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- Leslie Oman

Peru travel chronicles #3: Peru's sacred valley

Buenas noches from Peru's Sacred Valley!

Wow! What an incredible couple of days! Our time in the village of Ccacaccollo where most speak Quechua (the traditional language spoken by descendants of the Incas) was very moving. Our group was split up when we arrived and given a village Momma. My friend Sonja and I were taken in by Damiana and her family. Her girls, Narbi Ruth (9 yrs) and Yulie

velin (7 yrs) took our hands and lead us up the steep 10 min walk to their beautiful adobe brick home built by their father, Gregario.

We were immediately put to work shelling avas (fava beans) to be used for the day’s hearty vegetable soup. They live in two buildings, one with an oven, food storage and dining room, and the other with two bedrooms and stable below. They have 2 alpacas (Lucas & Martina), 2 geese, well actually, 1 by the time we left :( 5 hens, 2 dogs and at least 20 guinea pigs on a small plot of land overlooking the village and surrounding terraced fields.

We were honoured guests at a birthday celebration for both Gregorio and his mother who, at 70+ danced us under the table! Her family of 7 sons, 3 daughters and many little-ones were so friendly and welcoming, even to the point of trying, in jest, to match us up with the one remaining

single son. The party was a huge occasion for the family who prepared a feast and presented a case of 2L bottles of Pilsen (Peruvian beer) for the fiesta.

The second morning we visited the local school and sat in on a morning ritual where each child stands before the class and says what they are grateful for... their village, the school, their mother, the earth and crops - beautiful and touching. They teach and practice gratitude in everything they do which adds reverence to even the simplest things. Later we visited the small market square where many o

f the mothers of the town display and sell their handiwork using pure local lama & alpaca wool dyed using the flowers and plants of the surrounding hills. I couldn’t resist buying a large number of beautifully detailed knit hats to bring home!

Later we ventured into the terraced fields high above the village to harvest potatoes with neighbour, Rosario and his wife Annie. Annie built an earth oven from dirt right on the slopes and, once hot enough, Rosario filled it with the fruits of our labour and collapsed the hot earth on top to roast the potatoes. In thanksgiving for the crop, we ate the delicious potatoes still covered in dirt. Fantastic!

Following this celebration, we met back up with our village Momma who dressed us in the traditional Quechua dress, huge pleated wool skirts and crazy bright ponchos, to head back up to pick corn and some local flowers she would use later to dye skeins of alpaca wool. Amazing!

There was a gathering after dinner by the village elders to honour us as guests and dance us under the table a little more - seriously, an elder no taller than 4' 10" danced all the ladies socks off!

The next morning, we said goodbye to our new families who asked us to come back soon... We went on to have a fascinating tour of the Sacred Valley ending in Ollantaytambo where we picked up last minute supplies for our trek to Machu Picchu which was to start at morning light. I was split from my Gap Adventures group and added in to a group of 11 others hiking the Inca Trail while my original group would be hiking the Lares Trek and meeting me at Machu Picchu.

Continue Reading Leslie's Peru Travel Chronicles Go to #4 now

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