I was ready to leave Huaraz, but.......

Originally tonight was supposed to be my last in Huaraz. After 5 weeks in and around this place, I was finally ready to move on, heading out with my friends Jim and Gladys to the village of Tantamayo and the surrounding Yarowilca ruins. However, the Peruvian governement kindly stepped in and delayed my departure, lacing the entire country under house arrest from 8am to 6pm on Sunday. Why? A national census, moron. According to the National Police, anyone seen on the street during the selected time period will be fined and any business found open will be fined and closed for a period of time. Really, I wish the US governement had enough balls to do stuff like this. Instead, their too busy checking on the library records of their citizens, even though only those under the age of 12, parents of said children and old people actually have a library card these days. As a result of the Peruvian government insisting on knowing how many people actually live within its borders, Jim, Gladys and I have delayed our trip until Monday morning. So it goes. In the meantime I will be attending Javier´s birthday party tonight and rock climbing with Dennis, Paul and Becs tomorrow. Life could be worse.

The ruins of Chavin de Huantar

After spending the better part of three days trekking from Olleros (which you should have already read about if you actually care about me), the gate leading to the ruins of Chavin de Huantar was a welcome sight. As planned, I had risen early enough in the morning that even after a 3 hour walk, I was the first visitor to actually set foot on the grounds, which was especially nice considering that by 1 or 2 in the afternoon hundreds of people, many of them fat but not necessarily American, are crawling all over the grounds like ants on an abandoned Astropop. Right.

Scholars seem to agree that the ruins at Chavin date back to at least 900BC. The complex at Chavin de Huantar represented the center of Chavin culture, which was profoundly influential throughout much of what is modern day Peru and became an important part of the Incan empire and it´s culture, which the Chavin pre-date handily. In fact, some estimates put approximately 60% of the so-called Inca roads as actually originally being of Chavin construction and then adopted by the Incas when they overtook the Chavin empire. While that estimate might be a little high or low, the point is that the Chavin built a lot of infrastructure. A pretty good timeline from the Metropolitan Museum of Art can be found here, and a good site for exploring the general layout of the complex here. Since I don´t have any pictures, I´m just going to focus on some general impressions that I had of the site, and let you explore it in more detail if you´re interested.

Ahvin de Huantar existed, as far as scholars can tell, as a massive spiritual complex and center of power for the large Chavin population that inhabited the surrounding valleys. While there is some debate as to how large this population was and where there main residence centers were located, the last day´s walk from Olleros brings one past literally hundreds of dwellings and several towns scattered along the river valley. It is not hard to imagine that thousands of people inhabited this and the neighboring valleys before the downfall of the Incan and Chavin empires. What was especially impressive to me is that many of the people that I met and saw on my trek were undoubtedly direct descendants of the Chavin, their ancestors having lived in those same valleys, used those same valleys and pasture lands for literally thousands of years. Awe inspiring.

Immediately upon arriving at the ruins I was impressed by their sheer size. Although much of the complex was buried by a rock slide in 1972, what has been dug up or remained above ground is impressive nonetheless. For instance, the main wall surrounding the grounds stands over 10m high, which is pretty damn high, especially when everything is built with gigantic blocks of stone. This outer wall was originally adorned with gigantic carved stone heads, approximately half a meter tall, depicting the transformation of a temple priest into some sort of feline form. Unfortunately, only one of these heads remains on site as it was originally installed, but one can still imagine how intimidating it would have been to approach the temple walls and see these terrifying faces staring down.
Despite how much is located above ground, the majority of Chavin de Huantar is to be found underground in a system of tunnels, labyrinths and chambers. This was the case even before the rock slide struck and buried the ruins, as the main features of the temples were said subterranean constructions. Iconography alluding to the ritual use of the San Pedro cactus by the priests at Chavin abounds. The San Pedro cactus contains a very high concentration of the potent hallucinogen mescalin and by slicing up the cactus and then boiling it for several (on the order of 12 or so) hours, a mucus like hallucinogenic brew is concocted. In fact, some of the heads that formally adorned the outer wall at Chavin featured great streams of mucus trailing from the nostrils of the cat/priest, an allusion to the use of San Pedro. Some theorize that the tunnel systems existed as a complex sort of spiritual initiation device where priests or citizens souped up on San Pedro would be placed within to wander around. In evidence of this are the complete lack of any carbon deposits from the use of torches in the tunnels. Although there is no outside light in the tunnels, the extreme optical dilation that ingesting the San Pedro brew causes would have allowed those within the tunnels to see and move within almost complete darkness. Not that I´ve ever done intense hallucinogens, but if I did I would prefer not to be trapped in a complex underground labyrinth. Thanks, but no thanks.

