Leaving Ayacucho

¡Hola!

I know I haven´t written for a while, but I´ve been busy BEING SICK!!!!! ¡¡¡¡¡Again!!!!! I THOUGHT I would escape the dreaded gripe (the flu in spanish) this time, but NOOOOO. And each time seems worse than the last. Unfortunately I won´t be finished recuperating in time for my planned four day Inca Trail hike to Macchu Picchu. Looks like I´ll have to take the train to Macchu Picchu. Darn.

Friday, tomorrow, is my last day in Ayacucho. My flight to Lima, and then Cuzco, is early Saturday morning. I am so ready to leave. I will spend five days in Cuzco, two days in Lima, and then it´s on to ARGENTINA!!! Buenas Aires, here I come.

I didn´t tell you about the Llama Trek.

Three weekends ago five of us -- the more mature ladies -- went on a two-day llama trek in the mountains about two hours north of here. Ayacucho is at about 10K ft ASL. The llama trek started and ended at 13K ft. The highest point we climbed was a little over 14,500 ft.

The drive was spectacular. The vegetation changed as we climed in altitude. The vegetation in Ayacucho is mostly desert: lots of cactus and other succulents, a little grass, and some sorry trees. As we climbed, there were more trees and more vegetation, then these were replaced with short grass that looked like moss. No trees. Some of this moss stuff was soft and spongey, and some was sharp and prickly. And the mountains themselves were magnificent. In the distance you could see a couple of snow capped mountains.

We were greeted at our starting point by a herd of llamas. Black ones, brown ones, white ones and multicolored ones. All wore dangling red yarn earrings (used for identification purposes). A few wore cow bells which jangled as the herd approached us. We could hear the bells before we could see the llamas. The llamas traveled in a tight group, and they refused to have their photos taken. Each time I pointed my camera in their direction, they would ALL turn and point their butts in my direction. I have lots of llama butt shots.

The llamas were attended by three young men and two horses. The llamas and the horses carried our packs and supplies. Llamas look cute, but are not agreable animals. The llamas selected to carry the supplies were none too happy about the task. The three men had to wrestle each llama to tie the packs down. Disgruntled llamas can be very vocal. The llamas accompanied us as we walked to our campsite.

The three young men seemed to be between 15 and 19 years old. They were cousins. One wore large gaudy fake flowers on his hat to signal that he was single and looking for a girlfriend. That certainly makes dating easier. They didn´t spend any time with us as they tended to walk way ahead of us. Only one of the three spoke spanish; the other two spoke quechua.

At this point I don´t remember how many miles we walked, but it took us 6 hours to hike to our campsite. Hiking at 14,500 feet is very slow. As you ascend, your heart beats faster and your legs feel like lead. We stopped alot for breathing breaks. One of the women in our group got altitude sickness at 14k feet. Her head felt like it was going to explode, and she was nauseated. At 14,300 or so, my legs felt so heavy that I couldn´t take one more step. I decided to take up the offer to ride one of the horses. Climbing steep mountains on horseback is exciting. I had to have faith that the horse knew where to step because I certainly had no control in the matter. Once we reached 14,500 feet, I got off the horse and walked the remaining hour to the campsite. The other woman had to continue on horseback she was so ill.

The hike was amazing. It was a sunny, but windy day. And at that altitude, windy meant cold. We passed lakes, and groups of grazing llamas and alpacas. This is the season where llamas and alpacas give birth, so we also saw lots of new borns grazing with their mothers. Our picnic lunch was especially wonderful so high in the mountains surrounded by llamas.

At one point we passed a hamlet of what looked like abandoned stone houses. Since the families need to move a lot to provide food for their grazing animals, they take up residence in these hamlets as needed. These houses looked like they were built 400 years ago. They live in single room houses. The families sleep, cook, and store supplies in a space that is about 8 feet by 5 feet. They burn llama poop and peat moss for fuel.

Our campsite was a one room school house. School was not in session, so we were able to use it to sleep. We slept in sleeping bags on a long mattress. And once the sun set it was so darn cold we all climbed into our sleeping bags for warmth. The toilet was an outhouse. This outhouse didn´t smell bad, probably because the locals didn´t use it. Don´t know where they went to do their business.

The next morning we watched an alpaca get sheered. Alpacas as a little smaller than llamas, and the wool is much softer. Alpacas don´t seem to enjoy being sheered. The first challenge is to capture the alpaca. The guy doing the sheering used a lasso to catch an alpaca. It took a couple of tries until he cought the one he wanted. And what a fight this alpaca put up! They make a very high pitched squeal when they are upset. You wouldn´t expect this sound from such a large animal. Once caught, the alpaca is wrestled to the ground, and it´s legs are tied together. The sheering guy kneels on the alpaca´s neck as he sheers it. One adult alpaca yields about six pounds of wool.

While the alpaca was being sheered, a baby alpaca was born in the pen. It came so quickly and silently. And within 30 minutes it was up and walking and grazing with it´s mom. Another thing happened once the baby was born. Suddenly several of the alpacas started mating. There were four couples going at it within minutes of the birth. All the excitement took away from the alpaca sheering demonstration.

After the sheering and mating demonstration, we took a horse ride around the area. That was enjoyable. There weren´t many people around because that weekend was the official start of Carnival. Most people were down in Ayacucho getting drunk, spraying people with water or shaving cream, or enjoying the parades.

When it was time to return home, our van never arrived. I suppose it broke down somewhere. So we had to walk back to the main road to catch a bus back to Ayacucho. Our guide decided that we should take a short cut down the mountain and across a ravine instead of staying on the easy-to-navigate dirt road. This was the long march of hell - in the rain. After two hours of walking we made to the road.

The bus that picked us up was quite an experience. It was a microbus that was supposed to carry about 20 passengers, but there were easily 35 people and all their parcels, two sheep tied to the roof, and a sack full of live guinea pigs (apparently one guinea pig escaped). There were lots of interesting smells and sounds. This was my first chicken bus ride.

And that was the llama trek.

That´s all for now.

Cheers,
Stacey