Mazamari, Perú, sits at an elevation of 664 meters (2180 feet) pretty much in the center of Perú.The economy is supported mostly with cacao, coffee, and based on what I have seen around town - oranges. I wrote about Mazamari after my previous visits, the first post is dated February 18, 2023 and the second was posted on July 27, 2023, so I won't be writing a lot this time.

Oxapampa, Perú, sits at an elevation of 1814 meters (5951 feet) at the center of Perú. This region is called Selva Alta, or High Jungle. The economy is supported mostly by raising cattle and growing coffee. This little town has countless tour agencies and coffee shops, which serve locally grown coffee. The Huancabamba River runs through the middle of the city, which is in a small valley.

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.