A little before 8:00 am, I finished my hot tea as I spread strawberry jelly on a traditional roll. I added two slices of white cheese to complete my sandwich, which would later by my lunch. Seven girls were heading out for a day of hiking in the Andean terrain. Pancho loaded us up into his van and we drove to the plaza for him to pick up some last minute snack items. I searched for my seat belt, but wasn´t surprised to not find on. Not that it would have help all that much if we drove off the winding road on the edge of the cliffs like I feared.
We drove about an hour through the mountains to a town on a hill called Quinua. People were coming to the Sunday market there as we piled out of the van. Pancho explained the driver would drive down the mountain and pick us up at the end of the day. I was slightly relieved to find out we would not have to hike back up this mountain.
All of us happy to be out of the house and doing something active, eagerly followed Pancho down the dirt alley. After the one minute walk to the edge of town, passed a few donkeys, we came upon a group of Peruvian men and women resting in the shade. They asked Pancho what in the world we were doing because they didn´t understand why we would want to walk when, being gringas, we could easily afford a taxi to take us anywhere we would want to go. Interesting observation.
We continued down the dirt path, over a creek, passed some eucalyptus trees, to a view over looking the valley. We could see Ayacucho far in the distance and Pancho told us it would take us four days to walk back. Glad we had the van to pick us up instead. The sun felt warm and the shade felt cool. The fragrant breeze blew gently and we could smell the freshness of the mountains as we hiked on. We went up and down some steep trails, the sand and gravel unstable under our feet. There were two bridges we had to cross that were solely a log or two. I felt like I was balancing on a balance beam. Exciting. Luckily, the creeks below were small and the logs were not too far off the ground.
At one point, Pancho told us we were going to take a short cut, so we followed him off the path down the mountain. Apparently, he didn´t really know where he was going, but it was OK because we could see the target of houses where were aiming down the valley. Brianna and I agreed we were glad we were not in a forest so we could actually see where we were going. We found a small path and followed it. We saw herds of sheep and several people leading donkeys. A small crumbling colonial house and huge red rock made a good stopping point for some pictures.
Finally, we arrived at our lunch stop. The eight of us plopped down on some grass under the shade of a tree. We each pulled out our sandwiches we had prepared this morning and Pancho presented the treats he brought. As he pulled them out of his stuffed backpack, we all cheered a little as if each were a great new surprise. Bright orange sweet-potato chips. Yay! Lay´s potato chips. Yum! Olé Olés (chocolate covered marsh-mellows). Hmm! Packets of chocolate sandwich cookies. Yipee! Cake. Wow! We ate until we were stuffed.
Next stop, a small swimming pool full of "therapeutic" waters. We walked up a small hill to the pool. The pool had a smooth rock deck surrounding it and the water in it was a dark green, blueish, black. We decided it would be nice to dip our feet in and rest a while. The water was cool and felt good on our tired feet. With our feet in the pool, we laid back on the warm stone deck. It would be difficult to get up now being so full, tired and warm in the sun.
After about 20 minutes, we decided we must push on. We dried our feet and headed down the field to an old colonial house. Pancho led us to a fence that appeared to be an electric one. Skeptical, the first girl climbed through the middle of the three wires as Pancho held one. After she made it safely through. Pancho jumped back quickly. Apparently he touched another one of the wires and confirmed that the fence was, in deed, electric by receiving a little jolt. The rest of us climbed under the fence as he held the bottom wire up with his plastic water bottle. What kind of adventure would this be without an electric fence?!Two old rock walls covered with moss and cactus lined the path to the old colonial estate.
We walked up to the crumbling porch of this once great property. The landowner met us there. He was an old man maybe in his 70´s (it is very hard to judge age here because of the sun exposure, lack of dental attention, and years of hard labor). Pancho told us this man was once very rich, but as time has gone on and his land has been given away, his wealth deteriorated. I wondered what he and this estate were like back in their glory days. We walked through the house to a courtyard with a big white private church (complete with the old bell towers I love). Pancho told us they used to have small bullfights in this courtyard.
