One of the beauties of riding through the Callejón de Conchucos valley on the eastern side of the Andes in the rainy season, is that there are no tourists.
Our kind hosts at the Huantar monastery: Jener and Zaida and friend.
In any case, the guide book I consulted suggested that the tracks between Pomabamba and Chavin de Huantar are ‘virtually inaccessible’ and ‘off the beaten track even for the most hardened backpackers’ at this time of year, because of the mud. All this squelched through my mind as I put my left foot in the stirrup and swung my right leg over Pachi’s broad back, in the courtyard of the monastery in Huantar. I made myself comfortable in a magnificent Mexican leather saddle, with a pommel in the middle to facilitate lassoing passing cattle, and we rode out through the streets of this small, poor, pretty town, past the ancient eucalyptus tree which dominates the main square.
And on, up the Carhuascancha valley towards one of the last glaciers of the Andes. The Carhuascancha or Tumarinaraju mountain is 5,668 metres high, and the valley of the same name 59 km long. To the north is the San Juan mountain at 5,843 m and to the south, Huantsán mountain at 6,395 m. They nod unseen to each other, most of the time, in a broad, drifting head-band of cloud. This is the central part of the Cordillera Blanca range in the Peruvian Andes, which separates the coastal desert region from the vast Amazon rain forests to the east. The peaks are pointed as shamans’ hats, still growing by about 10mm a year - rather a lot over 20 million years, in sudden bursts. 35 are over 6,000 metres.
The Andes run 4,400 miles from Colombia to Patagonia, and are the longest unbroken terrestrial chain on the planet, a serpentine spine above the western coast of South America. Before the glaciers began to melt, you could see their white crests, from far out in the Pacific Ocean. My son Máté and his girlfriend Eleanore are riding them on muleback. For two weeks in March, my wife Andrea and I had the good fortune to share their arduous but magnificent journey.
In the valley, we stayed in shepherds’ huts called chosas - usually a circular dry stone wall, built against a rock outcrop, the roof constructed from strong queuña branches, roughly thatched with long grass. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polylepis
Smoke from our fires rises up through the thatch.
One was large enough to pitch our tent inside.
It’s cold at night, close to freezing, and firewood above 4,000 metres is scarce, and used mainly for cooking. We wore all our clothes, to keep warm at night. But there are unexpected delights. At the first camp, Máté built a pizza oven, from rocks and soil, inside the chosa.
More adventures from Peru in episode 3, coming soon!