We slept in this morning, but after breakfast bid farewell to the remote village we called home for the night. Today we descended from roughly 11,000' to 6500' at the town of Sahuayaco (also called Playa), several miles upstream from Santa Teresa. This is a legitimate town with a school, electricity (last night a single solar panel powered the only light), and even TV. We're camping in the front yard of a family that has a TV with satellite, a bathroom with a flushing toilet and a tiled shower. They're fairly well off compared to others we've seen lately; their 14 year old daughter is wearing earrings and has a brand new Nike jacket on... allegedly going to Rio with her high school in September. She was quite flirty when we showed up, so I seemed to get more info from her than most would. I asked her what she wanted to be when she was done with school - a singer in Cuzco. She had no interest in continuing her parents' business and said most of the kids in town move to Cuzco when they finish school. It sounds like they don't really care to stay in a rural setting.
Before we arrived, we continued to follow the river past primitive homes... thatch rooftops, no electricity, "bathrooms" which are actually just holes in the earth that flow into the river, "showers" made of a hose fed by a line from the nearest creek surrounded by plastic tarp offering minimal privacy, etc. This is a hard life. I almost can't imagine it, and doubt these folks could imagine my life. It's really hard to put into words, yet part of me wants to move here and try it out for a while. Farm a mixed-use acre or two... bananas, grenadillas, cacao, avocados, lemons, coffee... we walked past those and more on the trail today. At the same time, it's hard to think about how one lives that way. It's such a different life than my current one. In addition to the plants, we've also passed chickens, pigs, alpacas, cattle, turkeys... these people live off the land.
My thoughts are scattered tonight.... so much to write down. We caught a glimpse of Salkantay upon departure this morning. What a stark contrast! If this is the dry season, I can't imagine the wet one here. Water rages downhill all around us. We walked 7-10 miles today, and it was whitewater the whole time next to us. I told Tony and Shelly I had never seen such a continuous set of rapids like this... class III - V water for miles...
It was a short day today; when we stopped for lunch we had arrived here and thus were finished hiking for the day. We spent a large part of the afternoon talking to a couple who are doing the trail sans guide. She's Canadian, he's from New Jersey. They're living in London but taking a 6 month sabbatical. I ordered a coffee from our host mother before we started chatting. "10 minutes, ok?" 10 minutes became 30, but it was worth waiting for. Excellent coffee, the best 2 cups of my life, drip-made from the beans grown organically on the nearest hillside. I keep saying this, but what a beautiful and interesting setting this is. It's such a different way of life and existence than the one I know. I really can't do it justice... time to call it a night.
No comments:
Post a Comment