After many pictures, we marched on to see the much anticipated waterfall. We weren´t far now. We walked another 30 minutes through the eucalyptus trees and red dirt paths. I was getting fairly hot and sweaty by this point and was ready for a swim in a cool mountain stream. Finally, we arrived!I could feel the cold air near the bottom of the waterfall blowing toward me. We were in the shade now and I could see the huge waterfall pouring down from the mountain above. The water fell from maybe 100 feet (I am so bad at estimating) straight down the side of the flat rocks. It wasn´t very wide, but fell with a lot of force. Soft, green moss and a few ferns lined the wall closest to the water. I was eager to stand underneath it.
Sarah and I were the only ones brave enough, so we quickly changed into our swimsuits. I stepped my bare foot into the freezing water onto the sharp rocks and walked quickly into the knee-deep pool of water before I could change my mind. I had not been swimming in water this cold in a long time. Sarah followed as we walked toward the waterfall, using our hands to steady us against the rock face of the mountain. I was first to go under the waterfall and the cold water was surprising as it sprayed on me. Before I could think about it I was under the waterfall, letting the cold, powerful water hit my shoulders and head. I laughed, screamed and smiled all at once. I made sure the other Elizabeth was getting lots of pictures. My body was somewhat numb from the cold so I stepped out of the waterfall to let Sarah have a turn. My arms tingled, but I wasn´t really thinking about the cold anymore. A few more pictures with Sarah and me under the waterfall and we hurried out of the water the fastest our numb feet could take us over the rough rocks. Part of me wanted to lay down in the pool of water and swim, but I didn´t.
It felt so good to get out of the water for two reasons. 1)The cold water had been so refreshing. And 2) I was so proud of myself for actually doing something like that.I wished Katharine had been there because she is usually the freezing-water-swimming-twin. I know she would have loved this!
Sarah and I stood in the sun and marveled at our accomplishment. We were so proud.
Finally, we changed back to dry clothes. That felt good too and our group headed back down the mountain to meet our car. We all enjoyed walking, but Pancho was getting hot, so he asked a few random guys to give us a ride in their van. Again, not something I would normally do, but since Pancho said it was OK and there were seven of us, I figured it would just add to the adventure. The drove us a few minutes down the red dusty road (which would have been many more had we been walking).
We piled out and completed our walk. I was happy to see our driver from this morning walking around a curve with a huge bottle of water. Apparently, a bridge was not finished, so he could not drive all the way to meet us. We walked over the cement bridge that couldn´t yet hold a car and piled back in the van. It felt good to be sitting down, heading home, after such a full day. We enjoyed the left over snacks from earlier as we drove. I couldn´t get enough of the sweet potato chips.
Upon our arrival back to the house, we found the new group of volunteers. About 14 new people had arrived during the day we were gone. I was happy to have new people and get to know them, but it felt a little strange having these unknown people come into the house and group to which had become so comfortable. I suddenly understood much more what the old volunteers felt when we arrived. I was too tired to greet them properly, so I headed upstairs for a cold shower. I was really hoping for a hot one, but after today´s waterfall the cold water felt like nothing. Clean and refreshed, I headed downstairs for some small talk. I met a few of the people. A college student and two med students from Canada. A girl from Florida.
We had dinner in the much more crowded dining room and I enjoyed the pasta with creamy tomato sauce. A woman originally from Scotland now living in California. A mother and daughter pair from the States.
After dinner, I helped organize a "welcome party" for the new volunteers. We went up to the open air roof deck of the house and started a fire in the stone fire pit. Someone had bought stuff to make smores and we cheered as each new person entered the party. With the fire going full force and most people roasting marshmallows, I offered a toast to the new group. We raised our warming marshmallows in the air and cheered.
You Know That´s Cold, John Hammond
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