Olga has a couple of cousins living in an area ofd Peru called Ceja de Selva, Eyebrow of the Jungle. It is an area about 1000' above sea level in the eastern foothills of the Andes. The valley we visited has the Maio River running through it and the coffee from that area often carries the name Alto Maio.
Tarapoto was full of tourists but they were almost entirely Peruvian tourists. This says something about the strength of the Peruvian middle class. This is not something completely separated from our lives in the US. We hear a lot of the shrinking middle class in the US. This money went somewhere and some of it went into strengthening the middle class in countries such as Peru.
We visited a small town called Lamas. In the main square there is a statue of an indigenous man shaking hands with a conquistador.
The local residents are very proud of the history behind that statue. These two fought a common enemy - The Inkas. You don't get to build an empire, as the Inkas did without defeating a lot of foes and making a lot of enemies.
Lamas is a small village, not much has changed in recent years. All the more remarkable for another statue in the main square.
This statue is of the pioneer woman (there is also one of a pioneer man but it is mroe predictable). What is interesting is the plaque below the statue.
This pioneer woman is being recognized for being an "excellent business woman" (comerciante por excelencia) among other things.
An Italian came here many years ago and in the last 10 years has build a small castle. Half of it is open to the public and the rest is his home.
The castle has three large towers; two and a half of them are open to the public. The workmanship is beautiful. The story is that there was a piece of land with several large boulders on the land and no one wanted to buy it because they would have to deal with the boulders. He "dealt" with them by incorporating them into the castle.
You can see here that he sculpted one of the boulders into a horses head. Here's a better shot.
Here is a shot of the castle as we left it.
The next day we headed for a lagoon a couple of hour's drive from Tarapoto. We had to take a ferry.
A very fast moving river and the boat had two big outboard motors. I assume in case one of them gave out. The boat consists of three separate hulls with a large platform built across the top.
This is our tour group above the lagoon. There were five other tour vans that day. All small companies, all making a living.
While on the lake it started to rain so that some of the planned activities had to be cancelled. A few people were complaining but my take on things was that since these people had probably not seen such heavy rain in many years it was more than an appropriate replacement.
This was the only place for water to leave the lagoon. It was fenced off to keep the fish (talapia) in the lake. This is what they fed us.
The meal I had was called jaune. It is very much a dish from the area and is a bit like arroz con pollo but cooked like a tamal, just a much bigger serving.
Heading back to town we stopped to take a few pictures of the Altomaio.
We took a day off from touring and visited Olga's cousins. They are a brother and sister who came to live here from Lima. Walter is a pediatrician and has a very nice life here. His sister, Blanca, married a farmer and has a more difficult life.
Blanca lives in Tabalosos, about an hour by a very good road from Tarapoto. We passed rice fields on the way. Tabalosos is quite a large town but even so, we got into a taxi in Tarapoto and drove for an hour with the only instructions to the driver - "take us to Sra Blanca's house" - and he knew exactly where to go. So did every other taxi driver for that route.
Blanca's husband, Gonzalo, is an environmentalist en su alma (in his soul) as they say.
Glonzalo has a small farm where he grows sugar cane to produce aguardiente (fire water). When we arrived at their door Blanca came to greet us and there was a stong smell of liquor. I wondered at the time, 11AM, and then saw barrel after barrel of home made booze.
He sells in bulk but also makes his own macerado (macerated). He uses 42% aguardiente, concord grapes (de la selva) and honey and it is a perfect drink.
This is his still. In the next photo, on the left, is the spigot where the booze comes out. Above it is a water tank with a condenser coil submerged in water.
This is the press to get the sugar cane juice out of the sugar cane.
The squeezed sugar cane, called bagaso, is dried and used as fuel.
This photo is of the framing for a thatched roof. It would be nice to try to replicate with locust.
Someone drying coffee beans on the street. It rains a lot here so I can't imagine what happens if it starts to rain. too much to protect by hand.
This is where Blanca works. The town hall.
We also visited with Blanca's brother - Walter - who is a pediatrician in Tarapoto. His wife, Betty, is originally from Tabalosos. How these two Limenos got to meet and marry two people from Tabalosos is another story
On our last day we went on a short tour to see a waterfall called Ahuashiyacu.
There it is in the background near the top of the ridge.
Zoom in.
