Day: October 12, 2016

Chavín to La Union – Monday, October 10, 2016

We are in another small hotel without Internet tonight so again this won’t be posted until later. 

After talking to the lady at the tourist office in Chavín this morning we decided that the best way to get to our next stop would be to go back to Huaraz and get a bus to La Union from there. La Union is on our itinerary because Duke remembers being particularly impressed by the beauty of the ruins outside of town. 

So we back tracked to Huaraz. Huaraz is a climbing center so it has a lot of foreigners. We had a 90 minute layover which we spent at a very nice restaurant where we had hamburgers, fries and beer! My first hamburger in over a month. 



The bus ride from Huaraz to La Union was another stunning ride. I’m sure you are getting really sick of my quoting our altitudes. I can’t help it I am addicted! Today the bus went over a 15,320 ft (4,670 m) pass. 

We arrived in La Union without any idea where we would stay. I sat on a street corner surrounded by our bags while Duke checked out accommodations. I had a nice conversation with the lady who owned the shop I was sitting in front of. Duke returned to lead me to the place we were staying. We have a very basic, clean room, my primary complaint is that there is no toilet seat!

Huaraz to Chavín – Sunday, October 9, 2016

This morning we caught an 8:30 bus to Chavín. The chickens in the picture were loaded into the luggage compartment of the bus. 

The road went up over a 14,500 pass and the trip took about two and a half hours. We are staying in a small hotel called Chavín Turístico. It is quite pleasant but we have no internet so this post won’t be posted until we have Internet again. 

This afternoon we toured the Chavín de Huántar ruins. The site is huge. It has underground passages, platforms and a big main square. It was all built by the Chavín, one of Peru’s first civilizations. The ruins date back to 1500 BC. At one point on the tour we went down into a big chamber that contains the Lanzón de Chavín. It is a 14 foot high verticals carving that looks like a big knife.