Discover Conchucos
February 19, 2010
Between the Cordillera Blanca and the Marañón River canyon is Conchucos Valley: an area that houses dreamlike landscapes, towns full of tradition, rich culture and ideal destinations for adventure sports.
Along this route there are several tourism ventures that are prepared to welcome you. One of them is the association Hijos de Acopalca, composed of 400 families that provide a proposal for rural community tourism which combines nature with archaeological and historical content.
Gold of the Andes
The journey begins at Chavin, located two hours from the city of Huaraz. There, you will find the archaeological monument of the same name which was declared Patrimony of Humanity.
This was an exclusive place for ceremonies and rituals to predict the future, carried out by the warrior priests of the Chavin culture.
The most notable feature of the place is its stone architecture (which used an anti-seismic technique) and its most famous elements such as the Lanzón monolítico, which was the main divinity, and the Cabezas clavas or guardians, says the official tour guide, Liz Durand.
Starting in 2010, this circuit will be lit in order to offer its visitors a mystical experience and show the other face of Chavin. Although the dates are not yet set, Gestur Áncash said that the plan is to illuminate the monument at Easter, holidays and long weekends.
Meanwhile, you can visit it Tuesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and the best thing to complete the visit will be attending the Chavin National Museum, which showcases more than 30 cabezas clavas and other original pieces from this culture.
You can spend the night in this district since it has a wide range of accommodations and delicious cuisine based on trout and pork skin.
Fun and Natural
Dozens of artisans, textile and wood carvers start their work while visiting groups are preparing to leave for the Acopalca community in the district of Huari.
After an hour on a paved road and 20 minutes on a trail, we arrive at the Hydroelectric Power Plant María Jiray. After that, you can visit the waterfall that bears the same name and has a drop of 300 meters.
The hike to the waterfall takes about 20 minutes. During the walk, you will find the famous bromeliads and other varieties of plants as well as some birds.
Paradise
The next stop is Lake Purhuay, considered Natural Heritage of Humanity and located within the limits of the Huascaran Biosphere Reserve, where a group of musicians and dancers will welcome you.
It is fascinating to travel five miles by boat at a cost of between 5 and 10 soles per person, or by kayak for a price of around 20 soles, depending on the time of rental.
Opposite the pier is a ceremonial center of the Incan times called Llama Corral, which can be toured in just 10 minutes. This place, which has not yet been recovered by the INC, has access through the lagoon and another through a trail.
For lunch, one of the best options offered by its inhabitants is fried trout. The local people have also implemented a camping area, toilets and have local guides who will accompany you on your journey.
Sleeping a few meters away from the lagoon is a natural and relaxing experience; for this, you must have special equipment for cold regions (with temperatures below 5 ° C). The next day you can visit the San Juan fish farm that produces 20 tons of trout per month, or purchase looms (made of wool and natural dyes) that the community produces.
Peru: Tourism at Colca Valley grew more than 50 percent
February 19, 2010
Tourism grew by more than 50% during February at Colca Valley, Arequipa region, compared to the same period in 2009, said Jose Luis Talavera, General Manager of the Colca Authority (Autocolca).
He said that 5,218 visitors arrived during the first 15 days of the month, compared to only 3,331 on Feb. 2008, and that this outcome is satisfactory.
“This growth is due not only to the temporal closure of Machu Picchu but also to the intense promotion started by Autocolca two years ago,” Talavera said.
Last January, Colca Valley had in increase of 20% in the number of tourists, due to the 11,320 visitors registered in Jan. 2009
Huanchaco: Find the joys of tranquilo
February 13, 2010
Huanchaco’s sunsets in the early spring months are not the Technicolor radiance of tropical postcards; they are pastel confections of slate gray and pale pink, the sun a bloody disk swallowed up by a sea that boils like mercury, reflecting the rose and bronze of the sky. I could sit on the beach and watch those sunsets forever.