What we got to visit was a little bit at the bottom.
This is a little "flower" all by itself.
Just before we went back to Lima, Walter and Betty took us out to eat.
Tarapoto was full of tourists but they were almost entirely Peruvian tourists. This says something about the strength of the Peruvian middle class. This is not something completely separated from our lives in the US. We hear a lot of the shrinking middle class in the US. This money went somewhere and some of it went into strengthening the middle class in countries such as Peru.
We visited a small town called Lamas. In the main square there is a statue of an indigenous man shaking hands with a conquistador.
The local residents are very proud of the history behind that statue. These two fought a common enemy - The Inkas. You don't get to build an empire, as the Inkas did without defeating a lot of foes and making a lot of enemies.
Lamas is a small village, not much has changed in recent years. All the more remarkable for another statue in the main square.
This statue is of the pioneer woman (there is also one of a pioneer man but it is mroe predictable). What is interesting is the plaque below the statue.
This pioneer woman is being recognized for being an "excellent business woman" (comerciante por excelencia) among other things.
An Italian came here many years ago and in the last 10 years has build a small castle. Half of it is open to the public and the rest is his home.
The castle has three large towers; two and a half of them are open to the public. The workmanship is beautiful. The story is that there was a piece of land with several large boulders on the land and no one wanted to buy it because they would have to deal with the boulders. He "dealt" with them by incorporating them into the castle.
You can see here that he sculpted one of the boulders into a horses head. Here's a better shot.
Here is a shot of the castle as we left it.
The next day we headed for a lagoon a couple of hour's drive from Tarapoto. We had to take a ferry.
A very fast moving river and the boat had two big outboard motors. I assume in case one of them gave out. The boat consists of three separate hulls with a large platform built across the top.
This is our tour group above the lagoon. There were five other tour vans that day. All small companies, all making a living.
While on the lake it started to rain so that some of the planned activities had to be cancelled. A few people were complaining but my take on things was that since these people had probably not seen such heavy rain in many years it was more than an appropriate replacement.
This was the only place for water to leave the lagoon. It was fenced off to keep the fish (talapia) in the lake. This is what they fed us.
The meal I had was called jaune. It is very much a dish from the area and is a bit like arroz con pollo but cooked like a tamal, just a much bigger serving.
Heading back to town we stopped to take a few pictures of the Altomaio.
We took a day off from touring and visited Olga's cousins. They are a brother and sister who came to live here from Lima. Walter is a pediatrician and has a very nice life here. His sister, Blanca, married a farmer and has a more difficult life.
Blanca lives in Tabalosos, about an hour by a very good road from Tarapoto. We passed rice fields on the way. Tabalosos is quite a large town but even so, we got into a taxi in Tarapoto and drove for an hour with the only instructions to the driver - "take us to Sra Blanca's house" - and he knew exactly where to go. So did every other taxi driver for that route.
Blanca's husband, Gonzalo, is an environmentalist en su alma (in his soul) as they say.
Glonzalo has a small farm where he grows sugar cane to produce aguardiente (fire water). When we arrived at their door Blanca came to greet us and there was a stong smell of liquor. I wondered at the time, 11AM, and then saw barrel after barrel of home made booze.
He sells in bulk but also makes his own macerado (macerated). He uses 42% aguardiente, concord grapes (de la selva) and honey and it is a perfect drink.
This is his still. In the next photo, on the left, is the spigot where the booze comes out. Above it is a water tank with a condenser coil submerged in water.
This is the press to get the sugar cane juice out of the sugar cane.
The squeezed sugar cane, called bagaso, is dried and used as fuel.
This photo is of the framing for a thatched roof. It would be nice to try to replicate with locust.
Someone drying coffee beans on the street. It rains a lot here so I can't imagine what happens if it starts to rain. too much to protect by hand.
This is where Blanca works. The town hall.
We also visited with Blanca's brother - Walter - who is a pediatrician in Tarapoto. His wife, Betty, is originally from Tabalosos. How these two Limenos got to meet and marry two people from Tabalosos is another story
On our last day we went on a short tour to see a waterfall called Ahuashiyacu.
There it is in the background near the top of the ridge.
Zoom in.
What we got to visit was a little bit at the bottom.
This is a little "flower" all by itself.
Just before we went back to Lima, Walter and Betty took us out to eat.
