Andean Soul - PART TWO
Chapter Three
Llongote Pass
We woke the next morning to the mouth watering smell of what we found out was fried guinea pig meat, which we had for breakfast before we were given a sweet send off by our hosts. Down an immense valley we walked following well traveled paths leading us back to the narrow dirt road along the river valley. We got a ride on a typically overcrowded bus with people, goats, chickens and even a pig, up, up the valley all the way to the town at the terminus called Yauyos. The bus driver was playing the Beatles on a tape deck held together with twine and duct tape. We got there just before dark.
We spent the night in a ‘motel’ room with no water or electricity. Too tired to care, we crashed on cockroach infested mattresses. The next day we were to present our papers to the mayor of Yauyos before moving on, so we were informed by La Policia in the motel office. It was a necessary formality as a precautionary measure against infiltration of the Shining Path guerilla movement. I had already been introduced to the Latino cultural love for making everything ‘official’, so we were prepared for the ridiculous ceremony of signing and stamping documents in the mayor’s office for the next hour. We were clear to proceed!
It was no small consolation afterwards to be invited to the mayor’s house for breakfast. In his home he was a different human being. He graciously prepared eggs, bread, goat cheese and this magical medicinal drink I had never encountered before. After drinking one cup of this delicious hot tea that seemed to fill my body with strength and uncommon well-being, I asked what could it be?
“Pure chocolate!” he replied.
A little while later he sent us on our way fortified, knowing what we were about to face. In a state of euphoria Luis and I practically skipped out of Yauyos up the herding trails above the tree line into the high tundra once again.
The first time I ever saw a llama in the wild was on this trail near a goat herder’s corral and hut. It came leaping from behind a tall stone wall as we were filling up our canteens in a small stream. I was so excited and awestruck by this magnificent animal when behind it came an old woman throwing stones and waving a stick cursing the llama for drinking her goat’s milk! My romantic moment dissolved as Luis broke into hysterical laughter.
We continued on our way knowing we had to get over the pass by the end of the day to avoid a cold and windy night.
We climbed and climbed, this time wearing our rubber sandals, up and up, watching the river valley recede and finally disappear behind us, and wondering which next summit would reveal our pass. It was getting late. It was getting windy. And still no pass. Dusk was coming and we could go no further. So we decided to make camp in the high tundra with no cover, very little to eat and drink, and inadequate bedding as we would soon discover.
We ate our standard fare, drank a little Pisco Luis bought in Yauyos and watched as the stars appeared in their overwhelming fireworks. We were camped at 16,000 feet in the Andean summer; the Cordillera towering above us another 6,000 feet; we had no sleeping bags of any kind, just wool blankets and sweaters, we were hungry and now a little drunk from the Pisco, the 180 proof alcohol Luis insisted would keep us warm. As evening progressed we began to feel the cold, but fell asleep exhausted nevertheless.
Some time later, we both woke up startled. We were freezing! It was bitter cold and windy and we were hungry, tired and trembling in convulsive shivers. We both lay there looking up at the most incredible night sky, feeling as if you were floating through space, that you could practically touch the lights beaming down on you - on the verge of hypothermia! Without thinking twice we started hugging each other trying to generate some heat between us.
Here we were, two men from two completely different worlds, his in fact very conservative when it came to men displaying warmth for each other, laying under the Southern Cross on the rooftop of the world frantically hugging each other for hours until came the first hint of dawn.
As soon as the light changed Luis leapt up from our dismal night and started setting fire to the tundra bushes all around us. It would take him 5 minutes to get one to ignite. It would burst into flames for about 20 seconds and then be gone, leaving a smoking charred stub where once lived a fragile bush that probably took a hundred years to grow.
I couldn’t join him. My environmental morality would rather have me shivering on the frozen ground under a wool blanket. I had already broken my vegetarian ethic by eating guinea pig and dried fish. I was not going to start burning down the Andean tundra. Meanwhile, Luis was having fun jumping from burning bush to burning bush trying to shake off the night’s icy grip! He thought I was an idiot. He was right.
So I watched the sun’s rays descend from the snowy glaciers above down into the boulder fields and moraines, down into the tundra above us and then I took off up the mountain to meet the sun’s warmth! When I got up there and started to thaw out, I smiled as I saw about two hundred charred stubs left in Luis wake. Looking out over hundreds of miles of mountains put things in perspective!
I could see the pass and its sheltering boulders just 1000 feet above our camp only 20 minutes away!
Today we headed over the pass below the mystical mountain called Llongote, the most beautiful peak I had ever seen. The pass itself was truly a threshold from one world into another. We were now facing the Andean interior. Luis stopped to write a prayer on a tiny piece of paper and lodged it into one of millions of cracks in these huge stone sentinels that marked the pass. Looking closely I noticed thousands of tiny paper scrolls in the rocks, thousands of prayers and blessings sent out by the extraordinary Andean souls whose stories our lives were now intersecting. I then wrote something and jammed it into a crack in the rocks ~ Thank You Life, Thank You!
Where would today lead us? We had no idea. Only that our destination was the next village down the valley, the village of Ayaviri! Onward to Ayaviri!
