Roam: Roughing it in rural Peru: our taste of life in Acolla

Yanamarca River

I wanted to write some more details about what we experienced while visiting the Yanamarca Valley and doing the GeoTour, so there is some redundancy with Nik's previous post. For us, this was a highlight of our trip, so we have lots to write about!

We took a 7-hour bus ride from Lima, up through the Andes Mountains to Jauja, which was the Spanish capital for one year (1534) during the conquest of the Incas, prior to Lima becoming the capital. The buses to Jauja and the larger town of Huancayo beyond are double-decker and quite nice. The upper level are the cheap seats (about $7 one-way), bit still pretty comfortable. The lower level seats are more expensive ($11), a big bargain for the larger, cushy seats with leg rests. There were only 3 seats left for the lower level, so the boys and I got to ride in comfort. Nik and Madeleine agreed to ride upstairs, where the views were better anyway. Leaving Lima, I was struck by how dry the hills around the city are, lots of rocky barren slopes. It is summer here, but we were traveling up to the Andes where the rainy season is in full force. On these rocky hills there are lots of ramshackle looking houses packed in together. No roads between the houses, so the residents must be used to hiking up and down. We saw lots of houses where the lower level was complete and being lived in, yet there was rebar protruding up from the tops of the walls, ready for the next level to be added on. Even houses with two or three floors have this; always potential for growth!

Yerbatero bus station in Lima, with crowded dry hills beyond.

Upstairs cheap seats; not too shabby!

More houses packed in on the hills around Lima.

Small town view outside Lima

The road between Lima and Jauja goes over a 15,600 ft pass, so it was no wonder that we experienced sudden headaches during the ride. At that point it was rainy and the windows were fogged up to we did not realize how high we were. We were a little concerned about the safety of the bus ride, as we had heard that the roads are insane, with many curves and steep drop offs. On the trip to Jauja, there was one car that had crashed off the road into a river. The people on the bus seemed surprised and concerned to see it, so I think that kind of thing is rare these days on this road. The road was nicely paved, and seemed pretty safe to me. I was also concerned about some of us getting motion sickness on the curvy roads, but we were all fine during the ride.

The long and windy road

Impressive Andes

The weather turned rainy as we got higher, and we even saw some snow.

I talked with the woman sitting in front of us, traveling with her two young kids. They live in Lima and were traveling to Huancayo to visit her parents for the New Years holiday. She told me that the people in Peru are very friendly, with the exception of some people in Lima who are “cerrado,” closed. (How right she was about how friendly people in the countryside are, as we would find out!) I asked her if they had been to Cusco/ Machu Picchu and she said no, that it is too expensive for most Peruvians to go there. That is really too bad, and reminds me of Costa Rica, where most Ticos cannot go to the national parks or even to the beach very often because they can’t afford it. Of course it does not seem right that it is mainly tourists who can enjoy the wonders of these countries.

Arrived in Jauja!

Once we got off the bus in Jauja, it was clear that we were not in Lima anymore! It looked very simple and rural, and we were certainly stood out as gringos fresh off the bus. We attracted some stares, but we are accustomed to being outsiders, so this did not bother us. What did bother me was the altitude; I was feeling pretty rotten, with a bad headache. We visited a public bathroom that had stalls of squat toilets. This did not faze me much as I had seen and used these in West Africa. It was a first for Madeleine, but she was pretty unfazed too. It was a little startling that we had to pay to use them (1 nuevo sol for the 2 of us, about 30 cents), as they were pretty unpleasant, but still, part of the experience! I have to mention how happy and excited Madeleine was at this point. She did not enjoy the bus ride that much, but seemed to be very pleased to arrive in this very foreign land. She did not have any headache, and I had to chuckle with joy at how she was thriving on this experience while I was suffering, though still happy to be there. Sully was feeling queasy now that we were off the bus and thought he might need to upchuck, so I hustled him to a grassy area. After some Zofran and a short rest, he was ok.

Starting to rough it with a public squat toilet in Jauja.

Once we were all feeling stable, we found a taxi to take us to the smaller town of Acolla, a 20 min drive. The drive was lovely; the terrain and simple houses were so picturesque and made me think of Scotland or Iceland. Everything is very green, thanks to the rain this time of year. With Nik’s help, the taxi driver found the Recreo Huerto, a restaurant and “hospedaje” or B&B/ guesthouse. The owners were expecting us, as our guide had arranged with them ahead. The restaurant was a patio area enclosed by their living space. It was very funky and cute, with lots of plants and Christmas decorations. I think they normally put visitors in a room off the patio, but since there were five of us, they put us in their adjacent event space/ dance hall, into which they placed five beds. Around the periphery of the room were benches for the events, and at one end was a bar with some funky bar stools. The room was decorated with ribbons, and there were several disco ball-type revolving lights installed. The adjacent house/ restaurant played music during all waking hours it seemed. I liked the music; they have very good taste. It must be Peruvian because I didn’t recognize any of the songs.

Happy to have arrived; my smile belies my splitting headache.

Recreo Huerto

Our hostess with her sweet granddaughter

Our event space/ dance hall home for for 4 nights

Dance hall, turned into our bedroom

Dance hall bar

Our front yard

Nosy neighbor

We had bees for neighbors too

Guys, I don't think those geraniums are for you...

