From Chalhuanca to Carahuasi – Amazing scenery, horseback riding, and a drive over a mountain

We woke up very early in Pincahuacho, after having taken hot baths and gone to sleep at 8am. The girls wanted to take one last dip in the private hot tubs, so we had to wait until 5am for them to open. By 6am, it was light outside and everyone was clean and dressed, so we drove down the hill towards Chalhuanca.

The bakery in Chalhuanca was serving hot bread, so we bought a few soles worth, and ate the bread with some manjar blanco (caramel) that I had bought in Nazca. We drove out of Chalhuanca at 7:15am. Leaving Chalhuanca, the scenery was beautiful – green mountains and a gushing river below. We saw a sign that read “DV Soraya” – desvio (turn) for Soraya. As my daughter’s name is Soraya, I had to jump out and take a picture of the sign and the town just before it. We had to pass on driving to the town, though, as it was a few kilometers along a dirt road.

Desvio Soraya just outside of Chalhuanca

Our first stop was at Kilometer 388, where you can park the car by the road, walk across some rocks, and enjoy the view of a beautiful river that winds down this Andean valley. The kids had fun playing with the rocks and jumping across the river by placing rocks in the stream.

Crossing the river at Kilometer 388

Beautiful view at the river at Kilometer 388

As we kept driving, the landscape got more and more beautiful – if you could even imagine that is possible. We read in our book – Aventura 757 – that there was a turn off the road for the Pachachanca bridge – built in the sixteenth century. It was 2 kilometers off the main road along a dirt road. We decided to take the time to go and see it and drove along this badly maintained road. We drove as slowly as possible to avoid messing up the Yaris. When we finally made it, it was clear that it was worth it. The bridge itself is lovely, but the scenery around it is simply amazing – green hills, a turquoise river flowing below, and lush vegetation everywhere.

The 16th Century Pachachanca Bridge

View of the river from the Pachachanca bridge

We parked our car just next to the bridge at Fundo San Lazaro. When we finished looking at the bridge, the people there offered us the opportunity to ride horses. The kids were very excited about that. For just 5 soles each, they were able to take a ride around the sugar cane plantation that makes up the Fundo San Lazaro. There is also a longer ride down to the river, but we didn’t have time for a long ride and a dip in the river.

Ready to ride with Raymi

While they were getting the horses ready, we chatted with the owner – Sossima Arguedas de Espinosa. She told us that she moved there from Abancay when her husband passed, and that they made aguardiente de caña from the sugar cane. She gave us a little taste, and it was very nice aguardiente. I was also very impressed to learn that her great uncle was Jose Maria Arguedas – one of the most famous Peruvian writers of all time.

Soraya riding through the cane fields. At 1700 msnm, it's beautiful here

After the horseback riding adventure, we packed up again in the car and headed into Abancay. Both our book and Senora Arguedas had recommended Villa Venencia for lunch. We decided to check it out. The restaurant grounds are beautiful, with lots of plants, a few parrots, and a view of the Andes. There is also a little playground for the kids. The food was more expensive than our usual fare. We ordered three chicken soups and some fried fish – chicharron de pescado. The food was pretty good, and definitely clean and fresh. We noticed everyone else was ordering the house specialty – tallarines con chactay de cuy. That dish is probably tastier as they make their own noodles there, but I still haven’t gotten accustomed to eating guinea pig.

After lunch, we stopped in the Internet café, as I hadn’t been online in a few days and had a few things to attend to. The kids played online games while I sent emails and tried to sort out my overflowing inbox.

Our next stop was Carahuasi. To get there from Abancay, we had to go up and over a mountain. The road up the mountain is lined with lovely eucalyptus trees. The drive up was a bit daunting, and made even more so by an abundance of rocks in the road. At first we thought the rocks had fallen from the mountains. Soon afterwards, we realized that the rocks had likely been put there by strikers, as there has been a teacher's strike going on in Abancay. When we finally got to the top of the mountain, we were treated with a beautiful view of the famous snow-capped mountain - Salcantay. This was a mandatory photo stop.

Nevado Salcantay - accompanying us for much of the road trip

Here at the top of the mountain, the vegetation is completely different – with short shrubs and grass and barely any trees. I was able to give the kids a great geography lesson as we watched the vegetation change as we traveled up and down the Peruvian mountains.

The drive down was a bit easier, with much fewer rocks in the road. We made it to Carahuasi – where we planned to spend the night – around 5pm. We found a nice hotel right on the road called Capitan Rumi. The parking lot was full (apparently it only fits one car), but we decided to stay anyway, as our room was large, clean, and comfortable. I was impressed with the quality of the hotel – seeing as though it is on a highway.

Dinner in Carahuasi wasn’t much to write home about, although the kids did enjoy their anticuchos – marinated beef on sticks sold by a street vendor. Usually anticuchos are made of beef hearts, but theirs were made with meat. They’d eat the hearts anyway, but not me.

After dinner, we bought a bottle of anisado – anise liquor. You can find some of the best anise in the world in Carahuasi and the anisado there is very nice. Nando and I had a little shot of it and we all took hot showers and went to bed – tired from our adventures.