the memories.

and how about chavin? chavin is a nice little town….which is even nicer now that they’ve spent millions on making the town look nice and on a beautiful museum. the new road connecting chavin to civilization is already falling apart (the 60km taxi ride back took ~2hrs), meaning that it’s a bit hard to get to….but if you’re up for the drive (or hike)…one day’s very nice, and more than enough time, to see the entire town. apparently if you continue east over the mountains you can hit the amazon!

PICS OF THE CORDILLERA BLANCA (here are a few….but francois took some awesome ones, which he’ll be posting on his site in the next couple weeks: www.brahic.com)

note: odometer is broken. location is in huaraz
this morning i fixed the car some more at the mechanics. the cost? $15 for labor. $25 for oil and cleanser (kinda bad oil…but selection is poor and expensive up here), $15 for a new cv joint, and a few dollars for miscellaneous. the shop, rio negro, seems to be more like a coop of a mechanic, paint shop, blacksith, etc. the mechanic is very nice and capable.

then, the three of us drove up a hill near huaraz. the transmission is slipping a bit…hard to engage, but once engaged, doesn’t slip out. unfortunately, there’s no good fix for that (aside from a new transmission). also, i stil need to fix the short that’s causing the odometer to not work. driving up the dirt road, the sentra slipped into a side ditch. it took us about 1 hr to get the car out. we used a jack and rocks/dirt to build up the area under the tire….it finally worked. the view was really nice up there — with sights of snow capped mountains and huaraz below.

tomorrow the three of us take off for a 3 or 4 day hike from huaraz to chavin. the car is at rio negro…and hopefully everything will be there when we return!

from casma, i decided to take a shortcut up to huaraz…..a dirt road instead of a nice paved one would save me 2hrs. in retrospect, that was pprobably a bad idea. why? well, i very nearly totaled my car. how? well….first i started smelling gas fumes (leak in the gas line?), then my brakes didn’t work too well (leak in the brake line?), then my speedometer/odometer stopped working (broken electrical cable?), then i think my clutch felt a bit different (worn out transmission?) and finally my wheels made clicking sounds when i turned. all this, on a dirt road with no guard rail on the side of a steep mountain. surprisingly, though, my exhaust pipe is still in one piece!

i finally made it to huaraz and stopped by a mechanic. that was a good idea. for $10, he replaced my fuel filter and said that’s probably where the fuel smell came from (the filter is old and dirty). the brakes are working fine now, and the fluid level is fine…..so not sure what happened there….maybe just air in the sstem? (being at 3k meters,the air expands too) the wheel clicking is because the cv joints are finally starting to fail (i’ve had broken boots for a while….so they’re running dry) — but tomorrow he can replace the boots for $15 (in the us, it’d cost $200). the speedometer is actually a short in the system (the fuse is blown)…so we gotta find that short….to get the odometer working again! the transmission seems fine….but who knows. and they also found two other things: 1) the oil they used in tegucigalpa, honduras is way too thick….which is why my car is slow to start-up in the morning (they used 20w50) and 2) an unplugged hose on the air line is why my check engine light has been going on/off for the last 4 years.

sorry i haven’t updated the sentradiaries for a while. hopefully i can add more text and photos tomorrow. here are some highlights over the last few days:

1) in loja, i got my tire fixed. how? well…for $14 ($6 labor, $8 parts), they patched the sidewall with rubber from an old tire….then stuck an inner tube inside. knda sketchy, but surprisingly common here. one guy there also offered me 4k for the sentra….probably should have taken it.

2) the ecuador/peru border in macara is the best so far. really calm, really easy, and really cheap (the first completely free border crossing).

3) today, i made the 15hr drive from chiclayo to huaraz in 10hrs. unfortunately, i also did some damage to the sentra. halfway through the dirt road, i smelled fuel….then my brakes didnt work too well (it’s kinda scary pumping your breaks on a dirt road on the side of a cliff)….then my speedometer/odometer stopped working…..then my wheels (cv joint) started making noise. overall…not a great day for driving. but, i went to a mechanic….and hopefully will get everything fixed (plus get my oil changed) for $50 or so.

4) hanging out in huaraz with francois and tessa.