Rock Solid

"Peru - It's More Than a Pile of Ruins." I think that would make an apt slogan for the Peruvian board of tourism. Many people come here for Machu Picchu and the hundreds of ruins scattered throughout the country. Ruins are an excellent reason to visit, but there are so many other things to enjoy that do not revolve around crumbling architecture. Case in point is Cumbemayo, a natural rock formation high up in the Andes Mountains in Northern Peru, not far from the city of Cajamarca. Cumbemayo is also an example of how the earliest Peruvians modified their harsh surroundings to survive and prosper...until the Spanish came along. 

In order to see Cumbemayo, you first have to get there. It's not an easy walk down the street or a short combi ride to the next village; rather it involves a bumpy tourist bus ride eight hundred meters up a winding mountain. As the bus ascends from the beautiful city of Cajamarca, the topography, and the people, change dramatically. The higher you go, the drier it becomes. Unless you live in the jungle or in the mountains during rainy season, Peru is a very dry country. Usually, the cities are watered daily by a fleet of hydration

trucks. It's easy to forget how arid everything would be without this massive infusion of water. But as you climb to higher altitudes it is easy to see how quickly the water, and thus the greenery, disappears. There are also more political, desperate signs from the people. I saw some graffiti on a house that translated into, more or less, "Forget Politics, Give Us Water". And boy did these people need water, and a whole lot more. As the meters ticked higher, so did the poverty level. I saw families camped on their front stoop, making a pot of soup for themselves and whichever pedestrian wants to buy it. There were many shoeless children, women with heavy bundles on their backs, and older folks out walking the family cow or goat. In addition to lack of water, many of the homes seemed to lack electricity and sanitation.

                

When Cumbemayo does come, it appears from out of the blue. As the bus rounds the twisting mountain road, everything suddenly levels out and there are the stone pillars. You can't help but miss these structures sticking out of the ground in clumps, much like groups of trees. In fact, people refer to these geological outgrowths as stone forests. They are dotted around the landscape and are connected together by a series of paths. This is the normal tourist route that we took, starting at a hotel/restaurant complex (nothing fancy) and winding through a series of rock formations. These volcanic pillars have been worn down over time, slowly taking many different forms. The main group of pillars are called Los Frailones (The Friars) because they look like Catholic brothers, walking with their cassocks over their heads. Other formations are reported to look like a human head, a crocodile, and an eagle. Personally, due to a lack of imagination and the need for stronger glasses, I didn't see the animal shapes, but that was besides the point. Walking along the path and through the valley, it was easy to be lulled into a bit of a trance; overwhelmed by the "bigosity" of nature. 

The natural geography is not the only reason to go to Cumbemayo, there is also the human element. Many centuries ago, the pre-pre Incan people made this solitary land their home. Much like the the citizens of today, getting water was a concern. But how to get that precipitation down the hill and into the valley? One word Benjamin, "Aqueduct". In Quecha the words "Cumbe Mayo" mean "Narrow River" which is just another way of saying "Aqueduct". The ancients used instinct and nascent technology to create a nine kilometer aqueduct that winds through the rocks, down the mountain, and into a reservoir (long since vanished). It is amazing to see how well they constructed it; time has done little to alter its course or shut down its flow. But these mighty settlers didn't stop at the aqueduct! They also built a small stone bridge and what looks to be an altar. There are also a number of petroglyphs dotted around the landscape. What do they mean, no one seems to know. I'd like to think in is some ancient egg-salad recipe. But hey, maybe that is just me. 

I could have spent all day wandering around the stones structures; unfortunately, for intrepid travelers such as myself, visitors are required to take a tour. So we finished our excursion, walking past another set of locals hawking their wares or asking for a picture with livestock, and headed back to the urban oasis that is Cajamarca. The trip back to the city seemed much quicker but memories of the day's visit still linger.