Lares Valley Trek
This trek gave me my first intimate visit to traditional Andean homes in a spectacular mountain valley.
Hillkiccasa Pass, between the communities of Qiswarani and Cuncani.
The Lares Trek is probably the most scenic and wild trek near Cusco.The first day is an easy walk up to the community of Cancha Cancha - it’s too small for me to even call it a village. The second day is a much more challenging trek up over a high pass and down to the village of Qiswarani. The third day is the most scenic from Qiswarani up over another high pass and down to the village of Cuncani.
The trail from Huaran up to the first campsite in Cancha Cancha is a gentle uphill along a small river. We walked through a narrow little valley which was quiet and so green with the recent rains. This was still low altitude and there were trees along the path, shading us from the midday sun. We stopped for lunch, then kept going. The last couple hours on the trail we left the river and the trees, heading up towards the bare mountains at higher altitude. We arrived in Cancha Cancha just as a cold wind hit and were happy to see the tents already set up, ready for us to dive in.
Before we called it a day entirely, our guide Cliser took us to meet one of the families he knows in the community. They welcomed us into their small, one room home and Cliser translated for us as they told us what it was like to live in Cancha Cancha.
The mother was weaving when we arrived and started to put everything away, but Cliser read my mind and told her that we would like to watch how she wove. She explained what she was making and why she was weaving their clothes with synthetic yarn that she bought in town, rather than use the wool from the alpacas grazing all around the house. Alpaca wool is extraordinary in its insulation and water resistance if you leave in the natural lanolin. It has become very popular outside of Peru and therefore much more valuable. She can make more money selling the yarn or weavings that she makes with her alpacas’ wool than anything else she has. After we chatted for a while, and after I realized that the guinea pigs hiding under the bed weren’t in a hutch but were just there because they were scared of the strange people in their home, she brought out some of the things she has made.
I had been hoping that somewhere along the trail I would have the opportunity to buy an alpaca scarf from the person who not only had woven it, but had raised and sheared the alpaca and also made the yarn. She sold me the most beautiful baby alpaca scarf, woven of natural colors from her alpaca who are naturally white, brown and black. Baby alpaca does not mean that the alpaca has to be a baby when it is sheared, it’s just the first shearing of an alpaca at any age. Like a human baby’s downy soft hair, baby alpaca have softer wool than adults who have been sheared already. This was not the time or place for bargaining and I happily paid her asking price. It seemed like a lot at the time, but in retrospect I wish she had asked for more. At least we also gave them toys for the kids, fresh bread and coca leaves for the parents.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we started walking up the valley and I got to see the community’s namesakes. Cancha means fence in Quechua and as we walked, we passed many stone enclosures for livestock. Since we were already well above treeline, all firewood had to be brought up from the valley below. There is no spare wood for fences. Some of the enclosures looked abandoned, with walls partly falling down. Others were still very much in use, housing small herds of sheep. The valley was full of mist, with clouds around the mountain tops, so we only got sneak peaks of the glaciers and waterfalls cascading from them which lined the valley.
The trail from Cancha Cancha goes up, then levels out across a wide glacial valley, then up again, then across another valley. The uphill parts were certainly challenging and I appreciated the change of pace that each valley offered. The mountains there are incredibly scenic. We had the whole place to ourselves, walking past grazing alpaca and watching Andean geese on the little lakes high up. Parts of the trail followed a stream, which I gather isn’t there in the dry season around July and August. Tourism drops off steeply during the rainy season, especially during January and February, but I honestly enjoy the mountains more when everything is green and the glaciers all have fresh snow on them.
Qiswarani is a real village, not a tiny community like Cancha Cancha. There is a road and electricity and even a little building with a sign proclaiming it to be a shop. I didn’t bother to go in, but I did enjoy the view of the seven waterfalls from our campsite and the views of the glaciers above as the clouds came and went. The next morning we had the most stunning view of the glaciers above us, but that afternoon the snowfields above came and went in the clouds.
A couple places along the trail to Qiswarani there had been kids who came out to greet us or were waiting for us on the trail with things to sell. Although I don’t like buying stuff from children, Cliser reminded me again that it was the weekend and I was not encouraging kids to skip school. I bought a little something from each, even if it was just a handmade bracelet. Cliser asked them their names and how old they were in Quechua. I bought something then gave them toys and the sweet bread we had bought in Calca. In town, there were a few older women who came to sit unobtrusively near our campsite with all sorts of things spread out on a blanket to sell. Most of it was handwoven scarves, hats, socks, gloves and little bags. I couldn’t buy from all of them, but I did make a point to at least buy something.
The next morning we left Qiswarani, hiking up towards another pass before heading downhill to Cuncani. Cancha Cancha was definitely more remote than Qiswarani, so I was surprised that the trail leaving Qiswarani took us through the most wild and rugged landscape we had seen yet. There were more strings of tiny glacial lakes, the trail seemed even less traveled, though I didn’t think that could be possible and the highest pass we went over was much more stunning than the pass the day before. It wasn’t a sunny day, so the colors of the glacial blue lakes and green mountain sides were muted, but still beautiful. Even though colors are brighter under a sunny sky, dark clouds look so much more dramatic to me in photos than blue sky.
High in the Peruvian Andes, alpaca herders still wear traditional clothes.
This was the day that we saw people actually herding their alpaca, and in some cases llamas too. Alpaca are better suited to higher altitudes because they have more insulating wool and their mouths and teeth are smaller. So high above treeline, plants of any variety grow very close to the ground. Llamas’ larger teeth can barely get a hold of the tiny plants but alpaca don’t have any trouble grazing on what little plant life grows up so high. I shouldn’t have been so surprised to see that the people who live up there still wear their traditional clothes, but somehow I was amazed every time to see the bright, traditional Andean outfits. You can see them everywhere in Cusco, but they’re there to have their photos taken with tourists, not to herd alpaca.
We passed stone homes, just like the one we had visited in Cancha Cancha. They don’t have chimneys but the straw roofs both filter out smoke and protect from rain. Cooking and heating is still done with wood brought up from the valleys, using llamas as transportation. Each has their niche and just like alpaca are better for wool and better adapted to high altitudes, llamas are much better as pack animals.
Winding our way down the last set of switchbacks, to where we could see Cuncani and the van waiting for us, I would have been sad to leave the trail if my knees weren’t so done with the downhill. We did get to see a few more children who came out to watch us hike past, and lots more llamas, but we had left the high altitude valleys and were back below tree line. The other consolation prize for having to leave the trail was the Lares hot springs. I had been looking forward all morning to soaking my knees and aching calves in the hot springs and I was not disappointed, it was the perfect way to reward myself for the trek.
