Two more days in the Andes...

    There are a lot of things I haven't learned about Peru, the geology and climatology, for example.  But I do know that the Andes can be quite an uninviting mountain range.  The desert coastal plain quickly heads up into the mountains, but the initial scarp garners no more moisture than the plain before it.  The result is a rocky, barren mass devoid of vegetation or more color than a drab gray.  The city of Lima also stretches on and on and the road begins to wind up and up.  Nevertheless, when given the opportunity to spend a couple of days out of Lima I quickly took it.

    A couple of hours, which is not so many miles, out of Lima we turned off the main road and headed up toward the Santa Eulalia River valley.  The paved road quickly turned into gravel and stayed gravel for the next two days as we slowly wound our way up the valley to the source of the river.
     The afternoon of the first day we stopped in Huachupampa where we would spend the night.  Like everywhere else in Peru, a little bit of water will get you some farmers.  The land is deeded by the central government to a collective of the people, title continues to be held collectively and that is how all decisions are made.  While the people are obviously not rich, the town is clean, orderly and well maintained.  You can see a sister village on the far side of the valley.

    The doorman in our building in Lima once told me that Peruvians don't work hard but they work a lot.  That seemed to hold for the people in Huachupampa.  A loudspeaker went off around 5:30 to wake everyone up and dispense some information my Spanish couldn't quite make sense of.  Later in the day we passed several people who seemed to have plenty of time to ruminate.  The woman to the right was watching over a flock of goats.  The man on the burro was miles and miles from town headed up to who-knows-where since there were no towns or other signs of habitation for as far as I could see.

    Altitude and water are two things that make the difference.  It's the altitude that finally squeezes the moisture from the stingy clouds that have blown in from the Pacific.  The dusty gray turns to green while the sound of rushing water soothes the soul.  13,000 feet becomes llama country.  Every ridge and mountain is a different color and material--sand to granite.  Finally, around the bend comes the confrontation with the nevado (snow covered peak) that is the source of the river.  And ever since I left Huachupampa, I knew it was why I'd come.
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