PERÙ:CAJAMARCA:inca baths and cumbe mayo
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2008
1
41
63
Trip End
Ongoing
Cajamarca,
Peru
Friday, February 6, 2009
cajamarca is really nice.again it has a lovely main plaza, where families, couples and old men and women hang out all day and night. it´s quite large and there are a number of hotels and small restaurants that line it. there is a large fountain in the middle, and small patches of grass and pretty flowers apparently gathered into wierd shapes like llamas!
i learn later from a guide that this town had as little as 2000 people in the valley not 16 years a go. now there is over 200 000! it´s nestled again between some mountains, although not as high as huaraz, at only 2700m above sea level. they have put a limit on buying houses and land here, as everyone is flocking here due to the gold and silver mines being discovered just down the road. even though there are this many people living here, it has a quaint and friendly feel to it. we have only bumped into 3 other ´travellers´the whole 5 days we have been here, so again i feel we have perhaps come a little off the normal gringo trail.
we wander on our first day, taking in the pretty cathedral and churches around the square, and head up to the main ´tourist attraction´in town... the ransom room where the great inca king, atahualpa was held at ransom by the spanish before his death in the 1500. it really is just a bare stone room made of huge stones (inca stylee), but there is a line on the wall, which apparently was the height of his extended arm above his head, and was the level at which the spanish wanted the room filled with gold for his freedom. there is even a huge stone at which they thought he would have been executed against. interesting, but it only took a few mintues to look at. apparently the inca king didnt expect such force from the spanish, and marched his troups into the square without any weapons, and was over ruled by firearms and nasty spanish dudes!
peru being peru, we also got to see three other tourist sites on the same cheap ticket...they really dont know how to make money here! and we wander up the steep but narrow cobbled street to the belen church, which once was used as the men´s hospital, and further up to the archeology museum which was the women´s hospital. both buildings have original paintings on the walls, and must have been very cramped when used as hospitals. as you wander higher up the streets you climb the cutest little stairs which meander in a fan shape up a hill, lined with small stalls selling peruvian bags and gifts. as you get to the top you are rewarded with a lovely view across the town below. i treat myself to a new day bag, and the two of us sit and have a drink as we look down over the valley.
over the next few days we take in a few more historic sites.one day we visit the thermal inca baths. which would have been used by the king and his army whilst they passed through this valley, and probably before he marched them to their deaths against the spanish. they are only a short collectivo ride out of town, and because we visit on sunday, half the valley is visiting too. we hook up with a south african guy who looks as lost at trying to find the enterance in. we laugh out loud at the fact that this place has to be the most regimented and organised activity we have ever seen in south and central america. of course their are huge fences stopping just anyone getting in to these huge steaming baths, but you have to pay to use the different facilities, which range from saunas, a swim pool, private baths and showers and even massage rooms. we originally want a massage but are told we would have to wait an hour or two. we should have gone for one, as we have to wait to get into the sauna at a set time and the pool also! hilarious..... we hang around for our sauna slot, and then have to practically bribe the guy to let us run across the site to get in for out pool slot, half way through our time. the sauna is lovely. they even put fresh grass and herbs on the heat grates so the air smells lovely. lukey and i sweat to our hearts content. however, the pool, although warm, is filthy. after sitting in it for a few minutes, lukey tells me to look at the water, you can see hairs and dirt floting around in it!ewwwww! i guess a lot of the locals come here for the warm water as a lot of their houses just have cold water, and they use it as a place to clean themselves.... great, we are sitting in a giant bath full of dirty men and kids.... we run back to the sauna, shower and feel a lot happier! we admitt that our skin feels really soft as we leave, the temperature change of the heat in the sauna and running across the site in the cold and back into the heat has ovbviously done it good!
i also visit cumbe mayo whilst lukey has a morning in bed. i hook up with a tour guide, and originally when we drive round the square for the 5th time picking up more and more spanish people...major deja vu! i think i wont understand the guide at all.... but thankfully as we set off and he rambles away in the typical, jovial , peruvian way, he turns to me and repeats everything in english...although i did understand quite a lot of the basic stuff. it´s quite easy when they are so animated with their hands and faces to get the gist of what they are saying. but i was grateful he also spoke spanish, as this has to be one of the best trips i have been on yet!
