Two Hikes

April 16

We have been kept busy here in little Vilca.  I had imagined I’d have lots of time to read or draw, but that has not been the case.  Each day we’ve been taken on hikes around the town and Dave has had meetings everyday, either one on one or with a whole group.

Today was no different.  In the morning we were off on a hike up Canta Gallo.  This is the little mountain right in the village.  Susana, the president of the Artisanal Ecotourism Association, with whom Dave is working, led the way.  The path was stone stairs and lots of switchbacks. Stone stairs are not always even so I was glad I had my hiking sticks.  Along the way there were little piles of rock on the side of the path.  These were there, traditionally, as a thanks to the gods for making it up that far.  They reminded me of inukshuks so I added a few of those.   

Susana, Dave and Andrea

The view from the top was amazing.  It was a panorama of the village, mountains, lake, waterfalls and forest.  It was a beautiful day to be sitting up there as it was overcast but warm.  Dave and Susana, with Andrea translating, discussed at length the environmental concerns of this beautiful place. 

People come from far and wide to hike the trails and view the waterfalls, lakes and the unique forest. The villagers open up their homes as rustic rural lodging and provide restaurant services to both overnight guests and day hikers, and also invite the tourists to participate in their daily lives of vegetable gardening, milking cows and making cheese.  The problem is to balance all these activities, and also protect the natural environment from too much touristic pressure.  This would be the problems of people walking where ever they choose to take the perfect selfie, leaving their garbage behind and just generally not showing respect for nature.  

Later in the day we went on a second walk.  This time we checked out the greenhouse project that the Association has going on to reforest some of the lands around Vilca.  It was amazing to see them starting some types of tree from seed! It's a challenging project to have greenhouses at this altitude with these cold temperatures for growing conditions.  I wish them success. 

From there we went to the other side of the mountain to see some very old stone buildings, perhaps some of the original buildings of the Vilca community.