Saturday (yesterday) we went on a fun, varied field-trip to the local area of Perené along the river with the same name. Our tour guide shared all kinds of information with us, including facts and local legends. Magdalena took good notes in Spanish, which we´ll share with you in English!
The Airplane Park in our town of La Merced.
- We pass this roundabout with a propellar plane every day on our way to the police station.
- The plane was used in the last twenty years for raides on drug trafficing in this region.
Ecólogic Chanchamayo, a local coffee farm, plant and store.
- Ninety percent of agriculture in Chanchamayo (which includes 6 town, including La Merced) is coffee. The Chanchamayo region is the coffee capital of Peru.
- When coffee is natural it is brown; if it's black it's burned!
- If coffee is good, then you should enjoy it without sugar. Only bad coffee needs sugar!
- You should drink two cups of good coffee each day: one cup of café americano in the morning to wake up and one cup of espresso in the evening to calm you for the night.
Quimiri Bridge
- a suspension bridge 90 m long across the Chanchamayo River in La Merced
- built in 1905 to bring loads of fruits from the farms into the town
- On the other side of the bridge we noticed how the roots of plants and trees hold the rocks and bolders in place. Our guide explained that people have often cut off roots to make coffe and produce baskets since the roots are moisture-resistant. When these roots are removed avalanches result; this is a common problem during the rainy season on barren hillsides.
- We enjoyed freshly made juices (mango) and ice cream (pineapple, coffee, chocolate, and passion fruit) at the Bio Fresh shop along the river, with a great view of the bridge.
Mountain of the sleeping native man
- The clouds moved away just in time for us to see this natural attraction, the face (forehead, eye, nose and chin), and body profile on the top of the mountain.
Villa Progresso, a farm, hotel and restaurant
- orchards of oranges, tangerines, coconuts, bananas, plums
- heliconia, a jungle plant
- confluence of the rivers Chanchamayo and Baucatamba, forming the Perené River which eventually forms the Amazon.
Visit to the famous machetero Pepelucho
- nocturnal relative to other large rodents
- the name relates to its ability to cut with its teeth like a machete; English name is Pacarana
- this is a domesticated machetero who has stared in movies, including one from Hollywood, "El Dorado, Temple of the Sun"
- most recent film is from Peru, "Trata de no callar"
- also met the cutpe, a smaller jungle rodent
Ashaninka Indigenous Community
- 2nd largest indigenous group in the Peruvian Amazon
- comtemporaries of the Incas
- we learned some essential Ashaninka words before we arrived: kitaitery (good morning); pashonky (thank you); habiro (hello); pabishi (enter); pisaiki (sit down); sheténedy (good afternoon); siténedy (good evening)
- "Marankiari" is the name of the village we visited. It's set up like a living history museum where you participate in some of the culture. When we arrived we were dressed in local garb: long brown smocks; strands of beads; headbands with feather for the women and children; straw head bands for the men; and face markings for each, depending on your age and marital status. Kent and Teresa received 3 stripes on each cheek, Luis had one stripe on each cheek, and Magdalena was marked with a star on each cheek, meaning that she is marrying age :)
- We were served a drink of manzinato masticado. a fermented yucca drink. Not very pleasing to us!
- We experienced a marriage ritual during which Magdalena and the other single young lady in our tour group were taken away by a single man of the community to be tested for marriage. (Magdalena said he just took them to some plants and taught them about the properties and uses of the plants.) When they came back to the group, we were escorted by village folks into a dance around a bonfire. Several men played drums and a boy played the kena (bamboo flute), to provide the melody and rhythm for the dancing.
- after the wedding ritual and dancing, there was time to shop in the artisan areas and to hold boas and parrots; both of our girls held the boa for photos! Magdalena was surprised how heavy it was.
Boat ride on the Perené River
- We weren´t so sure about going on the "Titanic", a long canoe-like boat with a motor, fitting 18 (plus a baby) of us in our group
- lovely to experience a ride on a rushing river; high brown water in the rainy season
Restaurant: El Shamuray
- the restaurant specializes in meats from the jungle, but none of us could think of eating the machetero or cutpe that we just met this morning! We opted for other local meats....
- Luisa had "Milanesa de pollo", a breaded chicken fillet
- Magdalena ordered "Venado asado", grilled deer meat
- Teresa and Kent both enjoyed fried Doncella, a South American catfish
- all dishes were served with white rice, fried sticks of yucca (similar to thick french fries), and cooked ripe plantain
Bayoz Waterfall and Bride's Veil Waterfall
- beautiful hikes to various lookouts along the waterfalls
- water was especially high and brown because of recent rains, so they didn't recommend swimming; in the dry season there is much less water and it's clear, nicer for bathing
- we still enjoyed the refreshing spray along the hikes
Chanchamayo Highland Coffee
- another local plant and stores, the store that we located on our first day in town, which sells Menno Tea and has photos of Goshen's own Niles Graber Miller with a cute mishasho (coati in English), a small jungle animal
- Café Misha is the most expensive coffee. It´s produced when a mishasho eats the coffee beans. The poop is cleaned and processed to produce a specialty coffee which is sold for lots of money in Europe and the U.S. (e.g. 95 soles per 100 gm, or $38 for 3.5 oz)
- we stocked up on local chocolates: chocolate with orange juice and rind; and coffee chocolates
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