he lets us stop high above the town on the hill, explaining it`s history, and how its developing due to the mining, and we weave higher and higher into the hills in our little collectivo. on the way he recommends various other sites to visit further up north, which is great. just before we arrive at cumbe mayo (which means little river) we stop at some natural limestone rocks that have weathered into various shapes that the locals describe as the virgin mary, and other faces and animals. it feels very ´wuthering heights´ and i am loving the fresh air up on the hill top. a little girl comes running up begging for money in return for us tourists taking her picture. a way these people earn a few pennies in this barren land, miles away from the main village. she is cute, dressed in their typical clothing of a full bright skirt, and a cheap frilly blouse, and high stacked hat on her head. one thing for sure though, like most of the children i have encountered in peru, she is filthy!!!
our guide leads us on, past more rocks to a huge one which 3000 years a go would have been THE place the people would have come to worship at. the reason being it has a natural cave that cuts through it, and even has been weathered on one side to form what distinctly looks like a skulls head. during these celebrations they carved a perfect 3m circle into this hard rock, and you can still see the petroglyphs etched to symbolise their lives at the time. high priests would have sat high above the common people, offering sacrifices to the gods above. they worshipped the rain and lightening up here, as it only rains for 3 months, the rest of the time it being extremely barren and dry. even to this day the locals have to sell live stock the rest of the months to exchange for fruit, veg and other food as it cant grow in cajamarca. i feel like lukey and i have come at a perfect time, as everything is so green in peru at this `rainy time`(although it only rains for a few hours each afternoon), and there definately are fewer tourists.
we climb through the sacred cave and wander down the valley through more rock formations heading to the aqueducts which they built 3000 years ago! we come across young women weaving , trying to sell clothing to us tourists, their children playing around them.the women look as young as 15, 16, but already have about 3 or four children each.
as we come closer to the aqueducts this is where i am blown away at how clever the people were so long a go. the cumbe mayo is the only stream in the area that never dries up. yes in the summer months it is but a trickle, but it meanders its way down to the atlantic. there is no water that flows the other way to the pacific. so back 3000 years a go, the people built and carved aqueducts across miles of land to transfer water back to where they needed it. you can still see this complex system of canals and tunnels which have been carved into solid rock. perfect in angles, narrowing and widening in places to create force to push it up the two mile hill. right angles would have propelled it faster in areas, to keep the water constantly moving, albeit very slowly. regularly you still see carvings in the rocks, some as old as 3200 years, symbolizing water, fire, earth and wind. showing this was a sacred place many, many moons a go. i seriously was blown away at how clever these people were, and how much work would have gone into making this amazing technologically advanced system. i loved this trip, and returned to lukey, who had trested himself to a shave with a cut razor, andlooked very dapper. i felt so animated telling him what i had seen, and cant wait to travel further into this valley over the next few days to see some of the ruins the guide recommended.
we have eaten really well whilst we have been here in cajamarca.we have eaten some mean sandwiches and even the odd barbie. so we are both happy.
last night was the towns anniversary, and there was huge party in the main plaza, with a stage with dancers and singers on. it was packed, and we joined in the celebrations. unfortunately lukey got his wallet stolen, and became very distressed, although there was only pounds in it it was the principal that upset him. we did manage to see the last of the fireworks to bring in their birthday, and to start the carnival which is huge in this town, lasting all the way up to easter. unfortunatley we wont see any more of it here as we have to keep moving, but we are hoping we will catch some of it in the other towns. we will have our own water balloons to get the locals with, as they are not afraid of getting us with them!
a lush town, and two happy brits.
Comments
Hey hey
Love the pics guys, looks amazing. Sounds like you are having fun, I'm glad it's going well. Nearly six months gone huh?? Lets make sure we have another cracking six months.
Love to you both XXX