While exploring the tunnel system, I ran into an American whose been living in Chavin for the past few years. He showed me around pointing out some of the more interesting bits and then brought me to an entrance branching off of one of the main arteries with stone steps leading down into the darkness (many of the tunnels, especially those accessible by tourists, are lit). I gave him a puzzled look and he handed me a flashlight and told me to go ahead and take a look. I looked him over first, just to check my initial assumption that I could take him in hand to hand combat if need be, and then heading down into the black. A dozen or so steps led down into another section of the tunnels and at first I couldn´t figure out what he wanted me to see, and then I realized: the tunnels here were much taller than those above, almost twice as high in fact. While the other tunnels had been excavated by archaeologists, they had never bothered to dig all the way down to the original floor. On the other hand, this section was found completely intact, and showed the full scale of the construction. It doesn´t sound like much, but the difference between a 6 foot and 10 foot tunnel is substantial, and the latter is quite impressive.

The highlight of Chavin de Huantar is undoubtedly the large stone sculpture known as the Lanzon. Although its current name is derived from its lance-like shape, most scholars now agree that it´s strange shape was most likely meant to elicit that od the traditional foot-plow used across the Andes. The sculpture, which is nearly 10m in height, is carved with the image of the principle anthropomorphic deity of Chavin, which is part cayman, part bird and part monster. You´re probably wondering why the deity takes the form of the cayman, a massive jungle reptile, when Chavin is located high in the Andes. That´s one of the mysteries of the Chavin, and whether it´s simply because there domain encompassed the amazon basin or that they migrated from the lowlands we´ll never really know. Anyway, the Lanzon is absolutely massive and the skill with which it was carved is breathtaking. The top, notched portion of the statue sits in a slit in the ceiling that is open to the roof of the temple above while the bottom, blade portion extends into the ground below. The chamber in which the Lanzon is found is cruciform in shape, the only such chamber in Chavin. An odd channel is grooved into the stone, starting on the top of the sculpture running down the front of the notch and then ending in a cup shaped depression above the deity´s head. The theory is that blood from human sacrifices performed on the temple roof above would be poured into the groove on the top of the statue, from where it would flow into the cup shaped depression and then over the image of the deity itself. This seemingly outlandish theory was supported by the discovery of several human skeletons and skulls, apparently from sacrificed victims, arranged in ritualistic patterns in some of the tunnels and chambers. In fact, due to marks and breaks on some of the bones, it is believed that ritualistic cannibalism was performed on site. Charming and fascinating.

Besides those meant for human initiation, sacrifice, whatever, an unknown number of tunnels engineered for ventilation and drainage criss-cross the Chavin complex, going under and through the temples and plazas. While engineered out of necessity due to the region´s wet climate and man insisting on breathing air, even when whacked out on San Pedro and wandering around tunnels, these more utilitarian constructions could serve more interesting purposes as well. For instance, when walking across one of the main plazas one has to be careful not to fall into one of several square, stone lined holes in the ground. At first these holes seem completely random, but upon closer observation one notices that all are of different depths and intersect drainage tunnels at different levels. It turns out that these holes were part of a sort of water organ, which would make different sounds based on the depth and size of the hole as well as the amount of water flowing through the tunnel below. Yep, these people were smart, industrious and intent on making the most intense cactus trip known to man.

That pretty much wraps up the observations that I´ve got about Chavin de Huantar. Definitely worth the trip, even if it did take me three days. Still, if that´s not your cup of tea you can always just take the 3 hour bus ride from Huaraz.

Until next time.............

Getting a new look and resting my 70 year old hip

Well, I was all set up to head out on a solo trek from Olleros to Chavin de Huantar today, but alas, shit happens and plans change. I didn´t mention it before, but I had already delayed my trek by a day due to waking up with a strange pain in my hip. This would not have concerned me nearly as much if I hadn´t gone out drinking the night before and then slept in a dorm room with Ginger Bender Paul as my only companion. I´m not saying that anything happened while I was asleep, but let´s just say that we´re all a bit suspicious. Anyway, my hip has really hurt the last two days, which I assume is simply from doing so much trekking in so little time with so little rest. So, the trek will have to wait until tomorrow, which means spending a day hanging around Huaraz drinking coffee, maybe heading out to some ruins right outside of town and reading. Life is tough.

My aching, 70 year old arthritic hip and the delay in my plans that it´s caused have had some positive side effects, however. First, it allowed Paul, Dennis and I to get some really nice facial-hair work done and second it gave us, along with Kevin, Caroline and Javier, a nice excuse to go out and have a proper night on the town last night. Okay, we stayed at one bar the entire night and it was only us in the place, but still, it was a good time none the less.
Talk to you soon my friends.

