Potatoes to Papacocha

April 13

Vilca is a little tourist town on the weekends.  The shop keepers drag their wares out onto the streets, the restaurants have menu boards and tourists arrive by the van full.  Besides enjoying the natural beauty of this area by climbing to view points or hiking the various trails, the villagers also want the people to experience the local culture.  They want people to eat the local food (trout and potatoes, for example), stay in their adobe houses and take part in their local work. 

We were invited to take part in potato harvest.  With a group of villagers, we trekked down the road to a terraced field.  When we arrived at the site, they performed a traditional ceremony of asking permission from Mother Earth for the harvest, which included chewing coca leaves, pouring out some corn and sugar cane drink, and drinking a swig of it too.  Then they demonstrated how they turned the soil to begin a new garden plot using traditional tools.  That took a lot of effort!  After, we went to another plot where they dug up the potatoes.

The men use a chaquitaclla to turn the soil.

The weather here is quite warm in the day, but with the sun straight overhead, it beats down hard.  Even though it’s not more that 20 degrees, I got a sunburn and it was time to buy a hat.  Lucky for me, the little shop here sold few hats.  I had a choice cowboy hat or a ball cap, but not the traditional one the women wear.     

Susana, the president of the Association

Now I was set for a hike.  We climbed up to a look-off above the village called San Cristobal.  It was still a challenge in the thin mountain air even though it was a series of stairs.  Our translator, Andrea, came along with us and explained some of the views.  We continued on across a farm field to the roadway towards Papacocha Lake.  The wind picked up and as I’d forgotten my windbreaker I turned back.  Dave and Andrea continued on, returning before a thunderstorm hit.

Lake Papacocha