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.

Our hosts requested photos before we headed out.

Peruvian mothers wearing their babies, attached by traditional mantas, at the bus station.

Nik towers about the Peruvian crowd.

Hasta luego, Yanamarca Valley.

In the Andes of Perú GeoTour: The adventure of a lifetime

Excited to begin

Soon after having decided to travel in South America, we became aware of the only organized GeoTour in South America:  In the Andes of Perú.  For anyone unaware, geocaching is an adventure sport that uses GPS technology in the outdoors in a modern treasure hunt (see https://www.geocaching.com/play for more information).  A GeoTour is simply a set of hidden geocaches in a certain location.  There are several GeoTours all over the world and the first one in South America is located in a remote valley, high up in the Andes of Perú (https://www.geocaching.com/play/geotours/andes-of-peru).  This was set up about a year ago by a Peace Corps Volunteer with the hope of attracting more visitors to this beautiful part of rural Perú, with an additional goal of stimulating the local economy.  We decided this was something we had to do and made it happen.  We arranged our tour through Keteka, specializing in authentic tours and activities in Latin America.  Here is the link to the geocaching tour: Keteka Geocache Tour

Madeleine takes a view of the Yanamarca Valley

Erica had arranged the tour in advance and we were told that our local guide would set up a hotel for us in addition to a driver to shuttle us around.  We had the name of the hotel, information about how to find the bus to get us to the Yanamarca Valley as well as some faith that it would all work out just fine as we boarded a bus for the 7 hour ride from Lima.

One of many burros seen in the Yanamarca Valley

Without any hitches, but with some impressive altitude-induced headaches, we arrived to our hotel in Acolla, in the Yanamarca Valley, at 11,450 feet.  The hotel was as basic as was advertised but owned by a lovely and friendly family.  Soon after, our guide Abel (also known as Chasqui) came to meet us and his enthusiasm quickly became clear.  He is a local treasure, a fierce advocate for the region, extremely knowledgeable and a marathon runner as well as an artist.  He was heavily involved in setting up the GeoTour and he significantly enriched our adventure.

Our crew, just above the valley floor

The plan was to begin the next morning, getting a sense for the region and looking for several geocaches on or near the valley floor so that we could acclimatize before heading up to higher elevations.  During the two following days, we would be hiking to progressively higher elevations.  In total we'd be spending three days and four nights.

In action at the Acolla Music Conservatory

Everyone felt pretty well at the start of our first full day so we began our quest in earnest.  Chasqui and our driver, Humberto, picked us up at 8 am.  Surprises ensued.  For me, the first surprise came at the Acolla Music Conservatory, as we learned that this area (as remote and rural as it is) is well known for its production of musicians.  As a result, there are several local orchestras and the school is home to many students enrolled in the three year program.  This is not what we expected in this part of the world, where agriculture is the main industry.  The musical education is apparently of high quality.

Chasqui and Nik explore an 800 year old well

One of the draws to the area are the innumerable ruins, many of which have geocaches nearby.  The idea is to find the geocache, explore the area and learn something in the process.  A recurring theme throughout our time was that the early indigenous peoples, the Xauxa (pronounced shau-sha) were defeated and/or killed by the Incas who were then defeated and/or killed by the Spaniards in the 1500s.  The remaining Xauxa ruins date to the 1200s, making them about 800 years old.

Acolla's cemetery

Our first day of hunting took us to many places including Acolla's cemetery, which included white crosses for children and black crosses for adults in addition to stone containers for some of its members.  The nearby town of Marco is well known for its 12 small but very different chapels, one for each of its neighborhoods.  Every year in February, there is a large traditional dance competition and each chapel sports a team.  This festival is called the Carnaval Marqueno and is registered with UNESCO as a world heritage cultural treasure.  Again, this was initially surprising to me given the small size and relatively remote location of this valley.  Of course it was geocaches that took us to many of the interesting and colorful chapels.

Chapel of Chaupi, complete with its clarinets

At every opportunity, Chasqui introduced us to many of the local folks who often appeared absolutely shocked to see us but were soon eager to talk.

Colegio students in Marco, relaxing before a school ceremony

Marco's church, with Spanish influence evident

This woman was happier than she looks here after we gave her some Tylenol for her knee pain.

We rounded out the first day with a drive to a bit higher elevation for our first glimpse of the centuries-old and extremely long Inca Trial.  The first day was a great success, with 13 geocaches found and three exhausted kids.

The Inca Trail, running across the hill

We were again blessed with sunny, though cool weather at the start of our second day.  Before entering any of the sacred ruins, we stopped at a special spring that sounds like "neaween" in Quechua.  Loosely translated as "eye", it represents a sacred spot from which water flows without a known source in the earth.  Chasqui led us in a ritual involving thanking "Pachamama" (Mother Earth), individually saying any words we'd like to share and tossing coca leaves to the water as an offering before entering the sacred ruin sites.  The idea is to unify ourselves with the earth and the sacred sites.  This was very special and will likely be a defining moment of our travels.