Making some friends and a short trek to Laguna 69

I´ve made some friends since getting back to Huaraz, and my experience here has improved markedly as a result, not that it was ever anything less than absolutely pleasant. Dennis is a bearded Australian of diminutive stature that can talk movies, music and books until your ears fall off, which is just fine by me. Paul is a lanky Englishman with a ginger goatee who enjoys drum n´bass, skateboarding and talking. Again, fine by me. Kevin is another Englishman and I manage to enjoy his company despite the fact that he´s a working engineer. Miracles do happen in this strange world of ours. Caroline is yet another Brit who doesn´t seem to have a negative thing to say about anyone (well, accept for a man that I´ve taken to calling Dead Dog Paul) and manages to listen to the rest of us yap and talk shit incessantly without emitting so much as a growl. A peach without a pit is what she is.

I joined these four new friends and Alexis on a short overnight hike to Laguna 69 (photos are here). Basically we hired a car to the trailhead late one afternoon, camped immediately, tried in vain to start a small fire, drank a bottle of rum, ate pasta with tuna and tomato sauce, had a slightly drunken sleep and then woke up and hike the 2-3 hours to the beautiful, aforementioned laguna. I have no idea how it got the name, but I´ve been telling people that it´s in memory of a certain European explorer´s fateful encounter with a beautiful campesino on the shore and in the shadow of the neighboring mountains. Hey, the story works for me, and anyone that I tell should be intelligent enough that I´m completely full of shit in this instance. Anyway, Laguna 69 and the surrounding environs were absolutely beautiful and well worth every drop of sweat expended in reaching them.

Tomorrow I´ll be setting off into the mountains yet again, this time on a short 3 day trek to the pre-Inca ruins of Chavin de Huantar. Right now it´s up in the air as to whether Dennis and Paul will be joining me or whether I´ll be setting off solo. If the latter occurs, rest assured that the trek is easy, I´m prepared and the area is safe.

Okay, I´m off to get some errands done in preparation for the hike.

Huayhuash

Hello people! It´s been nearly two weeks, but I´m back safe and sound from a beautiful, strenuous, rewarding and, lest I forget, long trek in the Cordillera Huayhuash. This post follows a slightly different format than my previous one describing the Santa Cruz trek. Basically, it was 12 days long so rather than give a narrative of the trek I´ve instead decided to describe some of the highlights and then let the pictures do the talking. So, read on for a rambling, somewhat disjointed but hopefully entertaining and informative description of some of my most recent escapades.

First, the pictures

Go to this link. I´m constantly updating the album with more photos and captions when I have the time, so check back even if you´ve already gone.

Overview: ummmm........what the hell is Huayhuash?

The Cordillera Huayhuash is a mountain range within the Andes to the Southwest of Huaraz. The range includes roughly 35 peaks, with six of them exceeding 6000m, including the grandaddy of the range Yerupaja (6617m). Compared to the Cordillera Blanca where I had done the much shorter Santa Cruz trek, the Huayhuash is much more compact, rugged and isolated. Part of what makes this area so special is that relatively few tourists visit even today, although the numbers are increasing year by year. Still, an almost overwhelming feeling of isolation washes over one when entering the Huayhuash and does not disippate until returning to the relative metropolis of Huaraz.

The trek itself covered right around 160km (I´ve gone metric, so deal with it and use the google conversion feature if you need to) and went over 10 mountain passes ranging in height from 4300m to 5250m. The point I´m trying to convey is that the trek is a haul to say the least. The views of rugged peaks and isolated lagunas are indeed impressive, but they better be as your legs and lungs pay a steep price for every memorable panorama that comes your way, without fail.

My health

Well, color me impressed by the concern of my friends and family when I mentioned that I was sick just before leaving for the Huayhuash. Jordana Kritzer in particular deserves a special shout out as she sent me a message so full of concern and advice that I just had to print it out and take it with me. I actually managed to fully recover from my short bout of illness just in time to take off on the Huayhuash trip without any delay. On the trip itself, I was the picture of health, charging up the passes, eating all the food and having relatively (and I do mean relatively) pleasant bathroom experiences. I even managed to sleep all the way through most nights and had absolutely no recurrence of the minor altitude sickness that plagued me in the Cordillera Blanca. So, I appreciate all of your expressions of concern, but rest assured that my body is chugging right along and seems to be at peace with the thin air, somewhat questionable food and physical exertion that I´m putting it through on a daily basis. YAY!

People

Three other turistas, all females, joined me on the Huayhuash circuit trek. Sadly, two of the aforementioned women turned out to be people that I most definitely do not like. You all should be familiar with my amazing powers of judgement, criticism and shit-talking, so I´ll just leave it at that and move on with my wonderful life. The remaining female turista turned out to be a true gem that goes by the name of Alexis. She´s an American hailing from that city of smog, boob jobs and David Lynch known as Los Angeles, and her and I managed to get along like peanut butter, bananas and honey trapped between two pieces of cheap white bread. Nice, in that analogy the other women would be crappy white bread, which is actually a fitting description. Moving on........In addition to us four gringo tourists, three Peruvians rounded out the group in the role of guide (Eric), cook and assistant guide (Gustavo) and burro driver and general assistant (Chino). Besides making the trip possible, I must say that I now consider all three of these fine young men my friends. Now, how about a short introduction for these guys?