Sunsets on the beach are a novelty for a desert-born girl like me. They were half the reason I wanted to stay in Huanchaco in the first place, but when we told people where our new apartment was, they looked at us like we’d been had. “That’s so far from the beach,” we were told over and over again. “But it’s only five blocks,” we replied. They just shook their heads.
Welcome to Huanchaco. It’s mellow, tranquilo. The locals use the word to describe why they live there, the foreign surfers use it to describe why they’ve stayed so much longer than they intended. For some travelers, though, it’s pejorative. Recently arrived from partying in Máncora, they shrug: Huanchaco is too tranquilo.
We, however, had fallen in love with tranquilo. We moved to Huanchaco for six weeks this November to teach photography for Fairmail. The organization is located in Trujillo, but the busy city with its traffic and casinos and pushy tour operators didn’t appeal to us. We opted to live a 30-minute bus ride away, within view of those sunsets.
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In Huanchaco, there are the back streets where locals conduct their business; there is the “tourist row” of Calle Los Pinos, stuffed with hostels, pizza joints and hamburger cafes; and there is the waterfront malecón, where the two worlds mix to form a third. The malecón is a beach-resort world, where Peruvian tourists flock on sunny summer weekends to create a carefree air. Have a pisco sour with your breakfast ceviche! Spend the day surfing, or drink beer while watching people surf!
The malecón is crowded with surf shops and two-story restaurants where you can sit on a balcony high above the visual pollution of passing cars and telephone wires (though not the noise pollution of the buses). During the day these restaurants serve ceviche fresh from the waves in front of you, and at night they set up portable grills in the street to lure you in with sizzling slabs of fish and beef.
The salt wind and sun are hard on the cities of Peru’s north coast. In Huanchaco, they strip away the finish on the sidewalks until they are pitted and choked with cement dust, and they and eat at bricks until only a latticework of mortar remains.
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Because of this, and the increase in tourism, Huanchaco is a town under construction. Buildings are being thrown up, vast constructions of brick and cement and rebar. Piles of sand, cement and rubble obstruct the sidewalks, each day moving from place to place and changing the pedestrian geography of the town. In our time there I learned to recognize a new sound: the metallic hissing of rebar being dragged through the street from the back of a mototaxi.
There is a distinct difference between the sunny weekend Huanchaco and the one that we lived in everyday. On the weekends, massive tour buses truck in Peruvian tourists by the hundreds to buy trinkets and splash in the ocean, and the tiny town bursts at the seems. The beach is full, glutted with bright bathing suits and towels and umbrellas. Children in sand-filled underwear build castles at the water’s edge to be lapped by the waves, and young couples lay close together on blankets, half-naked and oblivious of the rest of the world. Bars and restaurants we have eaten at alone for weeks suddenly don’t have a single free table.
During the weekdays, however, the foreign surfers have the waves all to themselves, and the fishermen spread their nets on the empty beach for mending. In Peru’s spring months, the sun also seemed to know that the weekend was over, and it would disappear, becoming only a wan point struggling through the cloud cover. On the weekend, the fishermen make their money taking tourists out on their caballitos de totoro, keeping to the shallows but still eliciting screams of delight as the unstable little boats rocked with the waves. But now it’s back to fishing. They’ve lost their glamour.
What the weekenders don’t see is the quiet back roads just a few blocks off the malecón where women in heels lead their children home from school, where cleaning crews in neon orange jump suits sit with their lunches, gossiping, where old fishermen tie totora reeds into where locals shop the tiny market for fresh produce and where skinned pigs hang from hooks next to restaurant counters.
The weekends can be fun, but it is the tranquilo weekdays that I loved, when the day’s work was done, and we would make the unimaginably far hike of five blocks to sit on the beach at sunset. No one is within sight on the beach, though we hear a bus rumble by, hidden by the verge of sand.
Out in the slate-bronze-rose waves, surfers and fishermen are finishing their days. The fishermen are pulling in their nets, and the surfers are bobbing out beyond the breakers, waiting. They are black silhouettes against the pastel clouds, rising one by one to the crest of the swells to catch that last, glorious ride home to shore.
