Cajabamba

We are in the midst of a rainy Semana Santa here in Peru. As Peruvians say, "The sky is crying." Most folks take advantage of the 4 day weekend and head to the beach or take part in the elaborate processions to and from the main plaza and church. I did none of the above. With my dear friend Vicky and Hugo we headed to another rainy town, Cajabamba about 3 hours from Cajamarca. We had two main objectives for our trip: 1) Donate boxes of clothes to a very poor and barely reachable community up in the mountains of Cajabamba 2) See these amazing staircase waterfalls.

The first day of our trip we criss-crossed a mountain with the Cajabamba municipality heavy duty 4 wheel truck to arrive at small community reached only by foot by it's inhabitants. Vicky had single-handedly gathered 6 big boxes of donated toys and clothes to donate to the same community where her grandmother grew up. Our heavy duty truck barely made it up the muddy path, but with enough pushing, we arrived in the community just in time to receive a warm welcome by, well everyone. Kids, parents, dogs, everyone came out of their houses that were sprinkled across the mountain to congregate at the school, where the donations took place. There were old toys, dolls with without hair, a pink guitar that was missing strings, stained pants, but all were received with a simple smile of gratitude. I feel incredibly proud to be friends with a woman who has such a big heart and her generosity filled the houses on that mountain top yesterday. After we finished what turned into a chaotic giving campaign we headed up the way to a lunch invitation. This humble family, living in a two room adobe house, invited us to a yummy meal of their homegrown organic lentils and rice lunch while the guinea pigs squealed below our feet.
Coming down the mountain we were exhausted and ready to arrive at Vicky's family house so we could pitch our tent out back and see the town. There wasn't much to see as the cold rain kept us indoors all afternoon and evening. That next morning at 5am, with not a bit of sunlight to be had, we started our trek up to Cochecorral - the famous staircase waterfalls. We were told it would be a 3 hour hike and since we were in the truck most of the day yesterday the three of us thought, "Great! This will be great exercise!" Well, little did we know that the 3 hours would turn into 5 hours, which would turn into 7 hours by the end of the day.

The path up to the falls isn't marked and when we passed houses in the dark that morning, for some reason no one answered our call to direct us the right way. We did eventually find some country folk that directed us. By that point they told only 1 more hour to go, 1 hr. was actually only 3 hours to go. We passed through a lush canyon and saw incredible views of the countryside in our "3 hour hike." Near the end of our journey to find the falls we - luckily - crossed paths with a young man and his donkey. The donkey was our savior and best friend as we placed our (not so heavy) bags on it's back and followed the donkey up stream. When we finally arrived at the waterfalls the sky turned grey and heavy with rain and the air filled with fog. The falls were beautiful, but it was hard to appreciate them as there were other things on our mind. We realized we had to cross the river in order to get to the highway, where we had high hopes that a car would bring us back to town. We surveyed the river - where could we cross? I was the only one that brought big water plastic boots, so I was the one that lead the human chain as we crossed in the lowest spot we could find. Let me tell you, hiking in plastic water boots is so-very-not-comfortable and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. But, they work like magic when you cross a raging river. We crossed, no one fell in, and we all breathed a sign of relief knowing we were only an hour away from the highway (well, an hour and a half, really). We did have luck as we arrived near the highway. A truck of tourists offered us the back of their truck and we climbed in and let our legs rest on the way down. We arrived in Cajabamba wet, dirty, yet satisfied at our feat. That afternoon we left Cajabamba, not knowing that the adventure would still continue. About an hour out of town the river that crossed the highway had swelled and there was a line of cars, truck, buses waiting to see which courageous vehicle would be the first to cross the raging river. Our bus, of course! Hugo and I said a little prayer as our buses got the engine ready and 1,2,3 made a strong go of it. We wobbled and shaked, but we crossed. Soon after, the other vehicles followed. Man, I am so glad and thankful to be dry and home and not having to cross any more rivers the rest of this weekend. I crossed one too many rivers this weekend and it is time to be dry and stay put. Those of you reading this, may you have a peaceful and joyous Easter, with few rivers to cross.