There are some fantastic holiday destinations in the north of Peru but infrastructure and transport have always been a bit tricky. Slowly, however, things are coming together with more domestic flights and huge improvements to the road network in this part of Peru. A further piece of good news came today with the announcement that LanPeru - the largest and best of the domestic airlines, will be flying daily between Lima and Cajamarca from the first of September.
The pretty colonial town of Cajamarca was the scene for one of the most dramatic moments in world history, as a rag-tag band of conquistadores led by Francisco Pizarro arranged a meeting with the Inca emperor Atahualpa, then kidnapped him, agreed to ransom him for an entire room filled with gold and silver, got the loot and then bumped him off anyway: nice guys, these conquistadores.
As well as the historic ransom room itself, the area around Cajamarca is filled with beautiful scenery and historic sights, and now it's just a quick flight from Lima!