Peru: The Amazon River tops the New Seven Wonders online ranking
February 13, 2010
The Amazon tops the group of 14 shortlisted candidates to the final of the contest that will choose the “New Seven Wonders,” according to the ranking posted today at the New7Wonders.com webpage.
The list includes the Angel Falls, the Iguazu Falls, the Dead Sea, Galapagos Islands and Maldivas Islands, and the Grand Canyon, among many other attractions from all around the world that have obtained the highest number of votes.
The Amazon has been having an increasing number of votes.
The competition will run until mid-2011, and online voting is open at the organizers’ webpage.
Volunteer at the ancient ruins of Chan Chan
January 29, 2010
Does toiling under the hot desert sun heaving bricks up a ladder to rebuild collapsing walls interest you? What if the walls were many hundreds and hundreds of years old and part of the world’s largest adobe city, one of the largest cities of any kind in the ancient world? A city home to the rulers of the Peruvian desert coast, the Chimú imperial heart of Chan Chan. Does a couple of days of hands-on archaeology at one of the world’s most important archaeological sites interest YOU?
After the vicious attack on the Huaca Arco Iris by a group of vandals, authorities in Trujillo are seeking the immediate restarting of a program that existed that allowed volunteers to take part in the restoration of ancient Chan Chan.
Under the supervision of experts, volunteers would aid in preserving and repairing the crumbling site – a momentous task considering the area it covers is as big as modern large towns and small cities.
The program aims to encourage locals to value their ancient heritage, but foreign volunteers are also more than welcome to take part. This could be an excellent chance to get your hands dirty, to take part in the restoration rather than just taking photos. It’s also a great way to learn first hand how the city was built, and get a sense of how much human labour was involved.
A paradise for adventurers: Sierra del Divisor Natural Reserve
January 18, 2010
One and a half million hectares of lush forest — which spread across the states of Ucayali and Loreto — shelter about 18 species of primates, over 300 varieties of birds and about 1,000 types of plants. All of this awaits and promises you an experience full of fun and adrenaline.
The natural paradise we’re talking about is the Sierra del Divisor — declared a national reserve in 2006 — which has been receiving visitors who seek to discover the mysteries of our Amazon.
The Adventure Begins
The starting point is the city of Contamana, nestled on the banks of the Ucayali River. In order to get there, one has to rent motorboats from Pucallpa which charge 30 soles per seat and navigate this tributary for about seven hours.
Along the route one can see other sliders, small boats and large cruise ships that carry hundreds of people, wood and even cars. The waters of this immense torrent might surprise you with timid dolphins.
Upon arriving to Contamana, you will need to find accommodation for the night so that the following morning you can head up to the reserve.
Although this area has very poor infrastructure for tourism, there are a couple of hostels that provide hot water, cable TV and a friendly attention which charge around 30 soles the single room per night.
At dawn you should start driving through Aguas Calientes, which is an unpaved trail, and move 22 kilometres up to the entrance of the reserve.
The action for the adventurous begins here as they have to climb out of the vehicle in order to pull it out of the mud holes that form by the rain, and use their strength to give the first impulse in order to continue the journey.
Ecotourism Paradise
At the end of a long path one finds the camping area, built in wood, with three floors and a roof made out of palm trees. This natural shelter, where tents are installed, has also a dressing room, two bathrooms and an area where the fire is lit for cooking.
The best thing is that it is situated on the banks of the thermal waters of La Union, the confluence point between hot and cold water from two streams of the upper part of the river. In this natural pool you can enjoy a relaxing bath.
In the afternoon you will have to slip into your rubber boots, grab a branch that can serve as support for the walk and travel through the vegetation, following the currents formed by the ravines and climbing the mountain. You will feel like the king of the jungle.
The sunset will indicate when to return to the area where you can enjoy a dinner with fish and other native products. Finally, the headlights are turned off and it’s time to enter the tents for the night.
Natural Wonders
The second day begins early. At four o’clock in the morning, one must leave for the Colpa de los Guacamayos located forty minutes from the camp. From a hidden observing point one is able to see the red and green of these noisy birds.