Erik: A twenty-six year old native of Huaraz, Erik has been working as a professional guide for five years. He has two daughters, a wife (who is wonderful according to him) and absolutely no qualms about busting into song at any given time. Also a damn fine player of the Andean flute, which he brought out and played on all too rare occassions. A great guide and a genuinely nice and caring person, my life is better having him as a friend.

Gustavo: An eighteen year old native of Huaraz. Although he speaks almost no english, we were able to develop something of a rapport, and hearing him say my name (pronounce as yoy-ee) never fails to bring a smile to my face. Like Erik, Gustavo has little to no reservations when it comes to singing and dancing and many nights I fell asleep to the sound of his unabashed singing eminating from the cooking tent as he did the dishes before retiring for the night.

Chino: A native of the small village of Llamac that marks the start of the trek, Chino is 28 with a wife and two small daughters. He was the hardest of the three Peruvians to communicate with because Spanish was a second language to both him and I. Also, the cultural divide was definitely the widest with him and it took me a while to accept his bearing, humor, just his way of being, and I think that some of the other people on the trip were never able to get to that point. In the end, I came to recognize him as a funny and easygoing guy, despite how hard it must be to make a living and support a family out in the Huayhuash. Anyway, Chino without a doubt one hell of a burro driver and I will not hesitate to call upon his services again if I ever return to the Huayhuash.

So there´s a brief rundown of who went on the trip. As I already mentioned, one of the best parts of the journey was getting to know the Peruvian guides, especially Erik and Gustavo. In fact, tomorrow night Alexis and I are planning on meeting up with these two and cruising over to Palcio de Cervaza, where Erik and Gustavo assure us that we will have a grand ole´ time dancing the night away with a vast number of Peruvians and few, if any, other gringos. Dance clubs really aren´t my style, but for these guys I´m willing to stretch myself. I promise I will keep you all updated. UPDATE: It didn´t happen as I was absolutely exhausted and suffering from a headache. Instead I ended up hanging out with some guys at the hostel and getting drunk on Ecuadorian rum and Peruvian beer. This is what happens when you have no responsibilities whatsoever.

The most dangerous part of the journey

One would think that the most dangerous portion of the trek would actually take place in the mountains, perhaps while ascending one of the many high passes. However, by far the most dangerous portion of the trip did not occur until after every step had been taken, when we climbed into the small Toyota autobus that would carry us from the village of Llamac, where the trek began and ended, to the larger town of Chiqian.

First of all, this was the most packed autobus I´ve been on yet. Picture a Toyota minivan crammed full of 22 (yes, twenty-two) people and their handheld belongings and then place a 1.5-2m pile of luggage on top. I assure you, these figures are not exagerrations. Then put this groaning straining van on one of the twistiest, steepest and dustiest mountain roads that you´ve ever seen, with numerous log bridge crossings over rivers and streams and 100m drops looming around every corner. Admittedly, this doesn´t seem quite so bad yet. When things really got interesting is when the passengers noticed that not only where the roof support bars loose and rotating, but the roof was bulging inward due to the weight AND the side of the bus was developing large cracks that grew with terrifying creaks and groans whenever the bus lurched over another bump or around another corner. Still not so bad? Well, about halfway through the drive, by which point almost all of the passengers had there arms raised in an attempt to lend the ailing roof additional support, the bus driver stopped to pick up a mother and her small boy. Now, one woman had already gotten off, bringing the total of people to 23, however, the woman could absolutely, positively not fit in the bus. So, do we leave her behind? Of course not you asshole! No, she simply climbed on top of the gigantic pile of luggage sitting on top of the sagging and decrepit roof. Now a suspiciously human-sized extra big lump was invisible from inside the bus and we all looked out the windows anxiously with every sway of the vehicle, fully expecting to see the woman come tumbling down from the roof and careening into the yawning valley waiting below. For the remaining 45 minutes of the trip I had dozens, literally dozens of comedic lines waiting to be delivered. However, since they all revolved around the roof riding woman´s impending doom and her six year old son was leaning against my legs, I decided that it might be best to keep my mouth shut lest he start wailing and take all of the fun out of the journey, which I was in all truth enjoying immensely.

Wow, that´s the former headquarters of the Shining Path

to be continued.......

Joey is an idiot and drops his camera in the hot springs

to be continued........

Alexis gets attacked by a puma

to be continued........