Vicuñas: Golden Camelid of Peru

You may catch a rare glimpse of a herd of vicuñas on your next Peru trek. Who could help but love this nimble golden camelid that roams the altiplano and mountainous regions of Peru? Sighting their graceful, delicate forms on the run across the high plains while trekking in Peru is a thrilling experience. No wonder they were respected and protected by the Inca. In fact, it was illegal for anybody but members of the ruling family to wear garments made from vicuña wool.

“Viçuna” by Phil Whitehouse licensed under CC BY 2.0

The extremely soft, warm wool of the vicuña is the most coveted fiber in the world! A single overcoat manufactured from vicuña wool goes for upwards of $30,000 USD. Since harsh dyes can damage the fibers, vicuña wool is usually left in its natural state. Additionally, vicuña wool is scarce: each animal only produces around a pound of wool per year.

The vicuña are a highly protected species in Peru. While their population now exceeds 200,000 animals, this was not always the case. Fifty years ago, their numbers had declined to less than 6,000 animals, due to extensive hunting. The Pampas Galeras Reserve was established to protect the vicuña, and its successful breeding and preservation programs literally brought the vicuña back from the verge of extinction. Now, the only legal vicuña fiber is that which is sheared during the annual roundups. Hunting, interfering with, or exporting vicuña is highly illegal in Peru.

Vicuña mirandote by Nestor Rojas licensed under CC BY 2.0

Unlike their descendant, the domestic alpaca, the legendary sylphlike vicuña cannot be easily imprisoned or tamed. When kept in captivity, vicuña have been known to develop health issues, such as parasites, osteomyelitis, and dandruff, which damages their wool. Since they are not domesticated or kept in enclosures, vicuñas are herded together yearly in a ceremonial event called a chaccu, during which they are rounded up, sheared, and released back into the wild to roam the plains once more.

The 3 Vicuñas by Paulo Fassina licensed under CC BY 2.0

Chaccus take place yearly in June on the Pampas Galeras National Reserve in the Lucana province of Peru’s Ayacucho region, on the high altiplano, or mountain plains, where the vicuña live. A grand festival including Peruvian typical music, dancing in colorful traditional garb, and feasting on Peruvian typical dishes accompanies the chaccu. This is the time of the Winter Solstice celebration, an important holiday for the indigenous communities of Peru.

Want to join in on the fun? A trip to the Pampas Galeras to attend the chaccu can be combined with a visit to the Nazca region; it’s an approximate three-hour drive from Nazca to Ayacucho. During your visit, you’ll have the chance to tour the reserve and learn about the community-based programs in place to protect this graceful, golden camelid.

Though rare, vicuñas may occasionally be spotted on one of Apus Peru’s remote Peru mountain treks, which explore the rarely visited backcountry of Southern Peru’s high mountains. See these links for further information:

http://www.apus-peru.com/treks/ausangate_5days.html

http://www.apus-peru.com/treks/ausangate_sibinacocha.htm

It’s a privilege to get the rare view of this legendary, ethereal creature. May the vicuña thrive and continue to grace the Pachamama with their wildness and beauty!

Vicuñas by Carine06 licensed under CC BY 2.0

LARES TO MACHU PICCHU clean up trek – handy in the Andes

I have just recently returned from experiencing one of our Apus Peru treks, which happened to be a specially requested ‘Clean up’ hike.

I accompanied a group of 8; a family of 5 with 3 girls under 12 years old, a father/daughter couple and a teacher. The trek was our Lares to Machu Picchu route, http://www.apus-peru.com/treks/lares_machu_picchu.htm a 4 day trek, hiking 3 days, 2 nights camping and ending with a visit to Machu Picchu.

We passed through the Andean communities of Chaullacocha and Chupani with which Apus Peru work directly through supporting their sister organisation Threads of Peru http://threadsofperu.com/ in promoting production of their traditional textiles.

We started on day 1 heading up from the Patacancha valley where our guide, Herbert, got us to do some team preperations.

As we made our way up to 4100m we collected trash located around the road side and managed to get two big sacks full of rubbish.

We passed through some local farm communities and gave out bread to the locals as there are literally no bakeries around for miles.

Three of our youngest group members were especially keen to interact with the local children. Here’s the Apus Peru clean up “team” foto:

As we passed through the communities later in the day the opportunity came to buy some local textiles from the people who made them, further supporting the communities which we encounter during our treks.