The mythical wakanki or source of enchantment is another mark which should not be missed, so keep up the pace and keep walking for about thirty minutes to get there. According to Indigenous mythology, drinking water that flows from this rock formation will provide success in life and, as its name suggests, captivate the opposite sex.
The route continues toward The Crying of Anaconda falls, where you can cool down from the intense journey, take some photos of the stunning fall and take a breath to go back through the same route.
It is indispensable to be accompanied by a guide, since it is an unexplored area and is inhabited by wild pigs, sloths, deer, tapirs and felines, as is said by the NGO Pro Nature report.
The operators recommend carrying lightweight luggage which include food, plenty of fluids, sunglasses, sunscreen and insect repellent. Furthermore, we suggest adding to the pack a good book and some music, since the ride is impressive but also very long.
Soaking up the rays in Colán
January 16, 2010
Beside a semi-desolated sandy area rises Colan. For visitors who usually direct the first glance to its beaches, this small town where there are no monstrous concrete structures becomes a summer dream.
Under the sun or the palm tree, breathing the fresh sea breeze of the air in Piura, the north invites us to that relaxing break we can not find anywhere else in Peru.
We take this opportunity to show you more of what you can see and do in Colán, besides swimming in the sea.
Salty RegionRiding a mototaxi along the path that the locals call vía Las Salineras, some white mounds catch our attention. Scattered on the plain that surrounds us, they stad out for their impeccable color that is clearly distinguishable from the sand. “It’s salt,” said Secundino Ruiz, former representative of the INC in the district and local owner of the renowned restaurant “San Felipe.” And even though they resemble small pieces of quartz, Secundino is right.
This area of southern Colán has a salty soil that allows the formation of this mineral by digging trenches of around 2.50 meters of depth. Almost at sea level, water seeps through the ground and then, due to sunlight, evaporates leaving salt behind. Walk freely among the excavations. Maybe you’re lucky and run into some local members of the Association of Salt Treatment working on the extraction of salt.
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How to get there
Colán is situated 65 kilometers west of Piura. If you don’t have a car, you can take a taxi from the Piura airport for S/.145. (One off the street will charge you S/.100 but might not be safe). Another way to get there is through a public bus (bus company Dora, in Avenida Sánchez Cerro 1387. Cost: S/.3) to Paita and there take a taxi to Colán. Once in the town, the main means of transport are mototaxis which cost between S/.4 and S/.6 depending on the distance. Hotels in Copán Sunset Bay Hotel: Playa La Esmeralda, south wing of Colán. Phone: (073) - 674 008 / (073) - 96 9624155. Nextel: 825 5485, sunsetbaycolan.com.
Playa Colán Lodge Bungalows: Reservations at Piura Tours: (073) 326 778, mobile: 969 752530, playacolanlodge.com.pe. Hotel El Sol de Colan: Av. Costanera C-27. (076) 976 924 860, Nextel: 135 7525; elsoldecolanhotel.com. Costa Bonita Bungalows: Av. La Esmeralda s/n Cercado, (073) 969 525 713, Nextel: 811 0709. Eats in Colán
San Felipe Restaurant: Av. Costanera s/n La Esmeralda, (073) 674 402, 96 895 5225. Restaurant La Macaria: Av. Costanera s/n La Esmeralda. Pizzeria El Gauchito: Av. Costanera s/n La Esmeralda.
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The Horizon Expands
“Dress decently,” reads a sign upon entering the San Lucas de Colán church. Minimum requirement that any visitor, whatever their religion, must meet to enter the first consecrated temple by Spanish missionaries in the southern Pacific coast, as indicated by a plaque placed next to one of its side doors.
The facility was built in the mid-sixteenth century over a Chimu shrine. It is made our of marine “calca” (stone composed of shells) and thatched roof. Inside, it preserves a carved wooden altar with gold leaf details and religious statues of the Virgin of Mercy, St. Luke, among others. Consider that the Church is right at the entrance of the town and is open on Thursdays (8 p.m.), Saturday (5 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.). In any case, approach the tourist office in the municipality for more information.