Erica thanks Pachamama

We drove on to Sacas, a small pueblo at about 11,800 feet (3600 meters).  After a quick bite to eat, we began to climb towards the ruins of Shutuy Marca.  As a frame of reference for us, having lived in Oregon in the United States, this was like starting a hike just a bit higher of the summit of Mount Hood (11,250 feet) and heading up from there.  As advertised, the climbing was steep and tough for those of us not yet fully used to the altitude.  But absolutely beautiful.

Climbing above Sacas

Climbing vista

Steep, rocky climbing

Chasqui was taken by Henry's hat, specially ordered for him by his grandfather Mike, also a banjo player.  Written in Spanish, it has a picture of a banjo and translates as "Will play for food.  Will stop playing for money".

At times the going was slow and there was some significant complaining from Sullivan (age 7), so we took several breaks.  At least three times we talked to folks working up in the mountains.  This young guy was 10, was traveling with his three dogs and had driven his sheep up the trail to graze.  He had been listening to his radio along the way and reluctantly practiced some English with us at Chasqui's urging.  I can't remember his name but we shared some pretzels with him.

Young sheepherder

We chatted with this woman who was working in some potato fields high up on the mountain with her family.  She was concerned that it might start to rain.  Most of the small fields in the region are owned by the folks who work them, at least to our understanding.  To me it is a pretty great experience to be able to communicate with people so culturally different from us, thanks to speaking some Spanish, as rough as it may be.  The kids were all a bit more reluctant to talk to people we met, though.

Mother and child, held together by the traditional manta

After some more effort, we all arrived to the top and enjoyed looking through the 800 year old ruins at the summit of the hill at about 13,290 feet (4050 meters).  Some were in remarkable condition given their age and method of construction using just rocks and earth.  The location of the pueblo at the top of the hill afforded us great views but offered a method of defense for the Xauxa who settled the site initially.

Madeleine enjoys the view from her perch

Vista from Shutuy Marca

Upon beginning our descent, it started to rain.  Though we didn't get too wet, the steep and slick hillside was challenging for an already-tired crew.  There were no major injuries and no stream crossing proved to be impossible.  The rain dissipated and we happily returned to the waiting car after our five hour adventure, tired.  Several more geocaches had been logged, including 3 on this particular climb.

Exciting descent

Chasqui, Madeleine and I headed out on another shorter and slightly less steep climb to the ruins of Tunanmarca, while Erica and the boys waited with Humberto in the car.  The site was stunning, having formerly been the home to 10,000-12,000 Xauxa nearly 1000 years ago.  They had set up their defenses exceedingly well but the clever Incas successfully defeated them not by attacking but instead by cutting off their lone water supply.  Several more geocaches were found but we paid our dues by being pretty wet and cold by the time we were done.  We were very happy to have tea and hearty soup for dinner before going to bed early on New Year's Eve.

Wet descent from Tunanmarca

Given the degree of fatigue from the younger members of our crew from the previous day's hike and a steady stream of fireworks through the night, the boys stayed back at the hotel with Erica who would have rather come out hiking again for our last day in the Yanamarca Valley.

Another beautiful morning

From the town of Cachi Cachi, we hiked from about 3600 meters to the summit of Aukimalka at 4100 meters (13,450 feet).  As was true the day before, the reward for a steep hike was views, ruins and more geocaches.  This trek was especially beautiful.

A moment of rest above Cachi Cachi

Despite complaining legs, we were able to ascend pretty quickly and soon reached the summit.  This particular site is known for its (again, about 800 year old) momias, which are small circular round buildings in which the dead were buried.  At this particular site, the residents apparently even would take the mummified bodies out of the structures once or twice a year and carry them to special ceremonies before returning them to their resting places.  Several of the momias still have bones and skulls in them.

Momia high above Cachi Cachi

Momia

In this vicinity there is an astounding cave called Walimalka.  Apparently almost unknown to the outside world, it contains 600 year old Incan drawings and paintings that are estimated (reportedly by C-14 dating) to be about 10,000 years old.  For us this was a special place.

La Cueva Walimalka 

Incan soldier

Incan carving--possibly a mathematical tool?

Very old llama rendition

Endless vistas

One of the last stops of the day was to the town of Pomacancha.  It turns out that Jan. 1, 2015 is the first day in the terms of all the new presidents of the local districts.  Chasqui took us into the municipal building and we met with the President of Pomacancha.  Dressed to kill, sitting in his spotless office, President Aldo Contreras Mallma eagerly took notes as Chasqui described geocaching and their hopes that it will bring more visitors to this part of the country.  International diplomats from the United States were a huge surprise for this new president on the very first day of his four-year term.

President Mallma

Chasqui suggested a photo op to start the new presidential term

Humberto navigated a switchback-filled road to the mirador high above Pomacancha, where we found two more geocaches and enjoyed a big view one last time.

On the hunt, with Pomacancha far below

In all we found 35 of the 44 caches, enough to earn the much-coveted Andes of Perú GeoTour GeoCoin, a souvenir of having completed the tour.  We were only the fifth group to have come on this GeoTour and the first foreign family with kids (that Chasqui knows of) who has come to visit Acolla.  He really made this a fantastic trip for us.  It will not be soon forgotten and is very highly recommended for anyone looking for big adventure off the beaten path.  Many thanks to Chasqui and Humberto!

GeoCoin presentation ceremony