Reisverslag Perú - Travelreport Perú
Outings in the Sierra - Huancabamba
Here you find the pictures and stories of my visits to Huancabamba on 17 and 18 May. Again, click on thumbnail picture to enlarge and go back to this screen with the upper left backward key Ü
Huancabamba, 17-18 May 2003
Huancabamba is situated 210 km east of Piura, in the middle of the Sierra piurana. It is an 8 hr direct bus drive, of which the last 100 km are not paved. Around you see the ´chacra´s´, the agricultural fields with crops of bananas, sugarcane, mango, mandarines, maiz, potatoes and lots of fruit. In the second part one crosses a 3000m pass before descending to the valley of Huancabamba. Here are some views along the road.
Above the clouds... how mysterious. it´s like flying.
and finally Huancabamba and the valley of the equally named river
Huancabamba is the administrative and economical center of the Huancabamba province, with only 10,000 inhabitants. It is about 2000m above sea level, with a pleasant climate. However, during the raining period from january to april, the roads to the surrounding villages change into mudpools, because almost none are paved. Even now in May it is sometimes dangerous driving upland, with narrow curving roads crossing streams of water. A 4x4 car is needed. So you could easily say that this is one of the most isolated regions in Peru, rarely visited by tourists, despite of the nice atmosfere in the town itself and the beautiful surroundings.
Plaza de Armas with Cathedral, view on the surrounding mountains
A moment of peace,
enjoying
The El Catin waterfall in Sondor, near Huancabamba
bread with a typical
and
and the landscape around. Real dutch cows it seems
delicious Sapalache
cheese.
That´s of course where this nice cheese comes from...
Las Huaringas and Sapalache
On Sunday we visited Las Huaringas heading for the laguna de Chimbe. A 2,5 hr ride on mulla, an animal that is a mix between a donkey and a horse. I never saw roads so steep and muddy as today. It rained sometimes, but we carried on, allthough my behind has known better days. The reward was a misty view on the lake...but it was a grand experience altogether.
The night before my friend Carlos and I went to a curandero in the village of Salalá, loosely translated as a natural healer. I was curious how such a ceremony would be, without feeling the need nor the belief to undergo it myself. Allthough I tried hard to see a clear line and meaning in the whole session, to me it remained a strange mix between different kinds of items, rituals and religions. However, the tradition goes back for centuries, so perhaps there is some real power in it. Who can tell?
There are dozens of curanderos in the villages around, each one does its own way. The ´victim´who chooses to be treated in a ceremony will have the intention to ask for favours like curing a disease, a better economic position or marriage, success in career or love etc. Even Fujimori used to go there to ask for advice and I was told that the former Dutch ambassador once came to get cured from his artritis. A ceremony (´mesada´) generally consists of a 6 hr series of prayers, conversation and ritual, building up the healing process. It all ends with the final stage, the florecimiento, or new birth, in which the maestro blows mouthsful of eau de cologne and mixes of special herbs in your face and body. That should move the evil spirits away. As day breaks, one is having breakfast and supposed to move up to one of the salutory mountain lakes, like the one we visited, to make a sacrifice (throw coins or eau de cologne into the water) or to take a freezing cold bath.
And even arriving at the lakeside there were a bunch of people with a maestro. So you can say it is quite popular. It is not a tourist thing, local people who can afford it (on session costs over 50 euros a person) do it once or twice or more a year. So as a ´once-in-a-lifetime shot´, we had this picture taken.
And how muddy the footpaths were that day on our walk from Salalá to Sapalache. 4 hrs mud mud mud. Crawling, struggling to get there in time before dark. And finding out that in Sapalache (where we stayed with Carlos friends) there was a temporary lack of clean water. So, no shower... adventure is guaranteed if you try to discover this part of Peru.
