Cajamarca Things to Do

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Passing Otuzco, on the same highway is Combayo, a better conserved burial place because of its location. the Incas and Chachapoyas are thought to reach always for the altitudes to be closer to their Gods, for that reason Combayo is thought to be meant for royalty whereas Otuzco was meant for naturals.

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3 hour walk from the city of Cajamarca itself. Just head pass Santa Apolonia, keep on heading away from Cajamarca and you'll eventually see the frailones, fraile shaped huge boulders, that make up Cumbemayo. Just a little pass it are the irrigation channels which date back to Pre Inca time.
Quite an experience and a lot better if you bring your tent and camp here, at night the wind sings as it goes thru the rocks and thousands of firebugs make the are between the boulders their rest area and create a Xtmas tree for your eyes only. Incredible.
The rocks are thought to be shaped that way because right after the arrival of Spagniols in Perú, it was the clergy who was robbing the pople of their gold, so the Sun God converted them in stone for everybody to see and point at the thieves. Some things never change...

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Check with promperu (www.peru.info) for specific dates but every year in the month of feb-march carnavals take place in Cajamarca, capital of the peruvian carnival. Water, paint, flour, oil and anything you can get your hands on is fair game for a whole day as the town welcomes Ño Carnavalón (Mr. Carnival) and his wife, but celebrations dont end there (actually they dont even start there as the carnival starts with the birth of Ño sometime January) Cajamarca then wears its happiest face of the year and parties all the way to the wake and funeral of Ño to include a crying widow contest, it seems Ño had a wife in every one of Cajamarca's districts.
Not to be missed if in Northern Perú during the summer....

A simple half-day excursion you can do on your own is to take the micro from the market area of Cajamarca (around Calle Apurimac and Cal Jose Sabogal, ask the locals) to Ventanillas de Otuzco.

The Ventanillas de Otuzco are located just 8km from Cajamarca. These are a series of square or rectangular niches of 50-60cm in height, carved into the side of a cliff. Some of these niches reach a horizontal depth of 8 to 10 metres. These are actually part of an old cemetery of the Cajamarca culture.

Nice walk around the rock-face and you can appreciate the beautiful scenery around.

Cumbe Mayo is magical magical magical!! I highly highly recommend people to visit this place.

It is a pampa in the mountain region up at 3,500m above sea level where the Cajamarca culture from 3,000 years ago had built canals. These aqueducts run for 9km along the mountain tops, collecting water from the Atlantic watershed and redirecting it on its way to the Pacific Ocean. It is understood that these were constructed in around 1500 B.C, making them the oldest man-made construction in South America.

The gradient at a certain point is flat. So, the Cajamarca people built canals with right angles, instead of canals in a straight line. These right angles in the canals interestingly served two purposes. Firstly, they actually SLOW down the water to reduce erosion of the canals. Secondly, they SPEED up the water as it hits the right-angled wall thereby moving the water through the flat ground. Isn't this interesting??

But it is not just 'ruins' that are interesting. The whole area is pure magic. There are many impressive 'stone forest' which are natural volcanic rocks which have been shaped by erosion. Hence, they all look like tightly-packed... er... phallic-shaped mountains.

Many of these strange rock formations do look like something (besides t-h-a-t), if you use your imagination. One group is called 'Los Frailones' (big monks), like a group of robed friars departing from you. Another is a massive face. Then, there are rooster, monkey, etc...

There is even a rock structure standing pretty much on its own, which has a tiny tunnel through it. We took turns to squeeze through it.

Los Banos del Inca is a bathing complex taking the water from the sulphurous thermal springs.

Apparently, Atahualpa had come here *way back then* to nurse a festering wound and his bath is still there.

There are no common pools for dipping. All the baths are private and are priced slightly differently - 3 soles, 4 soles or 5 soles.

My suggestion is... do not take the cheapest one. This is because many people get this ticket but the bathers outnumber the available baths. So, you would have to wait.

There is a guy controlling the time used by each bather. When the time is up, he will go knock on the doors to get the people to come out. Then, the ones waiting will be assigned a bath. Trust me, when there is a queue but no line, it is bound to be complicated.

I got the 3 soles ticket (only for 1/2 hour) and my number was 206. There were more than 20 numbers to go, and 1/2 hour each, I might have to wait for 2 hours just to get a chance to bathe!

So, I upgraded to the 4 soles bath (just pay 1 sol more) which were located further down the facility and there were some available now.

The water was emptied each time the users leave the bath. I filled it entirely with hot water first just to kill off any germs, and then, I refilled the tub up with water of a temperature that I adjusted right to my liking. Perfect! The best place to sit and meditate good positive thoughts. Here, we were given about 1.5 hours before some guy came over to knock on the door to shoo you off. 1.5 hours was just fine.

At the end, you can go for massages, if you like.

Outside, there are open pools that are not for bathing, it seems, just decorative. The water temperature there looks quite high as there was a constant stream of steam vapours floating off. But what a sight.

Cajamarca is another town with an impressive Plaza de Armas with a striking 350-year-old fountain, topiary and gardens. The Cathedral and the San Francisco Church opoosite are both charmingly colonial.

Apparently, here is where Atahualpa was executed.

As usual, I love to sit at the plaza and observe the townfolks. Here in Cajamarca, the main style of the head-wear is a white tall hat with large brim. On market days, you will observe many villagers dressed with this hat, walking from all the surrounding countryside to buy and sell.

When you observe around you, you will notice that not far from the plaza stands a curious little hill that is right SMACK in the middle of the town.

The hill is Santa Apolonial hill. It can be accessed by road that goes round and round the hill. Or you can head there by walking from Calle Dos de Mayo. There is a steep stairway that prettily criss-crossed its way to the top of the hill.

From the summit, it is quite a captivating sight as you take in the charming town. Here, you can also visit the plaza where Atahualpa was ambushed.