La Merced

A couple of weeks ago, I got the chance to travel with my host brother to the city of La Merced in the Chanchamayo province of Peru. This city is the beginning of the Amazon rainforest and was an awesome experience.

The trip started with me taking a bus to the city of Huancayo on a Wednesday at 11:45 p.m. My host brother was already in Huancayo so I had to make the trip solo. I packed my bags, flagged down a taxi and arrived at the bus station on time. The bus ride went smoothly. It was dark and I could hardly see anything but I could feel us taking sharp turns up mountainsides, climbing higher and higher. At the highest point of the ride we were above 15,000 feet in elevation. However, I was able to sleep through it and didn't feel any elevation sickness. I arrived in Huancayo safely around 7:00 a.m. on Thursday. I spent the day seeing places around Huancayo with my host family.

The next day my host brother, his girlfriend, and I took off for La Merced in the family pickup. The drive through the mountains was insane. For starters, the sights were unbelievable. We went from one grassy valley to another, winding up and down mountains. In nearly every direction we could see huge snow capped mountains. For a while we drove on a high plateau where the grass didn't get very tall. After living in a city in the middle of a dessert for over two months, the fields of short grass reminded me of home. Up there herds of sheep would graze freely. There were no fences. Instead, people would would sit and shepherd them; no vehicle, house, or corrals in sight. They just lead their herds around the plateau.

Along with the many sights, were the crazy twisting roads and my host brother sped through them like a formula one racer. Every time we went around a tight corner he would take the inside lane whether it was his or not. The tires would begin to squeal as we whipped around the turn. I sat with my seat belt fastened, squeezing the handle above the door, praying that there wasn't an on coming car. In the event that there was an oncoming car he would slam the breaks and get over just before we collided. I asked him to slow down a few times but he told me not to worry and that he had done this before. This was of little comfort to me. I can't wait to be on American roads. Anyway, as we went further we started to see more and more vegetation. When got out of the mountains and started to follow the Chanchamayo river. There was green everywhere. We had made it to the beginnings of the jungle.

All of the winding roads reminded me of an article and a discussion we had in our Indigenous cultures class. A big challenge for Peru is to be able to distribute goods and develop the country outside of the coast and Lima. The harsh landscapes of the Andes mountains and Amazon jungle make it a near impossible task to set up a good infrastructure. As the crow flies Huancayo to La Merced is maybe 80 miles or so. However, it took us about three hours to drive there.  

We arrived at La Merced and got a pretty nice hotel for a reasonable price. We went out to eat in the main square of the city. The food was really good. The best part was the exotic fruit juices that we ordered to drink. We walked around the city for a little while. There were many shops with handcrafts and nicknacks. The bugs are enormous in the jungle and there were many framed giant butterflies and tarantulas in the shops. As night came around we found and hired a guide to ride around with us and show us all there was to see in the area.

After a night of pounding rain we rose early to meet up with three more friends and begin our tour. We first stopped at an old suspension bridge that was first built about a hundred years ago. It has been remodeled a lot since then but is still in the same place. It was long and narrow, but was strong enough for cars to drive across. We walked to the other side of the river to a cliff and the guide told us the significance of the bridge for the first non-native explorers of the forest. There was a spot cliff face next to the bridge where one could climb the vines and get a good view of the river. When we climbed down and started walking back to our car, a man with a boa constrictor let us take a picture holding his pet. The snake was shiny and I expected it to be slimy, but it felt dry and scaly.

Our next stop was an Indigenous village of the Ashaninka people. The people wore simple clothes and no shoes. The village wasn't too isolated and we were able to drive there. The people there embraced the role of tourist attractions. I think all of them spoke Spanish but when they talked to each other it was their native tongue. They dressed us up and painted our faces. I felt a little awkward but I went along with it. The chief came and told us some of his peoples story. He had his face painted and had some bright colored parrot feathers on his headdress. Then they started playing flutes and drums and dancing with us. I felt really awkward at this point, but it was over soon enough. After that we decided to do the zip line that they had set up at the village. We got all the gear and trekked up the hill to the start of the zip line cable. One by one we clamped in and soared down the line over the village. It was exhilarating! The line and the break at the bottom that consisted of bungee straps staked into the ground probably weren't up to U.S. safety codes, but we risked it and everybody made it just fine.

Riding the Zip Line

After the village we drove to some trails that led to some beautiful waterfalls. When we completed the short hike to a waterfall we were able to take a dip in the pool that it created. The amount of water that came crashing down was impressive and captivating. We walked down a different trail to another even bigger waterfall. Our guide told us that waterfalls like this are all over the forest. It's amazing how much water comes running down into the rivers in that area, but after driving through the mountains and hearing the rain all night it was easy to understand where it all comes from.

Once we were done seeing the waterfalls we made our way back to La Merced and visited a big coffee/fruit company there. They gave out free samples of their fruit and coffee, both of which tasted amazing. The rain forest climate is a perfect place to raise coffee and once I had a sample I had to buy some. So I got three bags.

After the day of tours we ate and relaxed in our hotel. Our friends that we had met up with wanted to go home that evening, but a landslide had actually covered about a hundred yards of the only road out of the city. This was another example of the difficulty Peru has of developing a good infrastructure. So since we couldn't go home, we decided to go out to a night club. The club we went to was actually really cool. It had two levels of people dancing. The lighting and the DJ made a very enjoyable atmosphere. In true Peruvian fashion we stayed out until the early morning before going and crashing in the hotel.

The next day the road had been cleared and we were free to go home. The trip back was no less exhilarating than the trip there. Toño still drove like a mad man and I still held on for dear life. The two days I spent in La Merced were a lot of fun and it was very nice to see a new part of Perú.