Necropolis Otuzco

after seeing the aqueduct at cumbe mayo this morning, we went to otuzco to see the pre-incan funerary niches carved into the rockface there. the cemetary was more impressive than the aqueduct: it was 337 (there are more, but they´ve been destroyed or grown over by plants) niches in a rock wall that used to have ceramic or rock covers. when people died, the cajamarca (the name of the culture as well as the town) would take out their intestines, put them in a crouched position, knees tucked under their chest, and then sit them in the holes they made in the rocks. the holes in the rock face are really just access holes to allow them to put the body in the tomb, which was below and behind the access hole.

across the river from the Ventanillas

we hiked around the site and our guide told us about the history of it and gave us time to take pics of one another in front of the wall of former graves. how romantic. we also watched a little boy sing his heart out for a few soles to another tour group that was there, and we bought some petrified sea shells and a tuna (a fruit that grows on a cactus) for 3 soles.

Got to see a dairy farm

oddly enough, this tour also included a stop at a nearby cheese factory; we toured the rooms where they fabricate cheese and butter and saw the large, wood-fired cauldron where manjar blanco (a substance very similar to caramel that makes its way into almost every dessert in places like argentina, uruguay, bolivia, and peru) is produced. everyone on the tour sampled some cheeses, but my stomach had been acting a little funny for most of the day, and i figured i´d stick with soda crackers over dairy products.

after a long day at both cumbe mayo and otuzco, we piled back onto our bus just after the sun had set over the cow field next to the cheese factory and headed back into cajamarca. we went to a little place called jaunita´s for dinner (recommended by our tour guide), where mike finally got to try the cuy (guinea pig). he seemed to like it. daniela and i stuck to more conventional stuff.

las Ventanillas de Otuzco

Our wonderful guid showed us how to make manjar

the family burial niches