The Alpaca Pack’s Adventure in Vicos

Welcome back, readers, for another edition of our Peruvian journey. After a terrific stay at the Lazy Dog Inn and a fabulous time roughing it in the mountains, we continued our trip into Vicos. Our Peruvian/Canadian group was separated into 3 groups in order to stay at the homes of our host families. We split up and each fought our own uphill battles (quite literally), eventually leading to our new homes where we stayed for roughly 3 days. During our stay, we became bread bakers, stove creators and really felt like true Peruvians. The first day was our bread baking day. We made over 2 kilos of dough and formed it into fun shapes, such as castles, turtles, stars and donkeys. After an excruciating hour of waiting for the dough to rise, it was stuck into a real old school oven. Once the bread was finished baking, the host family shared what they made with their neighbours; they truly have a strong sense of community. The Vicos community itself is spread far apart from one another due to the need of farming and agriculture space and the community is comprised of approximately 9000 people, but their sense of community still seems a lot stronger than our community bonds back home. Local stories were told at bedtime, and we chewed coca leaves during the day. The chewing of coca leaves is a very social thing; it is done whilst conversing with others. Coca provides energy and works essentially the same way caffeine does in coffee. It allows the workers to have more energy for the day and is activated by a white mineral paste called Cal. * Interesting fact: Miners were once paid in coca leaves.*

The next day comprised of stove building. The stoves are created using rocks, mud and adobe blocks. It was hard work. Some groups worked in the boiling Peruvian sun, others had to work in the biting Peruvian cold that the shadows created. The adobe blocks were a lot heavier than one would expect. Creating a stove was no easy task. We had to create the mud by carrying buckets of dirt to the mixing sites and the adding in water and straw. It took a few hours to complete the stoves, but it was an amazing feeling to complete our project and stand back to admire it. To think that we had the opportunity to build a stove that someone will use for decades to cook their food. It was fantastic.

The third day was brilliant, it absolutely was. It was Pachamanca day.  All the groups came together at one of the three sites, Julian Evaristo’s house to have a fiesta. It was great to be reunited with everyone again.  It was really lonely without all ten youths together in our previous 2 days so we were happy to be together again. A Pachamanca is when you cooked food in the ground using heated rocks. The potatoes, meat and beans were put into the rocks then covered with tarps and dirt. It was delicious. We felt particularly honoured because meat is not a regular food that was eaten and only eaten on special occasions. There was so much food, no one was able to finish their food, not even our big eater, Chance. After the Pachamanca, the dancing, music and fun began. Dancing was literally exercising, there was no end to the sore muscles; those abuelitos could have danced all night if they had the chance. There were also coca leaves readings that we all got done. We’re not sure if we’re believers or sceptics. The girls also had a mini one following them and playing Ring Around the Rosy. It really was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The tourism program that is offered in Vicos really gives an inside look at the daily lives of rural Peruvians and a deep look into their culture and practices. It also provides extra income for the families as well as the community. Seven families take turns hosting and the average amount of times the program is participated in it 1 to 3 times a year. Julian told us that he would really love to have more, but since the program is new and only started in 2001, the idea of staying at host families has yet to really expand. This program was initiated by the community with help from an NGO and brought the idea to them. It is a great form of eco-tourism as well as a great was to preserve the culture of the Peruvians.

Eventually, we had to leave, but with new experiences and knowledge in hand. It seemed that the norm was for chickens and pigs to roam around us at all times, it felt really odd when we returned to Huaraz without any farm animals surrounding us on all sides. It was also Sarita’s (Sarah Carr) birthday, and our last day with our Peruvian friends, so we had a birthday/ good bye celebration at BB Pizza. There were laughs, cake, singing and fun times. Luckily we have the internet so we can keep in contact with the others so we’ll all try to stay in touch. Even with this consoling thought though, the sadness of our new friends behind is still very much prominent. Chance had even given Javier a friendship bracelet, a manly friendship bracelet. We are all so happy to have been able to meet such great people and have learned so much from them. It was a great journey with them and we are all extremely grateful to have been given the chance to interact with such amazing people, all of whom we will miss greatly. After long goodbyes, stretched out hugs, photo shoots and at least one hour of blocking the doorway of the restaurant, we said our final good byes and parted ways. Although good byes are always sad, we’ve taken much from our experiences and our time with the Peruvians and will be looking forward to staying in contact with them.