Describe Cajamarca

A guide to 72 hours in Cajamarca, Peru

Cajamarca is a large city nestled in the hills on your way to chachapoyas or Trujillo. Once a major city for the Inca, it's now mostly a gold mining town, and the second largest producer of milk in Peru.

History is everywhere in and around the city, as is trash and petty crime. While the more affluent Locals or visitors are welcoming to foreigners or indifferent at best, there runs a large undercurrent of animosity towards “Gringos”. Not as welcoming as many of its nearby cities, you immediately feel like an unwelcome outsider, and stay that way your entire visit.

The plaza de armas is lively though, and the daily market, is likely to whet your appetite for local cuisine while also likely to relieve you of your cell phone. Excellent fresh grown produce, herbs and spices are hawked by the indigenous in their 10 gallon hats, as are their stares, glares, and

They drop off and pick up right outside the gate, and run continually. I'd recommend early morning or at dusk, as the steam rising from the superheated water that percolates up into the holding areas is very picturesque.

“Please limit your selfies with the rocks”

The Aqueduct tour starts with a lookout over the city along with a brief history. The guide will also, quite hilariously but also quite seriously, ask you to limit the amount of photos and selfies you take so that the tour can move along.

This is the only tour we can recommend as there is no public transportation that ends up at the pueblo. You can hire a local taxi if you wish, but you'll need to pay for the time he will spend waiting for you.

The tour starts off with a shimmy through the large rock structure at the base of the stairway, once through the other side, there is a small tienda that sells drinks and