Day 2 began well and ended better. After a fair spell of rain it dried up just in time for a dip in the thermal baths near to Lares and our final nights camp.

During the course of the trek we had collected 7 and a half bags of rubbish and not passed by any other trekkers. Our trek culminated in a well deserved visit to Machu Picchu.

By Matt Waugh, 17th September 2014. Photographs, Matt Waugh and Sophia Kohler.

To book this trek or find out about other similar eco-hikes, please see our link: http://www.apus-peru.com/treks/special_treks.html

Trekker report: Ancascocha Trek

Views on the Ancascocha Trek taken by Apus Peru guide Urbano Huayna

This is an excerpt from an email from Apus Peru trekker Angela Bowers, who with 3 friends trekked the Ancascocha route in late October. For more info on the Ancascocha route see http://www.apus-peru.com/treks/ancascocha.htm.   Thank you to Angela for writing a comprehensive and interesting trip report!

“We are back in Michigan after a long flight home and catching up on emails, sleep and laundry. I wanted to write for several reasons, one of which is to tell you that this trip was amazing, incredible, breathtaking, fun, challenging, heartwarming, and most likely one of the best adventures I (we) have ever experienced.

From the hotels (I would strongly recommend Second Home as a place for your clients to stay) to the people (Urbano was a wonderful guide, funny, experienced, knowledgeable and Mauro’s cooking was incredible!) to the scenery and locals, and even the weather seemed to be smiling on us most of the time, this trip was just about perfect. Even the day of nasty altitude sickness I had on the second day (thank goodness for that horse) was worth the price to see and experience the hike that we did. The very first day, we saw a couple of condors high in the clouds and a couple of falcons fly right over our heads!

Some of the local sheep on the trail. Photo courtesy of A.Bowers

After the Salkantay Pass on the morning of the second day we met NO other hikers on the trail – the world was ours! Just us, Urbano and the crew, and farmers here and there that we met, including the sheep farmers, which was a great experience! The mountains were majestic and breathtaking, the hike down the last day in the valley, seeing all the waqanki orchids was truly amazing.

Urbano was very knowledgeable with mountains/rock formations, flowers and plants and some of the birds/animals we observed. If he didn’t know something, he said so, which was great compared to trying to make something up. He has a great sense of humor, we do need to apologize, though, I think we thoroughly corrupted him with plenty of American slang, including ‘road apples’ for horse manure, and a few really good Canadian jokes (Aye).

On the drive up to the start of the hike, Urbano jumped out a few times and would go collect what turned out to be mint leaves along the road – for most all of the hike, every evening, he would have Mauro brew some mint tea, which finished my day and meal off most perfectly!

Avalanche on Salkantay mountain. Photo courtesy of A. Bowers

Mauro’s cooking was just incredible!! What he was able to create with a pressure cooker and out in the middle of nowhere and care so much about the presentation of the food as well was amazing – we ate like royalty!!! His quinoa risotto was my absolute favorite.

The dinner at the Treehouse in Aguas Calientes was just amazing, every dish was shared and tasted and even Urbano was highly impressed! A definite gem. The La Cabana was a nice stay as well, good recommendation, comfortable rooms, clean and lots of hot water for the long shower after hiking. Machu Picchu was a very, very rainy morning, but with a smile, even with a cold, Urbano took us on the tour – we ended up not climbing Huyana Picchu as it was completely covered in mist and the rain was coming down steady, making the climb most likely treacherous. We explored some more and then went out and hid under some umbrellas, waiting for lunch. There, the guys, including Urbano, proceeded to tell each other jokes and stories – it was awesome. After lunch at the Machu Picchu lodge, Urbano said goodbye and we headed back into Machu Picchu to explore some more as the rain had stopped.

We met Carlos, the owner of Second Home, the next morning and he was so friendly and courteous! Urbano and his wife and son caught up to us shopping and we walked around Cusco together, had lunch, and said good bye. Our taxi to the airport was covered by Carlos and off we went. I was sad to leave.

Orchids en route. Photo courtesy A.Bowers

If you have clients that want to spend a day or so in Ollantaytambo (which we enjoyed immensely), the Hotel Sol is a great place to stay! Aguas Calientes was an interesting town – probably our least favorite except for the Treehouse, the hotel and the ruins. Unlike Ollantaytambo, the town was a complete tourist trap, but that is to be expected at the base of Machu Picchu.

Overall, the trip exceeded our expectations in so many ways. We would be happy to recommend Apus Peru to anyone considering a trip to Peru.