Mary is having some follow-up stomach issues so Julio and I head to the tiny village of San Bartolo to visit a Chachas funerary complex with mausoleums built high into limestone cliffs at an altitude some 9,100 feet above sea level. Very remote, the village is really cool. Living looks to be unchanged from hundreds of years ago with oxen pulling plows in the fields, women in native dress, and not a car in sight.
The trail from San Bartolo to the mausoleums takes about an hour. It’s rather steep and the altitude makes the walk quite strenuous. Along the way a few native women are passing the time doing traditional weaving and offer tea prepared from the leaves of a native citrus tree. It’s great. There’s also an elderly woman (whom Julio knows) drying corn in the sun. They leave the corn on the stalk in the fields for over a year to dry, then finish in the sun. When dry the corn can store for many years.
The mausoleums are constructed of rock and adobe, plastered and painted pink & cream. They look like little houses but are actually tombs. Most were ransacked by raiders long ago, but a few have yielded bones and funerary offerings for archaeologists to examine. The Revash mausoleums are unique in that they take the form of miniature villages located in cavities excavation in the walls of the canyon. Very, very cool stuff.
Back in Leymebamba, we visited the well-respected ‘Museo de Leymebamba’. The museum opened in early 2000 and displays the more that 200 mummies and their burial offerings recovered from the ‘Laguna de los Condores’ (‘Lake of the Condors’) archaeological site. Fortunately, a private group salvaged the priceless collection of artifacts from looters & vandals.
Mary and I are staying at the ‘Hummingbird Lodge’, located across the street from the museum. The lodge is owned by the famous archaeologist Adrianna von Hagen who is rarely in residence. This night, for the first time in over a year, Ms. Von Hagen was at the lodge and kind enough to introduce herself at dinner. In preparation for our trip M. & I both read her book ‘The Incas’ (twice myself). A ‘friend of the family’, archaeologist and author Keith Muscatt (‘Warriors of the Clouds – Chachapoyas’) was also present and chatted for a few minutes. :}
D.
Even after limiting myself to light soup for both lunch and dinner the day before, I awoke this morning with a return of symptoms from the norovirus. It becomes readily apparent that I will not be able to handle the excursion to Revash nor do I feel like it. Dick heads off to breakfast and I go back to bed. When Dick returns, he is followed by a very determined Azelita bearing a tray with a pot of hot tea and some toast. The tea is wonderful, but I can only manage a few bites of toast and go back to bed to sleep.
Dick returns around 2:30 for lunch before heading to the Museum. I still have no interest in eating and prefer to stay in the room. After he finishes lunch, yet again Azelita comes bearing more tea and a worried expression. She offers to make up the bed which I decline. By the time Dick returns from the museum I have rousted myself to the deck to drink Gatorade and enjoy the view. Dinner is a wonderful roasted cream of squash soup that is like drinking velvet.
It’s an early night and I am hoping I can manage the eight hour drive the next morning. We are originally scheduled to depart at 9:00 am, however, we receive a call from Julio at 8 this evening that the road will be closed tomorrow at 8:00 am for the entire day (we are about 2 ½ hours from where the closure will start). We must now depart at 4:30 am. Not much sleep tonight.
M.