To continue the path we recommend climbing the same route of the Colán detour to the viewpoint. You’ll see a wooden cross that, according to Ruiz, was laid 200 years ago. However, the most impressive thing is the beautiful panoramic view that the town offers. Go during sunset, you will take some postcard-worthy pictures.
At the Hotel
If you are someone who prefers to get the most out of Colán’s beach plan, you should be aware that some lodges have services that allow you to stay active and entertained. The Sunset Bay Hotel, for example, offers short horseback rides along the coast, Kayaks and four-wheelers.
But for those who like action, the compound of Playa Colán Lodge has a beach volleyball court and handball court. Usually, the accommodations also have a play area with mini-soccer and table tennis to distract you and let you have a good time.
It is worth mentioning that in high season the Colán Club opens, although this is exclusive for members and their guests.
At the end of the day, while watching the sunset, stunned by the landscape and absorbed by the relaxation, do not be surprised if someone comes and says “you’re
Huacachina: Sand boarding, the Desert and an Oasis
January 2, 2010
I stood on the crest of a sand dune looking towards the setting sun. A hearty wind stirred up an extremely fine mist of sand which scrubbed my skin and invaded every crease of my clothing. The heat from the sand and sun evaporated every drop of perspiration as it formed. Climbing to the top of this 230 meter dune was an exercise routine in itself. The sand is very fine and for every step I took up the dune I lost a half step sliding back.
I was in Huacachina, a small oasis outside of Ica, at the invitation of a friend. He was going to do an article on a sand boarding competition that was being held this particular weekend and he had asked me to go along and do the photography. I was certainly intrigued by the offer and accepted readily. We took a bus from Lima to Ica and a short cab ride later we were cresting the top of a large sand dune and driving down into the oasis of Huacachina.
It is a restful place with a lively night life for those who wish to enjoy it. There is plenty to do during the day, though. They offer tours of the desert by dune buggy in either large or small groups, there is swimming and boating on the small lake and plenty of restaurants and bars for drinks and eats. You can also rent sand boards and try boarding the dunes. I did not get a chance to try the sport but it looked and sounded like a lot of fun from the delighted squeals coming from those trying it.
The hotels and hostels range from basic to moderately luxurious and costs range just as much also. There were lots of families there as well as the backpacking crowd. Parents with children enjoyed the lake, swimming and taking the small paddle boats out onto the water. Others just enjoyed sitting in the shade of a palm tree enjoying a picnic and each other’s company. There is a large paved esplanade that runs around the lake which has benches for sitting and watching the people enjoy the water. The delicious smells of the cooking food coming from the small restaurants makes the mouth water as the delighted squeals of the children enjoying the day becomes music to your ears. The warmth of the sun on your face brings a smile of contentment and you realize that this just might be a little bit of paradise.
The International Sandboarding Competition itself was an exciting event. For those who aren’t aware of this sport, its just like snowboarding except its done on sand dunes. The competition consisted of three events; slalom, border cross and big air.
The slalom was a timed event with the winner being the person with the fastest time. The border cross was a race between two boarders with a jump involved at about the quarter mark on the race course. Big air involved jumps and tricks like forward and back flips with a few 360s thrown in. The young men involved in this event came from all over Peru and a couple other countries; from what I understand, Peruvians are the best in the world at this sport. There were also young women in the events and they had their own competition category as well, although there were a couple of young ladies who were easily as good as some of the guys.
Photographing these events was no easy task, as I had to take a lot of variables into consideration. They involved light, background, and position on the courses, trying to capture the thrill and competitive spirit of the boarders and the heat and constantly blowing sand. It was worth it, though, to see these remarkable athletes perform in a competitive format. I look forward to returning to the event next year and if any of you reading this article think you might enjoy watching or competing in the event, contact Martin Guerra.
