The Amazing Andes

Cajamarca! (ka-ha-mar-kuh) The City of Enchantment…well, it’s not really advertised as such, but we did find it quite enchanting during our week long stay. As luck would have it, another festival was in full swing and we were able to enjoy several parades and dance performances. As a side note, Peru is famous for the number of festivals held each year; at last count it was over 3,000! One of the historical sites we visited within the city is called The Ransom Room. The Inca emperor was taken hostage by the Spanish conquistadors and agreed to pay an incredible ransom. The ransom was measured by filling the very large room once with gold and two times with silver up to the height of a line marked on the wall (about seven feet high). The line is still there! Historical documents record that the servants of the emperor brought in hundreds of pounds of gold and silver a day and it still took over a year to completely pay the ransom. Sadly, after the ransom was paid in full, the emperor was executed. Greed is never good. Not for those caught up in its promises of a better, happier life, nor for those forced to suffer further deprivation to pay what they do not have to those who do not need it. Hopefully, we can learn from history.

Our next stop was Huamachucho (wah-ma-choo-koh). On our way there we saw a group of men in a field driving a pair of horses in a tight circle. Upon closer inspection we realized they were threshing out their wheat harvest using horse power (2 horsepower to be exact:)! The highlight of the town was their central park which was full of impressive topiary art. Dozens of figures and designs lovingly sculpted to reflect the values of the local people. We did a day excursion to a nearby ruin that involved lots of hiking. The ruin was very large, both in the size of the ruins and distance between sites of interest. One wall in particular was unimaginable in its immensity (see photo). I also rescued a foolish opossum who had tried to get some food from a trashcan and ended up trapped on the bottom. He posed for a photo to thank me.

Our next section of driving was epic; both in distance and difficulty. To get from Huamachuco to Caraz we took the road less traveled and therefore in poorer condition. We decided upon this route mainly to maintain our altitude acclimation since we wanted to do some high altitude hiking in the near future. The biggest challenges were very tight switchbacks (sometimes more than 100 in a day) and deep gravel. We had to stop for breaks frequently since our hands and wrists would become terribly cramped from ‘feathering’ the clutch (required for low speed, technical driving). Not all was doom and gloom, the views upon the route were truly gorgeous and we had them completely to ourselves. The rural areas we were traveling through had few people, however, the ones we did meet were friendly and helpful. They were very interested in us, our trip, and our motorcycles. It turned out that one of the men we spoke with had helped build the road on which we were driving in the 1960s! (there is a picture of him with Sharon).

It took us three days of hard riding, but we finally arrived at the city of Caraz. A big bonus was the reunion with our friends Jim and Carol! We had not seen them since Colombia and it was great to catch up on the adventures we had on our different routes. Using Caraz as our base we did two high altitude hikes, the first was to Lake Paron which was absolutely beautiful and relatively flat. The second was to Lake 69 which was also beautiful but required a lot of vertical ascent (we topped off at 15,100 feet) and was quite challenging.

Our next section of driving was one of the most stunning of our entire trip. Words don’t do it justice and neither do the pictures (but they help). It wasn’t even a sunny day and it was still awe inspiring in its majesty. We also drove to our highest point thus far on the trip – 15,538 feet! The bikes performed well though they would have liked a little more oxygen (us too!).

The town of Chacas is a precious gem among colonial towns. Because of its remoteness, the town and people are much as they were centuries ago. We were happy to spend our time in this town with Jim and Carol – it made a special place all the more special for their company. One of the most important and interesting historical figures in this town was the Italian priest Don Hugo. He came to Caraz many years ago and decided the best way to help the indigenous population was provide a practical education in wood working to the poorest boys. Over forty years later you can see the effects of this mans love and vision all over the town – the incredibly restored church, carved doors, windows, and balconies, as well as, the ongoing school for young boys. Additionally, there is now a school of glass-working and mosaic art that teaches young girls this practical and high paying skill! These artists not only do small projects, they also work on enormous ones for churches in Lima and Cuzco, Peru and and even San Diego (California!) and their art can be found in all the nearby towns too! It was especially significant to us because we were able to see the long term effects of this missionary’s presence and expression of God’s love for those around him. We hope and pray that we had the same effect in Honduras in the villages where we worked and will be working again.

And in more current events…The motorcycle is fixed and we are back on the road again! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Chris & Sharon