Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Being a resident of Peru, how many times per year do you travel abroad?   1 2 3 4 or more?

Lunahuana was recently the sight of the XX Adventure sport Festival.

By Ben Jonjak

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go to Lunahuana and check out the climbing event of the XX Adventure sports festival. Like many of you, I'd read the brochures and had an idea of what I was in for, but really there is nothing quite like actually attending this kind of sporting event. The thing that I found especially wonderful about Lunahuana's sports festival was the positive, low-key atmosphere. In similar events which I've participated in (most of which were in the US), the competitors always hover under a cloud of stressful energy that, although providing a certain amount of excitement, also makes it rather hard to relax. At the XX Adventure sports festival, however, the competitive stress was replaced with a euphoric joy of sport (and willingness to party) which helped make the event a rousing success for all attending.

The XX Adventure Sports festival was held at the San Jeronimo Campgrounds at Km. 33. When we first arrived, I thought I was in the wrong place. From the outside it looks too small to provide camping for any significant number of people. I soon realized, however, that the Km. 33 entrance is merely the tip of the iceberg, the actual campgrounds can be reached by descending a long stairway to a wide, grassy area beside the river. The price is 6 Soles per person to camp, or 12 Soles per person to rent one of the available rooms. Camping looked like a lot of fun and I think I'd like to give it a try the next time I make it to Lunahuana.

The first thing I noticed upon entering the campground was the enormous artificial climbing wall. There was a time in my life when I'm sure I would have started scrambling up that thing without a second thought. Now, however, I find myself looking at the world through the lenses of a guy who's a little more aware of his own mortality. My wife, however, took one look and immediately wanted to have a go.

"Are you sure you want to try this for the first time in front of fifty strangers?" I asked.

She just shrugged in reply (she's the courageous one).

"You don't have the right shoes," I persisted.

"I'll go barefoot," she replied.

"I think that would hurt, those footholds are awfully small. I think the real climbers use special shoes with hard soles."

That finally got her to relent, right up until the first competitor scampered up the wall in her bare feet no less (sigh). But by then, my wife and I were both content to just enjoy the company of the other spectators, a few beers, and to help with shouting out words of encouragement to those who were intrepid enough to climb.

The XX Adventure sport festival at Lunahuana also boasted of a Jet Ski demonstration, a rafting race, a kayak race, and a mountain bike race. But above all, the emphasized word was festival, as in party, and competitors and spectators alike were treated to a great time! Lunahuana is definitely a place to check out, and its proximity to Lima makes it a great weekend escape. I know that I'll be going back, I only hope that the climbing wall is still assembled so that my wife can try it out.

 Results from the whole event:

 

Boating competition

Date: Saturday 28

Type: Speed

Place: Paullo - Puente Socsi. Km. 30.240

1st place

Team Expediciones Rio Canete

Guide: Jose Bello del Real

Crew: Leonardo Gonzales

Guianmarco Vellutino

Casmilo Vicente

Fernando Ortiz de Zevallos

2nd place

Team Xtreme Raf & Expedition

Guide: Rommel Renzo Candela Sanchez

Crew: Juan Jose Gozzer

Luis Escuate Sanchez

Percy Tovan Maldonado De la Cruz

Alexis Vicente Yactayo

Joseph Daniel Gutierres Ramos

3rd place

Team Raf River Peru

Guide: Juan Vicente Yactayo

Crew: Gilbert Vega Cornejo

Arturo Larenas Ayllon

Christopher Sanchez Marcelo

Victor Sanchez Zapata

Jonathan Sanchez Marcelo

Women's

Team: Konchucos Tambo Lodge

Guia: Daniela Mendez

Crew: Alejandra Mendez

Eva Wessel

Talia Celje

Thais Gatjens

Lourdes Ferreyros

Kayak Competition

Place: Paullo-Puente Socsi.

1st place: Rommel Renzo Candela

2nd place: Shabanel Loayza Carvajal

3rd place: Daniel Rondon Casos

Mountain Bike Competiton

Date: Sunday March 1st

Place: Circuito San Geronimo

Elite

1st place: Gustavo Orellana 1.05.02 Ola Tepsa

2nd place: Jhon Sanchez 1.10.09 Miguel Bike

3rd place: Juan Durand 1.13.09

Junior

1st place: Elio Pacheco 49.33 Mala Bike

2nd place" Gino Chumpitaz 54.09 Ola Tepsa

Master A

1st place: Rafael Guevara 51.37 Team Peroles

2nd place: Sergio Fang 52.16 Team Peroles

3rd place: Francisco Arias 54.37 Operador Loguistica

Master B

1st place: Pablo Vargas 1.00.08 Cletas

2nd place: Edgar Narvaez 1.00.52 At. Diesel

3rd place: Jose Ruiz 1.03.36 Sport Nacional Mala

Novels

1st place: Alejandro Pacheco 34.24 Mala Bike

2nd place: Hector Arias 36.23 Mala Bike

3rd place: Juan Gozzer 37.06 Base Camp

Women

1st place: Monica Chavez, Bici Shop

2nd place: Shirley Rojas, Reds

3rd place: Angela Domenack, Reds

Infantiles

1st place: Jose Quintana, Lurin

2nd place: Russel Torres, Ola Tepsa

3rd place: Angel Aguipe, Ola Tepsa

Rock Climbing

Place: Camping San Jeronimo. Km. 33

Technical director: Manolo Urquizo--Monodedo

Expert:

1st place: Juan Jose Gozzer

2nd place: Jose Antonio Macias.

3rd place: Jorge Luis Quispe Asin

Novice:

1st place: Ivan Camasa Cabrera

2nd place: Juan Carlos Calderon

3rd place: Luis Portocarrero

tags : Lunahuana festivals adventur sports

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