For those just interested in visiting the oasis, going on your own is very easy, especially if you speak a little Spanish; otherwise, there are many tour companies offering excursions to Huacachina, including Martin’s. My journey there involved a S/.45 bus ride to Ica, a S/.5 cab ride to Huacachina, S/.20 for a hostel and about S/. 50 for food while I was there.
Huacachina is just one more in a pantheon of incredible places to visit in this unbelievably diverse country. It is definitely worth taking the time to divert your travels for a couple of days. Rest, relaxation and a little fun are the order of the day in this beautiful oasis in the desert.
Máncora: Perfect Beaches in Northern Peru
November 21, 2009
Gentle waves lapping the beach, the sun warming your face as you look up, romantic walks and the clean smell of salt air are some of the pleasures that await you on the beaches of Máncora Peru. You can travel to this stunning exotic location by bus, plane, taxi or a combination of all three. I flew into Tumbes, the capital city of the district of Tumbes and took a taxi from the airport to my hotel in Máncora. This ride took about 1½ hours and cost S/. 130 from the airport. There are cheaper modes of travel like the bus or a combi but they will take a little longer to get there.
Small tiendas (stores) and bars line the streets interspersed with a large number of restaurants offering everything from fast food to typical Peruvian dishes. Markets to sell handmade crafts, t-shirts, swim wear and hats are set up in the square and along the sidewalks that line the streets. Only the main street in town is paved, the side streets are just sand and rock with most leading directly to the beach. I chose to visit during low season which is the other nine months of the year, and it turned out to be the perfect decision for me.
The beaches that run along the coast in this section of Peru are spectacular, and the water is the clear blue of the Pacific. I checked into a reasonably priced (S/.120) hotel located directly on the beach to the south of town and far enough away to avoid any noise or distractions from the crowds in town. There are places here that range from S/.10 and up per night to suit any taste or budget.
I could walk onto the deck in front of my room and look down on the beach every morning. After watching some amazing sunsets, the sounds of the waves crashing onto shore lulled me to sleep every night. It was a very relaxing setting and a perfect place and time to go and refresh the soul. Walks on the beach every day led to discoveries that delighted the eyes and at times I would be the only person there for as far as the eye could see in both directions. Luxurious palm trees swayed in the gentle breezes and the rare cloud sailed lazily across the sky giving you the “I am in Paradise” feeling.
For those so inclined there are many activities to be enjoyed here. I noted people para-surfing using the strong breezes to whisk them across the water’s surface. There were young men offering horseback rides passing by on the beach every day. You could see people kayaking, riding Sea Doos and snorkeling just off the beach.
Surfing is a big sport here but I think high season is the best time for that activity. For camera buffs, the opportunity for taking some great photos is everywhere. Old fishing boats lying in dry docks, flocks of sea birds soar overhead and dive into the ocean looking for their meals, fishermen repairing their nets, scenic seascapes and the hard working fishermen sailing their rafts back into shore after spending the morning at sea catching fish, are just a few I can mention.
Vendors walked the beaches everyday selling everything from ice cream to jewelry. None were pushy and easily took no for an answer. Smiles and friendly greetings came from everyone I passed. I enjoyed seeing the small crabs on the beach skittering about, the small birds who would join me for breakfast every morning and the interesting rock formations that occurred every so often on the beach.
Walking to the pier to see the fishing boats docked from their morning catch and riding the Tuk Tuk (moto-taxis) into town for a brief visit to the local market helped to pass time. In the evening just before the sun went down, you would see lovers walking the beach holding hands as daylight slowly faded into night. It was then that the air would get a little cool and you might require a light jacket or sweatshirt to keep the chill off.
There are small beach towns both to the south and north of Máncora and each seemed to have places to stay to fit almost any taste. These towns seemed to be a bit more relaxed and tranquil so if you wanted to stay in a place that didn’t have a bar or disco on every corner you might want to pick one of those.
