La Merced, Perú. This was my second visit to La Merced, and for this journey, the first rain I've seen since before leaving Colombia back on March 2. I wrote a full blog about La Merced on Feb. 13, 2023. This time my visit is a stopover halfway between Lima and Oxapampa. I hate long bus rides, meaning any bus ride longer than six hours. The bus ride from Lima to Oxampampa is more than twice that.

Tarma, Perú was founded in 1875. Tarma has a population of around 44,000. The town sits at the bottom of a valley high in the Andes Mountains in central Perú. The Tarma River runs through the town. The town, while sitting on a valley floor, also sits at an elevation of 3053 meters (10,016 feet) so it is a bit on the chilly side here at night.

This is my second visit to Lima and I wrote a full blog about it on my first visit here. Therefore, I won't take the time to rewrite what's already written. This time I arrived at the North Plaza bus station and had originally planned on walking across the north of the city and staying in a hostel there, but I changed my mind as I was going along the route—it wasn't such a great place to stay. So, I turned south and walked to the city center. I found the hostel I had planned on staying at and asked for a room but they had nothing available except a bed in a dormitory with a shared bathroom. I left that place and went to another hostel two blocks away and they have private rooms and dormitories, but none of the rooms have private bathrooms. But, after already walking 10+ kilometers with my backpack (13 kilos/30 pounds) I decided to take a private room in that hostel.

Chancay, Perú was founded in 1562 under the name Villa de Arnedo. The Chancay district has a population of around 60,000.

The main activity in Chancay these days is as a tourist resort. The main attraction is El Castillo, a faux castle, recently repaired but constructed in the nineteenth century. There is a small museum in the castle displaying Chancay culture pottery and mummies. It is a theme park which has tour guides that lead groups through to see choreographed acts in a couple different sections, there are restaurants, and in the center is a stage where you can see various acts from traditional dances to magicians to soccer ball tricksters. It's a great place for families, but for a single person, alone, well, it was interesting for a little while. It has a couple of swimming pools and great views of the beach and port. There are lots of phots in the photo album.

San Bartolomé de Guachu, now known as Huacho, Perú was founded in 1571 under the Viceroy Francisco de Toledo of Spain. It started as a 'reduction' - "a grouping into settlement of indigenous people for the purpose of evangelization and assimilation" according to the Dicionario de la Lengua Espanola. The town has a population of around 92,000 and sits on the coast. The beach is just a matter of a few minutes walk from the center of the central business district.