Waterfall along the
road to San Ramon
We decided to take the road downhill
for a view of the rain forest below, and so headed out early for the lower
elevation town San Ramon, which had been described as a typical Peruvian
mountain town. All along the route were
waterfalls, raging rivers, isolated mountain houses, and places where half of
the road had slid off into oblivion.
This is an area of persistent rockslides, which are better observed from
a distance and which are at times spectacular.
Since we were driving on the side of the road nearest the mountains, it
was usually unnecessary to pay close attention.
But passing the slow-moving trucks presented a challenge, since hitting
a place in the road where there is no longer a road is, as you are aware, not
habit forming.
Raging stream along the way
Isolated mountain home
Roger following a trail across the river
We pulled into San Ramon much earlier
than expected, so we decided to skirt the central part of town and travel even further downhill to the village of
La Merced, a well-known (to Peruvians, anyway) tourist town. As we drove along, the temperature continued
to climb. We passed through a beautiful
rainforest with strange flowers and other flora. Then, suddenly it seemed, we were surprised
by coconut palms growing beside the road.
Shortly past the palms, we saw large groves of orange trees on either
side of the road. This was tee shirt and
shorts territory, near the base of the Andes on the way to the forests of the
Amazon. Soon we had arrived in La
Merced, perched above a raging, coffee-colored, rocky river at an elevation of about 2,300 feet.
After a leisurely walking tour of
the city and lunch, it was time to head back up the mountains to San Ramon. On the way, we had a lie-swapping contest in
which we compared our experiences and opinions during childhood, college, work,
friendships, religion, politics, and other noncontroversial subjects. The conversation went on for two or three
hours, until we noticed Hacienda la Florida on our right. It appears we were so engrossed in displaying
our brilliance across the entire conversational spectrum that we had driven
past San Ramon without noticing it.
Calculating the time involved to backtrack, not to mention the cost of
petrol, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon strolling the streets of
Tarma again.
View from downtown Tarma
Known as the “Pearl of the Andes”, Tarma
is the capital of the province of the same name, and existed as a community
long before the arrival of Europeans.
The local ethnic group was known as the Tarumas. The Spanish established a garrison here in
1538, and this city was apparently alongside one of the trails along which
commerce flowed, before and after the arrival of Europeans. Today it is in the center of an agricultural region,
which is evidenced by the many feed and fertilizer stores in its commercial
district. Our hacienda, we were told,
was a stopping point—a sort of checkpoint—for those passing through the area.
In the evening our host’s father
appeared in the dining area, and we were introduced to him and one of his other
sons. As the owner of the hacienda when
the Shining Path came through, he was targeted for assassination by the
terrorists because he employed 200 people at the time and was recognized as a
person of importance and wealth. He was
able to hide and escaped harm, along with the rest of his family (our host,
Marcos, was 6 years old at the time).
After the burning of the hacienda, he abandoned his flower exporting
business, which was very labor intensive; the 20 employees who remain are
dedicated principally to the farming of the 80 acres or so adjoining the
hacienda.
Tomorrow we head back across the
mountain pass on the way to Lima, a trip that we believe will take considerably
less than the one we had a couple of days ago.
After a rest and dinner in Lima, we’ll head to the airport at 5:00 a.m.
for the trip home. It has been a great trip, and we hope you have enjoyed traveling with us. Stay tuned for the
next one!
Near the high mountain
pass in the Andes
Charlie and Roger
©2013
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