The drive between Máncora and Tumbes is interesting in itself. You pass through everything from rice fields as far as the eye can see, shrimp farms on the coast, to the desert type landscapes around Máncora. There were parts of this particular area that reminded me of the Painted Desert in Arizona in the United States. There were bands of multicolored earth and rock with blue, yellow, green, orange and reds arranged like a rainbow. All this makes for a wonderful drive along this section of coast in Peru. It was quite extraordinary.
If you are already living here or coming to Peru for a nice vacation, I highly recommend that you try to visit this area. I don’t think you will regret it at all.
The Gruta de Guagapo
November 21, 2009
The Gruta de Guagapo is the beating heart of the fertile Palcamayo Valley, just 35 kilometers north of Tarma.
Said to be the deepest in South America, the cave is accessible enough to entice the adventurous traveler, though it does not give up its secrets easily.
But on a sunny weekday morning we stood at the mouth of the cave alone except for our guide and the taxi driver who had brought us there, the four of us dwarfed by the entrance.
We didn’t see another soul until we left the cave an hour later.
Although known locally for thousands of years, the cave was put on the modern map in the 1920’s by José Otero and a group of high school students from Tarma, who explored the first 100 meters of the cave and found prehistoric fossils. Guagapo’s depths were revealed in increments for the next 63 years, as technology improved and groups were able to pass through the first squeeze with scuba gear and submersible lanterns. The last group to increase their knowledge of the cave–a conjoined effort of Peru’s CESPE (Centro de Exploraciones Subterraneas del Perú) and the French Club Meandres Roven–entered the cave in 1994 to reach 2800 meters, where they found another squeeze. This has yet to be passed, so no one knows for certain how deep Guagapo really goes.
For casual visitors to the cave, there are three commitment levels. Without a guide or lights, one can easily walk in about one hundred meters on a clearly-marked path. The path follows the river, whose clear water shimmers over mossy rocks. Stalactites cling high above, lumpy, gray and delicate.
After about 100 meters, the path separates from the river. A sturdy bridge and ladder make this part easy for the casual spelunker, but to go any farther it’s advisable to hire a guide, who can provide you with expertise, lights, and ropes.
The cave splits into two chambers, with the river running below the footpath. Visitors climb above the river in a sometimes nerve-wracking series of ascents and descents, all a bit tricky for the unexperienced, but our guide gave good instructions and under his careful guidance all felt safe, even as we rappelled four meters of slippery dirt to a window in the cave floor that looked down to the rushing river below.
Only about 300 meters of the cave are accessible on dry land, but according to both our guide and our taxi driver, the most impressive scenery can only be seen by entering the river and swimming the 800 meters to the first squeeze. What we saw without putting on our bathing suits was impressive enough: intricate formations of stalactites and stalagmites, towering columns, and fantastic, naturally sculpted gardens of stone.
When we had gone as far as we could without entering the river, our guide had us turn off our lights and listen to a story. During the invasion of the Incas, he said, the Tarama people who lived in the Palcamayo Valley made a desperate decision. The Incas were approaching rapidly, so they hid all their women, children, and elderly in the depths of the cave to wait until the warriors returned.
In the darkness they waited. And waited. But the Incas were too powerful, and the warriors never returned. The legend, our guide tells us, is that the water that rushes from the cave’s mouth is the combined tears of so many mourning for their sons, husbands, and brothers, and that the mourning Taramas froze into the stalactites and stalagmites that people the cave today.
We stand in the darkness and listen. The echoing of the water sounds like voices crying.
Getting there: Collectivo taxis leave Tarma for Guagapo and San Pedro de Cajas, costing four soles a person. For 30 soles you can rent the car and the taxi will wait for you so long as you agree on a specified time to wait ahead of time. One hour should do you well, unless you want to take it slow and take photos, or have lunch at the several restaurants who offer trout grown on site.
It costs 1 sol to see the cave, and local guides are available for a tip. It is busier on the weekends, when more organized tour groups come.
If you’re interested in going deeper into the river, PeruTravels.net can put together a spelunking trip including transportation from Lima, or you can ask the guides who live near the cave. I found no local tour companies who offered deep-cave trips.