After that, our activity was to visit a traditional high altitude farm not too far from Urubamba, but definitely a lot higher. We will be going above 14,000 feet again. Our bus crossed the Urubamba River in the town of Urubamba. The river continues on through the Sacred Valley all the way to Machu Picchu. As we ascended out of the valley, we saw a kind of graffiti carved into the mountainside. We had seen numbers carved before, which indicate a specific local school. This one read "DIMA," which Wilbur told us stands for "Divino Maestre," which means divine teacher, who is Jesus Christ.
We saw fields being farmed and terraces that climb all the way up the mountainsides. Fava beans and potatoes are the best crops for high elevations. Potatoes can grow up to about 12,500 feet. Corn does better in the valley. We saw snow capped mountains named Veronica (also called Waqay Willka, 19,300 feet) and Salkantay (about 20,500 feet). Salkantay is the tallest mountain in the Vilcabamba range of the Andes. We also admired a more nearby mountain called Pitusiray. It overlooks the town of Urubamba at 16,300 feet. A glacier on this mountain is the source of the town's water.
We also saw many eucalyptus trees, which have invaded Peru, brought here in the 1800's from California, but, of course, originally from Australia. The local people like these trees for the wood. They are not a fire danger since the oxygen at this elevation is so thin that fires are not really a threat. We passed through a decent sized little town up high called Chincherro -- it looked nice!
A few more facts that we learned on our bus ride: Peru's agriculture is mostly at higher altitudes since the low altitudes are too tropical and the soil is too thin -- but bananas can be grown there. Llamas cannot carry as much as donkeys. So when Europeans introduced donkeys, llamas became less favored by the farmers. Snow is generally over 16,000 feet, but it will occasionally snow down to 12,000 feet. This is considered a bad omen. It can also hail in the summertime, though.
We passed a beautiful natural lake called Lake Piuray. It is the source of water for the city of Cusco. The bus pulled over to the side of the road so that we could exit, admire the views, and take pictures.
Then, we reached our destination, a local farm where the residents were happy to host tourists like us and teach us about their lives. We were met by the local families, who were all wearing traditional clothing. They were playing musical instruments -- something similar to a recorder plus drums. The women greet us and take our hands to lead us through the gate and into the courtyard. We were invited to sit down and were offered a green herbal tea (minty sort of).
The presentation had many segments: (1) an explanation of their clothing, (2) a display of their herbs and food, including roasted guinea pig, (3) a farming demonstration using traditional hand tools (no oxen can climb up into the mountain "fields;" the farming must be down by hand), and (4) demonstrations of textile making.
I was very interested in the explanation of the clothing. The clothing worn is dictated by certain rules for women and men. For single women: a blanket is worn over the shoulder; the hair is braided loosely with pink ribbons and tiny flowers; a hat is worn adorned with only white flowers; and the black skirt is folded up in the front to reveal a pink "underskirt;" and a purse is carried to hold "goodies" that can be given to suitors. Married women dress similarly, but with distinct differences: The blanket is worn, but is used to carry children or food; the skirt is not folded up and the underskirt is not colorful; the hat is adorned with many colored flowers, not just white; and a "goodie" purse is not needed.
For single men: (1) A poncho is folded over the shoulder with a belt to secure it (this will keep the arms free to work; the belt can also be used as a sling (some type of courtship ritual?); (2) a hat called a chullo is worn with a fluffy tail; the tail has symbols for the twelve months of the year and has three tassels that represent three principals (Don't lie. Don't be lazy. Don't steal.) The single man wears the tail to his front to remind him of those principals. The married man's outfit is similar except that it has no belt and the tassel to his hat is worn behind him. Now that he is married, he has already learned the three principles, so he doesn't need the constant reminder.
For both genders, dark colors or black are worn below the waist. This is to symbolize the sorrows of the past. Bright colors are worn above the waist to symbolize current happiness. At the end of the presentation all of us tourists were dressed up in traditional clothing (to some extent) for photographs. As we left the farm, we said the Quechua word that we had learned "Solpayki," which means Thank You!
We reboarded the bus to take us to our lunch destination. The views in the Andes are spectacular, and we never tired of seeing them.
In the bus along the way, I saw a group of small pigs, so I asked Wilbur what the Spanish word would be. He confirmed that one would say "cerdo," but he also taught me a new word "chancho." This is what one might say unkindly to a fat person.
Lunch was at an old hacienda (Spanish ranch) that is still in the hands of the original family and is open for groups such as ours. It is called Hacienda Huayoccari and is located at the end of a long dirt road overlooking the river valley. In the early colonial days, the Spanish would have operated these haciendas with the native people supplying the labor -- living like slaves, really. In the 1960's, the Peruvian government instituted land reform, which destroyed the hacienda system. This did not go well, as the native people lacked the management skills to run their own farms. Anyway, this particular Spanish family's holdings were dramatically reduced at that time (but not eliminated), and they were gradually able to repurchase much of the land that had been taken from them. Presumably under the new system, the workers were treated and compensated better as well. One hopes. Lunch was buffet style and very good! The most memorable dish was the tuna "causa" and a dessert featuring the fruit called "chirimoya," or custard apple. Rob had a dessert of sweetened tree tomatoes. We had seen this plant before at the hotel. It is a small tree that is bearing fruit that looks like a tomato -- odd! Serendipity strikes when we met the family of Eric and Suzanne on the grounds of the hacienda as we were leaving -- so nice to see them again from our cruise!
Back at Sol y Luna, we had few hours this afternoon to ourselves for relaxing, which was nice. Dinner was again at the formal restaurant. We both started with scallops on the half shell served with a tasty green sauce of some sort. For mains, I had mushroom risotto, which Rob had lamb chops with Peruvian potatoes and spinach. Time to turn in.
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