Condac

By Alisha & Micah

Yesterday we took a little time to start discovering some of the areas surrounding Chota. We travelled about 2 hours (read about 30 miles) in a combi (see picture above) to the town of Tacabamba. There we met up with Ryan, the Peace Corps volunteer that just started his service in Tacabamba. Suprisingly, the climate and landscape was quite different from those of Chota. Tacabamba is a sleepy little town with about 7,000 inhabitants and sits at a lower elevation than Chota, making the climate much warmer. We were really impressed with the Plaza de Armas because of how well kept it was along will all of the blooming flowers. From Tacabamba we took another combi about 15 minutes outside of town to begin our hike to a waterfall called Condac. We had two of Ryan's friends from town come with us after they assured us that they knew the route. After an hour and a half hike, which included a 45 minute detour due to our guides not actually knowing the route, we arrived at the waterfall. Parts of the hike were extremley steep, so we were holding on to the trail for dear life. The waterfall was nice, but more impressive were the mountain views along the way. After spending some time taking pictures and enjoying the waterfall, we hiked all the way back to Tacabamba, which took about 2 hours. Upon arriving, we folded ourselves into the last combi out of town. It was a long day, but well worth the blaring cumbia music and severe lack of space in the combis and the killer hike. We plan to continue to visit more of the locally known attractions near Chota in the months to come.

Plaza de Armas - Tacabamba

Overlooking the cityHiking to the waterfall

Condac