Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Between the Pacific Ocean and the first foothills of the Andes, an immense and secretive desert hides a marvelous valley. These are arid lands, covered with cactus capable of resisting the desert’s droughts. We enter the valley by way of the Majes river that runs from north to south between the mountain ranges of Arequipa’s desert. Later we will climb to nearly 5000 m.(a.s.l.) as we head toward the Cotahuasi canyon.

Majes, the enigmatic valley.

At the 800 kilometer of the South Panamerican Highway, near Arequipa, a fork in the road signals the way toward Aplao.

The Majes River is the longest river on Peru’s coast. Its 380 kilometers flow past large rice fields, where the valley’s residents are continually harvesting the rice crops that constitute the area’s main economic income.

The peasants build their adobe and straw houses alongside the rice paddies.

Many of the cabins also serve as rice warehouses, where rice is stored in large earthen jars. According to tradition, the best grains must be guarded carefully from an improvised altar by a bald watchman with an empty stare, a residents’ euphemistic description of a human skull.

When the Spaniards arrived in the Majes river valley, it was the most fertile part of the region, thanks to the Colca river that descends from the mountains.

Witches

Most of the villages in the valley depend entirely on agriculture, such as Corire and Aplao, whose borders are overflowing with rice fields.

But it is the village of Huancarqui that holds the most attraction for us on this trip. Huancarqui is famed for the presumed existence of witches, a superstition that dates back 1,500 years. The village is the site of a flat stone known as Tacta, where witches who were caught in mid-flight were supposedly sacrificed. Today, residents still respect the ancient belief, using the same rock to sacrifice cuys ( guinea pigs ) and roosters.

From Corire, we climb a desert hill that provides a view of the surrounding Majes Valley. Afternoon falls and we find ourselves on the outskirts of the village of Uraca.

Dead Bull

Awaiting us is a broad volcanic terrace that is also the site of the region’s most important spiritual center, known by the name of Toro Muerto, or Dead Bull.

The site was one of the most sacred spots in the southern Andes during the years 500-1500 A.D. Nearly 600 rocks feature depictions of animals, humans and rituals, carved by ancient pilgrims that passed through the valley on their way to the ocean or the mountains. Travelers and caravans of llama herders arrived here at the entrance to the valley carrying with them products they brought from the coast or the Andean highlands. At the end of the long and hazardous journey, travelers thanked the gods with offerings to mother earth and sacrifices recorded forever in the rock carvings.

The carvings were accomplished by scratching or hitting the surface of the rocks with smaller stone blocks, and they depict stylized figures, birds, felines and anthropomorphic figures.

Following the footsteps of other ancient travelers, we continue our adventure through the white foothills of Coropuna with its ancient Inca necropolis. We leave behind the centuries-old cactus of Pacaychacra and the terraces of Chuquibamba as we ascend the interminable highland plains covered with ichu and yareta, toward the condor’s ravines.

Cotahuasi, condor’s nest

270 kilometers from Arequipa, we arrive at Cotahuasi canyon. Carved out of the earth by the Cotahuasi river, the canyon is one of the most spectacular spots in the Andes. Here, the mountains have been leveled, and a canyon excavated, by the force of the river’s flow, making it one of the deepest on the planet.

In the heart of the canyon, humans conquered the rock and constructed immense terrace systems, leveling the land and building containing walls irrigated by canals originating in the mountain peaks Coropuna and Solimana.

We lose ourselves in time and discover that in Cotahuasi, the adventure of man begins with the settlement of the first hunter-gathers some 3000 years ago.

We walk along dusty trails that were once Inca thoroughfares following the edge of the canyon. Like witnesses to a by-gone era, llama herders’ caravans still surprise us in some seemingly inaccessible places.

To travel the trails of Cotahuasi is to know first-hand a chapter of the history of humanity.

The presence of ancient humans is most visible in mile after mile of terraces and irrigation canals, a monumental work of hydraulic engineering that has been used since the year 500 A.D. to the present day.

The colonial past

Throughout the valley, villages like Cachana, Tomebamba, Haynacotas, Mungui, Puica, Pampamarca and Collata offer remnants of colonial life in their balconies and stately plazas, where life still continues at its quiet pace.

With a population of 2400, Cotahuasi (alt. 2750 meters) is the valley’s most populous and most important village. Cotahuasi residents proudly flaunt their Hispanic roots and are always ready to recount family histories over a glass of sweet wine from Chaucalla, in the shade of the tall cedars than adorn the plazas. Every village in the valley features a quiet stone plaza where groupings of cedars give life to its austere outlines.

The entry archways and the town hall date from the 16th century, and are still in use today.

A village of weavers

As we leave the countryside headed toward Pampamarca, our journey by horseback is brightened by the terraces overflowing with vegetation. After ascending for four hours toward the village of Cotahuasi, we gain a first-hand understanding of the fact that the canyon itself is the greatest challenge to communication between the villages. The ancient solution to this problem, the hanging bridge, is still the one employed today.

We enter the Mungui valley that lies alongside the Cotahuasi valley, marveling at the mountains covered in terraces. We reach the village of Pampamarca, where it is common to see women walking through the village’s narrow cobbled streets spinning the thread that the men of the village will weave later on the patios of their houses.

Weaving is a task that involves every family in Pampamarca. Children sort and clean the wool, men give form to the weavings and women prepare the spools. Pampamarca’s textile fame is due to a combination of vivid colors, pure fibers and talented artisans.

Syncretism of the highlands

In the highlands of the Cotahuasi canyon, the sacred peaks Coropuna and Solimana preside over local residents’ activities. As is well known, the snow-capped peaks of the Andes were the objects of worship to ancient Peruvians. It was there they buried their offerings and performed human sacrifices to give thanks to the gift of water that fertilized their lands
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With the arrival of the cross and the conquest, Christian beliefs mixed with traditional beliefs. This gave rise to hybrid myths, such as the one that tells of San Pedro carrying his keys, not to the gates of heaven but to the spirit of the world. This spirit is said to reside in the belly of the great peak Coropuna, the highest mountain in the southern Andes.

At the base of the snow-covered mountains that act as custodians of Cotahuasi canyon, alpacas graze near crystalline waters. They are a sort of divine gift to the herders that travel through these villages that, like the nests of the regal condor, lie perched on the crevices of what claims to be the deepest canyon on the planet.