Cumbe Mayo
17 October 2005 (Monday) – Cajamarca, Peru
I had signed up for a tour to Cumbe Mayo yesterday. As I waited for the bus, I was surprised that the rest of my group were signed up right in front of my eyes, merely 10 minutes before the tour was supposed to start. I guess, if these guys had not appeared just in time, I would be alone with the guide, wouldn’t I?
As we drove around the town a little to pick up another lady living quite a distance off the centre, we saw many campesinos in town today, carrying their usual load of cargo, tied to their back with colourful wraps. The guide explained that Monday is Cajamarca’s market day. Hence, these campesinos come from all over the villages in the mountains to buy and sell goods here in Cajamarca.
The campesinos of this region have a very distinct hat. It is white, wide-brimmed and slightly curved at the ends. The centre bit is also taller than usual. Well, at least, the wide-brim made more sense in sheltering them from the sun at this altitude. Many of the women were seen spinning yarns.
As the van drove up the mountain towards Cumbe Mayo, the guide also pointed out the many criss-crossing paths used by the campesinos to walk to Cajamarca or other towns. They take about 2 to 3 hours each way. Children who have finished a certain level of school, also have to walk 2 to 3 hours each way to get to another town or Cajamarca for their next level of education. The campesino life is pretty much that of walking.
The houses up here have a unique style of construction. They put a layer of rocks, then a layer of mud and straw, then, another layer of rocks and so on. This method apparently prevents the houses from collapsing during earthquakes as the round rocks in between the mud bricks kinda make the houses less rigid and soften the movement. Interesting, huh? Considering when you look at it, it looks really vulnerable with all the gaps between the round rocks.
Cumbe Mayo is a region up at 3,500m above sea level where the Cajamarca culture from 3,000 years ago had built canals. But what was magical about this place was the surrounding naturally-formed mountains. These mountains were previously formed from lava, as eons ago, there must have been a volcano here. Through erosions by wind and water, the mountains are now shaped in many interesting designs. There is a group called the ‘Frailejons’ (Friars) because the structures look like the back view of a whole bunch of praying monks in their long, sombre robes.
We were driven to the highest point and from there, we took a little walk down through the mountains. Gosh, this place is really incredible!! You seriously could spend hours wandering all over the rocks and mountains. I had not even seen the canals yet, but I knew for sure, this place must have had the same mystical impact on the pre-Columbian cultures, like the Cajamarca culture, for them to make the ritualistic canals in the mountains here. We just had to use our imagination to visualise all the different structures and formations.
When we finally saw the canals, we were surprised there were some carvings remaining on some of the rocks that used to be temples. The gradient at a certain point was flat. So, the Cajamarca people built canals with right angles, instead of canals in a straight line. These right angles in the canals interestingly served two purposes. Firstly, they actually SLOW down the water to reduce erosion of the canals. Secondly, they SPEED up the water as it hits the right-angled wall thereby moving the water through the flat ground. I clarified many times, so it is not my iffy Spanish.
This place is just magical magical magical. We ended up visiting a rocky structure pretty much on its own, but which had a tiny tunnel through it. All of us took turns to squeeze right through in the dark. Gosh, this trip was just great.
After lunch in Cajamarca, I took a local colectivo to view the Ventanillas de Otuzco. I found the colectivo leaving from the market area. Well, the rest of the campesinos were also trying to board the same colectivo. Now that they had done the shopping, they were trying to squeeze in with all their sacks tied to their backs. It was impossible, but they smiled and coaxed their way in. In the end, for my comfort and possibly my safety (to prevent death by asphyxiation), they got me to sit right in front with the driver.
The Ventanillas de Otuzco is a rocky area with interesting little windows carved into the rock. This area was studied and concluded to be a funerary complex due to the remains found near this region. At first, I thought the windows were really deep, allowing a sort-of coffin to fit in. But they were not, they all looked pretty shallow. Perhaps, the remains were wrapped in bundles and shoved right in. Anyway, there had been thousands of years of erosion on the rocks as well.
Tags: 08) Touch of Peru, Cajamarca
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