Road Trip to the Andes July 2011 - Part Dos

Friday morning we had our breakfast and met up with the rest of the family at the plaza de armas. Two more of Kiko's cousins and their families joined the party, and we had primo Roberto and his girlfriend Cha Cha (such a cute nickname for Roxana!) ride with us since we had room in the van. We followed the big, black truck with primo Alex, his wife Leila, and kids on our two hour journey up the mountain to the Laguna de Paron, the largest and most beautiful glacial lake in the Cordillera Blanca ("white range", a part of the Andes mountain range). In the Cordillera Blanca, there are 33 peaks of at least 18,040 feet high! And we drove up this mountain range on a single lane dirt road, only going up, for two hours. Kiko and I popped our anti-altitude sickness pills and hoped for the best. 

First we saw fields of pink and red carnations, then other types of crops. There was a farmer with a wooden plow pulled by a pair of large, black oxen (well, I think they were oxen, what IS an ox?). There were women and young girls working in the fields, weeding and harvesting, and burros laden with the fruits of their labor. There were lots of animals - sheep, cows, pigs, and dogs...always dogs (even when we were in the middle of nowhere we would see a random dog where we least expected it). The road got more steep, and every so often we would come to a small settlement with a few houses lined up next to each other. The adobe buildings were only painted on the front side, and in order to paint over the handmade bricks, a layer of mud had to be wiped over the surface. There would be people resting near their animals, and they would wave to us as we drove by, kicking up dust from our tires. Often there would be people with big bags full of unknown goods, standing on the side of the road waiting for a ride. I became facinated with Andean fashion, especially the hats. No straw with fake flowers here! The mamachas in this region wore really tall hats made of wool, usually a shade of brown, with a distinctive design made of ribbon on one side. Either that, or a tall, plain straw hat. The people are quite short by American standards, and I wonder if wearing a tall hat has any significance besides just fashion?

Anyway, we finally made it to the top of the road, and made several interesting discoveries. First, that there were a lot of people with the same idea that we had. Second, that their vehicles were all parked on the side of the one lane road, which wasn't big enough to HAVE a side. Both Kiko and Alex did some incredible maneuvering when they backed in to their "spaces". We walked up the road next to the long row of micros, taxis and other vehicles and found ourselves at a festival with lots of people. There were women selling clothing, souvenirs, and food - corn on the cob, potatoes, fruit. And then we discovered why there was so much going on. We had happened upon a grand celebration of the lake! It was so cool to hear Andean flute and drum music, see the traditional dress, a beautiful queen, a large procession down to the lake and a ceremony where the dignitaries rowed out onto the lake and threw in an offering of fruits, vegetables and herbs. It felt like we were back in another time. 

We took a little walk on a path above the pristine, turquoise lake. The dirt path changed into a narrow, rocky path, and If we had  kept walking, the path would have led us to the base camp of Artesonraju, 13,944 feet above sea level. The elevation of the peak itself is 19,767 ft! The sun was warm but the air a little chilly as we looked across the lake at the jagged, white-capped peaks. Local boys were passing us going the other direction carrying big blocks of ice cut from the glacier. Two young girls passed us on their way back home. They had lead their cows along this rocky path to graze somewhere beyond our sight. We asked them how long of a walk they had, and they told us two hours to take the cows out and two hours to return, but since they spoke mostly quechua (the indigenous language) we don't know if we were really talking about the same thing. We sat for awhile on rocks at the side of the path, in the quiet serenity of the breathtaking view of God's creation.

Unfortunately, not everyone experienced this peace. Some members of Alex's family had altitude sickness, but they couldn't move their truck because of all the vehicles blocking any possible way out. It was actually an alarming situation to be in, and although there was an emergency crew they didn't even have any oxygen. Really! When enough cars had gone, we decided to try our luck. Rudy walked backwards in front of the van, directing Kiko who had to drive within centimeters of vehicles on one side and the cliff on the other. The side mirrors had to be retracted! Kind of dicey, but we made it thanks to Rudy's precise hand motions amd my husband's awesome driving ability! When we finally got down the hill, we stopped at a charming restaurant for a late lunch of fresh trucha (trout) pulled from the restaurant's own pools. Delicious! Then back to our bungalow for a nap before heading out again for pizza at a cute place in town. On our way back from dinner, Kiko and I followed the loud music we heard and ended up at a random outdoor dance. It was fun dancing to live salsa music under the stars in a little town in the Andes!

Saturday we had our usual breakfast and met up to caravan home. There was a little problem though...Kiko was sick. We think it was the aji salsa he put on his corn at the lake festival. Poor guy, it's no fun to have food poisoning, especially on a windy roadtrip. He had to go back to the car when we stopped for a short tour at Yungay. This was the site of a tragic landslide which occured after a major earthquake in 1970. The highest peak In Peru, Huascaran, lost part of its north side, which broke off, causing 80 million cubic feet of ice, mud and rock to bear down on the towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca, burying absolutely everything. The site of this tragedy was originally void of life except for the tops of four palm tress which were in the plaza de armas. Today, grass covers the ground, there is a garden of beautiful roses, and several monuments to memorialize what happened. We saw before and after photos, and it felt so strange to be actually walking on top of the former town we saw in the pictures.


Rudy took over driving duties, and we were making good time when another little issue came up - a blow out coming out of a downhill curve. Kiko and Rudy changed the tire, Maritere rearranged the trunk and I flagged down cars that were racing around the curve so they wouldn't hit us. Kiko felt a bit better after the manual labor. Roberto and Cha Cha followed us the rest of the way down the mountain, and we were able to get the tire fixed in Barranca, where we said goodbye to the cousins. We had a nice dinner in a little restaurant while watching the U.S. 18 year old women play international volleyball in a tournament in Peru (more randomness!), then drove the rest of the way back to Lima.


We arrived home early enough on Saturday night to pick up the dogs, and as much as we wanted to see them we made the not so difficult decision of waiting until Sunday morning. We knew they would be worked up about coming home, and we wanted a bit of peace and quiet. It's tiring to go on vacation!