Cajamarca

Having been here for about four months now, I am finding myself growing desensitized to the poverty. It’s hard to explain, but I’m going to give it a shot. Though I am still made aware daily of the absurd disparity between the standard of living for an average American and the average Peruvian, each time I leave Lima for the countryside, the material poverty out there seems less debilitating. The land is so rich, the vistas so arresting, and the kindness and immense national pride in each small community so charming, that it’s hard to see the people that live there as deprived. Though the houses are in disarray and the children frequently barefoot, there is an overwhelming sense of cultural richness that somehow blinds me to their heart-breaking poverty. Perhaps after taking a look at the pictures I took this past week while visiting Cajamarca, you will have a better sense of what I mean.

 

Cajamarca is a small city in the Northern Highlands region of Peru. It’s origin dates back over 2000 years and was home to several pre-Incan cultures including the Caxamarca, the Inkas and then Spanish. It is now known as “little Cusco” for it’s beautiful colonial architecture. I made the trip especially so that I could make a research visit to the Yanacocha gold mine in the region, but I found the surrounding landscape equally inspiring. My friend Takako joined me for the trip.  We took a tiny turbo-prop plane from Lima.  It was a little nerve racking the way the plane bumped and dove in the turbulence, but we lived.

the smallest plane I've ridden in to-date

I could see straight through to the cock-pit

For our first afternoon, we took it easy, adjusting to the 2,700m altitude of the city in preparation for out visit to the mine which is at about 4,100m.  We, very slowly, climbed the Santa Apolonia hill that rises just a few blocks south of the Plaza de Armas.  At the top of the hill is a beautiful little park that affords a terrific view of the city.

 

climbing up Santa Apalonia

view of the Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas

view of Santa Apalonia and the city from the surrounding hillside

Cumbe Mayo (Quechua for “thin river”) is a region and frequent tourist destination a few miles outside of the city.  Cumbe Mayo is known for its amazing volcanic “rock forest” and for the 5 mile long pre-Incan aqueduct that cuts through the land.  The continental divide runs through the area and around 1500 B.C., the Andean inhabitants built the channel to divert water that would have run east to the Amazon and eventually to the Atlantic Ocean, to the Pacific side and to the city of Cajamarca.   The perfectly straight canal, which turns at perfect 90° angles as it cuts neatly through the verdant hills is an architectural marvel.   It is also lined with petroglyphs, many of which are still undecipherable.

3 angled turn, a Caxamarcan symbol of the soul's path on it's ascent to heaven

section of the aqueduct

3000+ year old petroglyph

stone out-cropping in Cumbe Mayo

We were joined by a few local girls, who posed for pictures and sang us traditional songs- for tips, as we made our way through the site.  The rock formations in the stone forest were otherworldly. Subject to millions of years of wind and water erosions, the volcanic batholiths now stand like pillars, separating earth from sky.  It was a majestic sight.

our official and unofficial tour guides

We also made a visit to the Ventanillas del Otuzco, a wall of tombs that date back to 900 b.c. In the mid 14th century when the Spanish conquered Cajamarca killing the Incan Emperor Atahualpa, they raided the tombs, destroying the mummies in the process. On the tour we also made a visit to a local flower farm and dairy. Cajamarca is known for it’s dairy products. They actually make a product called mantecoso, which is butter-cheese. YUM!

Ventanillas (windows) de Otuzco

large chamber for a priest or person of high rank

Takako and Me at the dairy farm

guinea pigs

Takako and a baby cow

very typical painted political signs for the upcoming presidential election in April

a family washing their tuk-tuk in the river

A few more pictures from around town...

lots of people still wear those traditional hats

Iglesia Belén

One night we went to a peña, or traditional live music venue.  We were the only two there, along with the owner Jaime, his wife and son, and his friend Victor.  They gave us a lesson in regional history and played a few songs for us.  They were so friendly and welcoming.  If you ever find yourself in Cajamarca, I highly recommend a visit to peña Usha Usha.

from left: Victor, owner Jaime, and Jaime's son playing classical South American
songs for us at the Peña Usha Usha

Victor strumming a classical Peruvian tune from Rachel Sitkin on Vimeo.

the Cathedral at night

Here are a few shots from the Yanacocha mine, though I'm saving the best ones for myself. The mine tour was very interesting. I have been on a few now and this one focused the most on their environmental accountability and social responsibility. Yanacocha is owned by a Colorado based company and they are doing a lot to lessen their environmental impact. Also, in the ten years since the mine opened, the population of Cajamarca has tripled and the mine has done a lot to help them keep up with services, donating a percentage of their profits to educational programs as well.

