a thousand turns

PERÚ Somewhere, I am slipped a false 5 soles coin. Mostly when I’m given bills, especially larger ones, I keep an eye out but it never occured to me that it would make economic sense to produce fake coins. If I had ever thought about it at all I had always assumed that the cost […]

PERÚ: CUSCO– SAN TOMAS — QUIÑOTA — CULIPAMPA — ARCATA — CAYLLOMA* Mountains. Sunlight, sunrise, sunset. Rain, wind, snow. Lakes and streams. Rain. Clouds. *The interesting part of this route was blazed by the inimitable Harriet and Neil Pike – masters of the remote uncharted high altitude mining road route. Visit their excellent websites Andes […]

PERÚ: CUSCO Cusco is all colonial architecture and tourist comforts –  wide squares surrounded by elegant cathedrals, flaky chocolate croissants and raisin scrolls at a French bakery, hot expresso coffee, international chains discretely veiled by colonial facades, people touting tours, massages, mass produced handicrafts. A confirmed city agarophobe I don’t venture out much beyond what […]

PERÚ: HUANTA — TAMBO — SAN FRANCISO — KIMBIRI — KITENI — QUILLABAMBA — SANTA MARIA — SANTA TERESA While negotiating tourism’s travails in Huayhaush, I had made a firm decision NOT to go Machu Picchu, or even Cusco, but somewhere on the long lonely roads between here and there that decision has gradually been […]

PERÚ: JUNIN –SAN PEDRO DE CAJAS — ACOBAMBA — PALCA — JAUJA — SAN AGUSTIN — HUANCAYO — PAMPAS — MAYOCC — HUANTA Peru is a big country and it’s a long long haul between Huaraz and Cusco. I’ve been utterly spoilt for beauty recently but somewhere in Peru’s central highlands it starts to take […]