The Road to the Amazon: Huánuco, Tingo María & Pucallpa

HUÁNUCO

We began our trip in Huánuco at a cheap little hostel with lovely artwork (ha ha) and an amazing shower. While the town itself isn't much to look at, it is geographically important as it lies on the upper reaches of the Río Huallaga, the major tributary of the Río Marañón before it becomes the Amazon.

Nearby is the Temple of Kotosh, one of Peru's oldest archeological sites, dating back to 2000 BC. Despite being out of the way and, essentially, in the middle of nowhere, there was a very knowledgeable guide and it was a well-organized site. There is a replica of the Temple of the Crossed Hands, as well as original parts of the various temples to see. It is unbelievable that after 4,000 years, many parts are more or less intact.

Even more incredible are the three Echo Points throughout the complex of temples. It's a very small circle where, when you speak, there is an echo. However, those outside the radius of the circle cannot hear the echo at all. As the guide was explaining this, Arturo and I exchanged skeptical looks - but then we tried it. Sure enough, when I stood there, I could hear a very, very loud echo, but those around me just heard my voice as it normally is. Scientists have still been unable to explain this...

We also took a little side trip to visit the house of Perrichola. This is the original home of a woman, Micaela Villegas, famous for her romance with Count Amat, essentially the King of Peru, sent from Spain, during the late 19th century. There are many versions of the story, but I most prefer the following: Amat fell in love with Micaela, who went to Lima to work for an Italian family. The family's name sounded similar to Perrichola, and thus is the reason this became her name. Amat, in his 60's, very much desired this beautiful 18 year old and offered her anything she wanted. She told him that she wanted to see the moon at his feet and he built her the Paseo de Aquas, still standing today in Rimac, where he could stand, at night, next to the water with the moon's reflection at his feet. It is also said that he bought her a gold and silver coach and, a less disputed fact, had a child with her. Probably the more likely story is that Amat called Micaela Perra Chola (half-breed bitch) during an argument which, combined and changed, became Perrichola. Regardless, he was later sent back to Spain and, altough in his 80's, married his niece and fathered other children with her. As for Perrichola, both during her time with Amat and after, she did her best to help her town and her people...although she apparantly angered quite a lot of people as she lived quite well because of her relationship with Amat. We went to this house, a simple one-floor house with a plain wooden carriage outside. Who knows what really happened...

TINGO MARÍA
Next stop was the tiny little town of Tingo María. Surprisingly, although it only has a population of 15,000, it is a thriving, bustling town which almost every Peruvian has heard of. Why? Because during the reign of Sandero Luminoso (Shining Path), in the 1980's to early 90's, this area - where much of the country's cocaine production happens - became a haven of violence. Oddly enough, however, this area, along with the rest of Peru, doesn't have serious issues of drug abuse. It's more about money and business than anything else.

Now, fortunately, the area is under control and the only signs we saw of the dangerous history were several security points which both questioned and, occasionally, searched people, along with a couple of whispered offers for coca on the street.

The landscape is beautiful, surrounded by mountains, waterfalls and caves. We went to the Parque Nacional Tingo María, enjoying La Cueva de las Lechuzas (the Cave of the Owls). This cave, surprisingly, is not known for its owls, but rather its colony of special "oil birds" which lives exclusively in the dark. If killed, these birds yield an abundance of oil which people use just like regular oil, mainly for cooking. The cave also houses stalactites and stalagmites, bats and other birds. The most beautiful part of the cave is the view from inside, looking out into the sunshine shining through the mouth of the cave.

Next stop was a beautiful, hidden away waterfall (of which we cannot remember the name).

Someone told Arturo about a waterfall, he asked around, and we took a taxi to a house with a dirth path next to it. We paid our ingreso to the house - apparantly for walking along their property - and were told to simply 'follow the trail' for about 45 minutes. Luckily, after about 40 minutes, we met some locals walking on the path (smoothly walking along the sliding mud in flip-flops like it's nothing while we were sliding all over the place) and found out that we had missed our turn. We backtracked and made it to a delicious waterfall, hidden away from the world. The sun was hidden by the trees and the water was freezing, but it was beautiful. We took a quick, barely-in-the-water dip to cool off and refresh ourselves.....

When we got back into town, we devoured fresh river fish and several jars of maracuya juice (passion fruit) and then walked over to the local Botanical Garden. It looked closed and was locked, but Arturo rang the bell and, after paying, we entered to walk around. It wasn't the most impressive of gardens, mainly because it didn't seem to be looked after very well, but nevertheless, it was a pleasant place.

PUCALLPA
Getting into the Amazon is tricky. You can't just drive there. So, other than flying, there are limited options. Pucallpa is one of the biggest 'jungle towns' directly connected by road to Lima, followed by direct boat access to the Amazon. It is for this reason that we went to Pucallpa: to take a boat to Iquitos, the official starting point of the Amazon, where several rivers intersect, forming the great Amazon River.

Probably the most famous place to visit in Pucallpa (for tourists at least) is Yarinacocha. This is a lake, now entirely landlocked, although it was once part of the Río Ucayali (My personal opinion? Another result of global warming). We ate lunch and then went to the lake, not quite sure what to expect. Our moto-taxi (tuk tuk as I still think of them), took us to to a lake surrounded on one side with restaurant after restaurant serving fresh, cheap fish. We were so disappointed that we'd just eaten lunch!

We hired a boat to take us over to a zoological center which, while it did house much local wildlife, wasn't the most thrilling of all the zoos I have been to. In fact, it was more sad than anything else to see the animals in tiny little cages. The one redeeming fact is that they used much of the surrounding nature as part of the cages, from the ground to the trees.

From there, Arturo remembered that we were near the Albergue of a friend's family. Our boat driver took us over and we just walked in, Arturo announcing "Hi, I'm Arturo. I'm a friend of Sandra's." That was more than enough (this friendliness is one of the things I love about Peruvians). We were welcomed into the house and sat and relaxed for a bit, enjoying some nice conversation and the beautiful house and its grounds. After warm good-byes, we were on our way to enjoy the end of our journey on the Yarinacocha by watching a tiny little boat with 7 people make their way along the lake.

Then, we had a lovely dinner along the lake, filled with delicious food, bzzzing mosquitos and San Juan cerveza, the only beer brewed in the Amazon.

The next day the real adventure began: the boat to Iquitos (and the subject of my next blog entry).