Our book – Aventura 757 – warned us that we should go prepared for this rapid ascent, with a thermos of tea, plenty of water, a tank full of gas, and snacks. We asked the attendant at our hotel to fill our thermos with hot water, and we added coca leaves and a bit of sugar to it to make coca tea. For snacks, we had saltines, cheese, bananas, and grapes.
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| Barren landscape of Nazca |
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| One of many crosses we saw on the road - commemorating the death of a person in a traffic accident |
The landscape in the first 55 kilometers of the trip is nearly lifeless – with imposing dark grey mountains, dotted with a few cacti. We were going up in altitude fairly quickly, so we stopped after about 30 kilometers to drink our coca tea – which is good for altitude sickness.
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| enjoying some coca tea for the road |
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| there is some beauty in the barren landscape of Nazca |
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| Another stop for tea - notice a bit more greenery here |
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| As we drive inland, it gets a bit greener, and we see some clouds |
The landscape slowly gets a bit greener, and the mountains turn browner. On this day, there were a few clouds in the sky, whose whiteness offsets the clear blue of the altiplano skies.
At about Kilometer 75, you enter the National Reserve of Vicuñas, where we all hoped we could catch a glimpse of vicuñas. The kids were excited, because vicuñas are cute and furry, and we had never seen them in the wild. Shortly after entering the reserve, which is located on Pampa Galeras, we saw a herd of ten vicuñas. We were all thrilled to see them and took plenty of pictures.
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| Reserva Nacional de vicunas |
In Spanish, a herd of vicuñas is called a manada de vicuñas. I explained to the girls that the vicuña is part of the cameloid family in Peru – which includes llamas, alpacas, guanacos, and vicuñas. The latter two are wild animals and the former two have been domesticated. The wool of vicuñas is considered the finest in the world; some call it the gold of the Andes.
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| Una manada de vicunas |
The vicuñas are wild, but people who live in the area are allowed to carry on their tradition of the chaccu – where people catch the vicunas and cut their wool. Because the wool is so valuable, there have been problems with people who illegally kill the vicuñas for their wool. Of course you do not need to kill a vicuña to get its wool, but that is the easiest option for poachers.
We kept driving until we got to Kilometer 89, where we stopped to have lunch at a roadside restaurant that is just in front of the Reserva Nacional Pampa Galeras Barbara D’Achille Museum. The menu of the day was 6 soles and included lamb soup with roasted chicken. We ordered three plates, and I was happy to find out that it came with choclo con queso – Peruvian corn with cheese. I didn’t eat the beet salad, as I was sure some of the vegetables may have been washed with tap water, and wasn’t sure about the cleanliness of the water in this area.
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| Woman showing us the vicuna wool she work with as we enjoy lunch |
After enjoying our meal and getting our thermos filled once more, the woman who gave us our meal told us that she works with vicuña wool. The whole process seems quite regularized. After the chaccu, women in the village are given a specific quantity of vicuña wool, which they must clean until it is suitable for making apparel. She explained that the production of vicuña wool is very good for the local community, as it provides work and income for both men and women. This woman was from Arequipa, and had come there to work with the vicunas.
After lunch and conversation, we made our way to the museum, which featured stuffed versions of the fauna of Pampa Galeras. I was glad to see they also had a decently clean bathroom, which can be hard to find on the road.
We piled back into the Yaris, and forged ahead. As we drove, the mountains slowly turned greener and greener. Both the transition and the scenery itself were spectacular. We slowly made our way down the highway, and the girls fell asleep for a good portion of the remaining 50 kilometers to Puquio.
In all, taking it slow, we arrived in Puquio at about 3pm. We checked out a few hotels until we found one – Hostal Josuef – which has a parking lot. Even better, there were several bunnies, guinea pigs, and an alpaca in the parking lot. This was good news for the girls, as they love all sorts of animals. They took great joy in petting the alpaca, whose name is Camila.
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| Raymi getting a kiss from Camila |
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| Plaza of Puquio |
We were glad to arrive in the daytime, with a bit of time left to check out Puquio. Puquio, it turns out, it one of those destinations off the beaten track that is well worth a visit. It is in historic Ayacucho, and has both Incan and Spanish architecture, and lots of tradition.
We took a walk around the plaza and I got my boots shined. They were very dirty after walking in the coastal desert, and looked much better after getting polished. The plaza was quite nice with a huge church and a gazebo in the middle. We also walked around the town’s narrow streets and saw some cool architecture – including stairs and small pedestrian pathways.
We had dinner at La Estancia, a restaurant recommended in Aventura 757. On the way to dinner, we saw a procession with schoolchildren dancing and singing in the streets. La Estancia has both good food and a lovely garden, making it a great choice for dinner. The dinner menu included chicken soup, picante de carne, and chamomile tea – for just 5 soles. It was more than enough food for us. And, it was tasty.
Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel, tired and ready to rest up for the next day, for our road trip to Chalhuanca. We woke up early, loaded the car up, and walked around the corner to have breakfast. Nando had caldo de gallina (chicken soup) and the girls had egg and cheese sandwiches. I just had coffee with milk, as I was not hungry yet.
The people who served us breakfast filled up our thermos, and we put coca leaves and muna in it and made our way towards Chalhuanca. Muna is an Andean herb that is also very good for altitude sickness. The herbal teas seem to do their trick as none of us got very sick.
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