Cienequilla: Unexpected Adventures

We had an unexpected Wednesday holiday and were anxious to get out of the city. One danger in living in a different place is that when you feel a little homesick you sometimes try to recreate in your new place the things you like to do in the old place. This often doesn’t work out. We wanted to go hiking on a trail in the mountains just like we do in Park City.

After some checking on the internet we identified a hiking trail near Cieneguilla, which isn’t too far from La Molina, that leads to some petroglyphs made by the ancient Pre-Inca inhabitants. The trail starts in the village of Santa Rosa de Chontay, a small village a little further up the Lurin River from Cieneguilla. 

The first problem was getting there, since we don’t have a car. That problem was easily solved by Uber. However, when we reached a point about halfway between Cieneguilla and Chontay, the driver stopped and said that this was sa far as Uber goes. When I insisted that the destination I had requested in Uber was for the church in Chontay, he simply said again that this was as far as Uber went. After some discussion, he finally relented and said he would take to us the church in Chontay, but we would have to pay more, in cash. We were being held up, but we reluctantly agreed.

This is why he said Uber didn’t go farther. Earlier in the year, there were massive floods (“huaicos”) through river valleys such as the Lurin River valley where we were, leaving roads looking like this and worse. What was once a nice paved highway was now cleared of debris and passable, but still only a narrow rocky dirt road (and hence the driver’s reluctance to drive his low clearance Hyundai sedan much farther).  

Good to his word, the driver took us up the rough road, through the narrow streets of Chontay to the little plaza in front of the church, just as he promised. We paid him the additional amount, plus a bonus.

Like most towns in Peru, Spanish colonial Chontay is old, dating from 1630, and even older from the perspective of the Incas and the earlier inhabitants. It is a small, poor village and we had the feeling of being very much alone, in a very small rural village in the middle of nowhere.

The importance of getting to the church was that from there we could find our hiking trail, over a bridge across the Lurin River.

The Inca Trail. When most folks speak of having hiked the Inca Trail, they are referring to a famous and popular hike to Machu Pichu. Actually, saying you have hiked the Inca Trail is a bit like saying you’ve driven on the interstate highway system. A distinctive feature of the Inca empire was its trail system (which is Inca Trail). With caches at key places along the trail and using runners (much like the Pony Express) the Incas could maintain relatively fast communication and move goods and troops easily throughout the empire over this trail system (although later the Spaniards would also benefit from that trail system in their conquest of the Incas). The Inca Trail down this river valley leads to the large ancient Inca city of Pachacamac (see earlier post) and was a key part of the Inca trail.

This is the trail and more of the trail along the hillside in the background.

A few years ago there was a competition for school projects dedicated to preserving cultural heritage. Remarkably, the students in Chontay were among the winners with this project to mark the Inca Trail through their village and to the petroglyphs. Some of the student names are recorded on the signs.

I’m not sure if the Disney trademark department has signed off on this, but this piece of southern California culture has managed to work itself into the signage for the Inca Trail in the remote Santa Rosa de Chontay.

This refers to the bell rocks, so called because of the sound they make when they fall on each other and above is the rock with the petroglyph and information display. 

They were made by people who lived here a long, long time ago. A little underwhelming, given the effort to get here, but we had reached our destination.

Having completed the hike to the destination petroglyphs, we had to face to question we really hadn’t worked out – how to get back to La Molina (as it was clear there would be no Uber car). We made our way through the town to the main road. Except for this woman and her goats and dogs (who by the way were useless as herders) there was absolutely no traffic. 

However, we met a couple of women who were also waiting and told us that this was the place to wait for a bus or combi. They were really nice and interesting to talk with (but when we talked about the trail to the petroglyphs, they had no idea that they were there, but did confirm that anciently Indians had lived around here). But really there was absolutely no traffic on that road. Finally, a small blue subcompact came down the road and the two women flagged it, like it was someone they knew, and got in. Then, just as they were leaving, one of them opened the door and motioned to us to get in. And we did. 

Cieneguilla is really not famous for its petroglyphs, Inca Trail or hiking, but for resorts along the river valley that feature hotels, camping, restaurants, swimming pools, large green lawns, horseback riding, four wheeling, wading in the river and basically a place for folks from Lima to come to relax. We had asked these women which was the best one and they said Kankay. When we came to Kankay, which was about half the way back to the center of Cieneguilla, we got out. 

 

We had dinner  (polla a la brasa), enjoyed entertainment (local artists lip-syncing to their own traditional native flute and guitar Andean music, but dressed in Plains Indian headdresses while dancing in circles like the war dance in old western movies - a little strange).

Horseback riding around the lawn.

This is a place designed for people from Lima who drive up in their cars. We, of course, had no car. When I asked one of the attendants where to get a bus or combi, I was told I needed a mototaxi (and in a tone of voice that suggested to me there would be no bus or combi coming down that road), but not to worry because she would call for one.

 About 30 minutes later this came to take us back to Cieneguilla. A mototaxi essentially is a motor cycle adapted to have two wheels on the back with a rear bench seat enclosed (sort of) in a plastic covering. They are quite common in Peru (and I’m told an import from India). They are also not known for stability or safety.

As you’ll note, it is noisy and the driver engages the clutch going downhill so he can speed through the curves. We weren’t really sure where he was taking us, but suddenly he stopped, pointed to bus and told us to get on it (as it was about to leave).

We did, although we had never ridden buses here (too confusing and crowded) and were not sure where this one was going, but it was headed down the road in the right direction. We later figured out that this bus went to La Molina, and for a few soles took all the way back home (well, to a bus stop within walking distance). Also, since we got on at the start of the route, we got seats all the way Buses here are crowded with most people standing.

Also, with few exceptions, unlike in the US (and most everywhere else), the buses are not part of an organized city bus system, but purely private enterprise. You buy a bus, hire a driver and someone inside to collects fares, paint the names of some of the major stops on the side (to provide an indication of your route), and you are now part of the greater Lima mass transportation system.

No, this did not turn out at all like a hike in the mountains in Park City, (but it was OK, in fact a lot of fun)