Owl pet inside the Recreo Huerto restaurant

Our time in Acolla and touring around with our guide, Abel/ Chasqui, was an incredible experience. We were all so happy to be able to see this real rural Peru, which is a completely different scene than Lima, especially the cushy Miraflores district of Lima where we stayed. The trade off for having this experience was that we suffered a bit with the accommodations. We tried to look at this as experiencing how real rural Peruvians live, but still, we missed some of the comforts we are used to. We spent four nights not sleeping very well on uncomfortable beds with no pillows. The beds did have lots of mostly wool blankets, like five per bed, which was a good thing, since the room was not heated and the temperatures at night got down to the 40s. There was an enclosed yard in front of the dance hall, and in the corner of the yard was a mostly enclosed pit toilet with a seat but no TP (BYOTP!). Chickens and three sheep were roaming the yard, cute and pleasant companions. Inside the house/ restaurant next door was a bathroom that is shared with the family that lives there and runs the restaurant. That bathroom had a toilet (no seat and again no TP) and a shower with the “suicide” shower head instant water heater like we were used to in Costa Rica. Outside the bathroom was a wash sink, used as bathroom sink, clothes washing area, some dish washing, and I suspect fish cleaning area too. All purpose! Nik enquired about borrowing a towel to take a shower one evening, but our hostess said that it was too cold to take a shower that night, that he would get sick, and he needed to wait until the morning. In the end none of us showered for five days. It was pretty much like camping, without having to set up a tent. We brushed our teeth at night out in the yard of the dance hall, and joined the chicken and sheep for late night pees in the yard too. Since it was so cold in the dance hall, we squeezed into two or three beds each night to stay warm.

Space heater stands in as a fireplace, though we could only use it for a half hour at a time

Our hosts prepared all of our meals, and they fed us very well. After we told them that we were not vegetarians, they proceeded to feed us just about every form of animal available to them, except guinea pig, for which we were a little disappointed. Dinners included grilled chicken, roasted rabbit, grilled pork, accompanied by rice, lentils, potatoes and/or yucca. Also “mata de coca” tea, meant to help our high altitude symptoms. Both Nik and I noticed that our headaches pretty well disappeared after drinking the tea the night we arrived. The kids tried it too and liked it pretty well as it was very sweetened, though Henry did not care for the taste.

Breakfast was hearty: fried eggs one day, steak another, also fried fish one day, caught in the nearby Yanamarca River and delicious, reddish like salmon. Also rice, fried gold potatoes, plus rolls with salty white cheese. Black coffee all around; Madeleine and Sully have developed an appreciation for coffee after out time in Costa Rica, though we usually don’t let Sully drink much. We were also served “quaker”, which we think was a very sweet oatmeal drink with apples from their tree. One morning we had excellent hot chocolate with cinnamon.

At our hosts' dinner table.

Popular appetizer: roasted giant corn.

Our first day of geocaching took us around the valley to several little towns. Some of my favorite spots were a eucalyptus tree-lined road and a living fence of eucalypts surrounding a field.

Cow peeking

Cool yucca relative

Eucalyptus road, searching for cache.

Our hike on the second day of our tour starting from the town of Sacas was a wonderful highlight for me. The views of the valley and surrounding mountains were gorgeous. We followed a flock of sheep and cows with their keepers who were heading out to the mountains as well for grazing. This whole valley is very farming oriented, and everywhere we looked there were garden plots of potato, quinoa, garlic, onions, corn, among others. There are animals everywhere as well: cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, mules, and lots of dogs. Each farm animal was usually on a rope attached to a stake in the ground. The owner of the animal can move it easily that way to new grazing areas. We saw a lot of people leading or herding their animals around, down the street, across bridges, etc. Often there are animals grazing next to houses. I love seeing all of the farm animals around, especially the sheep, pigs and mules, that we rarely saw in Costa Rica.

Sheep herding in Sacas

Outskirts of Sacas

A good hike for cows too.

On the way up to work in the fields

Pretty much all of the farmers that we passed seemed happy to see us, eager to say hello and chat a bit. We met one woman with the most beautiful, delicate features and a high, musical voice. She was very sweet and agreed to a selfie with me, which does not do her justice. It felt like we could have been friends if we had more time to chat.

My selfie friend

Sully's face says it all: this was a difficult hike above 11,000 ft.

Nik looking for Hobbits

Rainy walk down through many fields of crops

I am a sucker for cute pups and mules:

Ready to help herd sheep.

Town puppy, just too cute!

I regret that I don't have a photo of one of the many pigs we saw. Our driver, Humberto, liked to say. "Mr. Porky!" when we'd pass a pig in the road. Other than "cache!", that's about all the English he spoke.

Mototaxis are a very common sight, both in Lima and in rural Peru. We saw some very cute cartoon theme mototaxis:

On New Year's Eve we went to bed before the festivities began out in the street, including fireworks and the burning of a dummy wearing old clothes (to say goodbye to the old year). That's not to say that we slept through all of the noise! New Year's Day we met some of our hosts' extended family who were visiting for the holiday.

After four nights at the Recreo Huerto, we were ready to return to Lima, but a little sad to leave this amazing area.