Wacky Wakama

It started as a casual mention at lunch the week before with our friends Kelika and Willy. We were deep into a great brunch and were truly enjoying the fact that it was 80+ degree’s in early January in Lima (my apologies to those northern hemisphere folk who are reading this…if it is you, stop reading NOW). On this topic, the subject quickly turned to the beach. Kelika, a good friend who I have known since our days at Hopkins, mentioned a beach community just south of Lima called “Wakama” where you can rent small houses right on the beach. Rachel, Willy and I were all in agreement that, to quote a Real Genius, it was “a moral imperative” that we get there as soon as possible.  No sooner than parting ways that Sunday, did Kelika start sending out emails regarding reservations for the following weekend. We were in, the plan was set.

All I can say about Wakame is “I want to go back to there”. We arrived Friday night at around 8 or so and it was already dark but when we dropped our bags in the house, we could see and hear the ocean no more than 100 yards from our front door.

Our “house” was nothing more than a four room (+ bathroom) cabana on the beach. And when I say “on the beach”, I mean that the 2 front rooms (the living room and dining room) have a sand floor with only a roof and no walls. Given that our house (as with most of coastal Peru) was situated on a desert, electricity and water were scarce commodities. We had electricity for only about 5 hours each evening (from 8PM -1AM) which meant no refrigeration and no hot water. Water was brought in each day by truck and stored in holding tanks on the cliffs above our house and pumped in via gravity fed lines into the house. Luckily, we had a small propane stove and the house was fully stocked with glassware, flatware and a broom. The broom was essential given that within 2-3 minutes of us arriving, there was very little distinction between the rooms with and without sand floors.

Our cabana on the beach

Our neighbors

Water delivery on the hill in the background!

View #1 from our cabana

View #2 from our cabana

View #3

View #4

The weekend was great. We lounged at the beach, ate some fantastic food and watched traditional southern Peruvian dance. I have to say, after spending X number of month’s in Lima and seeing what the beaches were like in the city, I was getting discouraged. That all changed thanks to Wakame. Clean sand, clean water and tons of waves. In addition to the cabana, we also had our own little lounge area right next to the water with chairs, a table and a hammock. The only thing was that the water was ICE cold but you got used to it after a while. It actually made the single temperature shower even better.

We are definitely not in Lima anymore

Rachel taking advantage of the hammock.

Along with me and Rachel, Kelika and Willy brought their almost 2 year old boy, Umi who was super excited about EVERYTHING!!! We have plenty of photos of him because he was everywhere at the same time. I think the photos speak for themselves:



 

 

As always with my posts, there needs to be a section dedicated to food. So Wakame, despite its “bear bone” exterior, actually has a fantastic restaurant. Our first night when we arrived we ordered a couple of pizzas that were delivered right to our cabana. The second day Willy had ceviche and was super impressed so I was compelled to join him on Sunday. One of the best ceviches I have had since I have been here. The best though was the grill-out we had Saturday night. The staff at Wakame brought a simple little grill that they set up for us in front of the cabana. We then went to town with great chicken, chorizo, grilled pineapple, peppers and mushrooms. Kelika made a fantastic guacamole that was finished in under an hour.

Grillin' on the beach!

Preparing dinner - complete with the photo bomb

It was a great weekend and Rachel and I feel so fortunate that even though we are newly arrived strangers in this foreign land there are great people like Kelika and Willy that we can have good times with and who make us feel so welcomed. Cheers to you guys and we are definitely looking forward to doing this again…SOON!!!

Wakama - We will miss you!

And now some random photo's that I just like to look at: