The Huaraz Valley is surrounded by some of the highest Andes mountains. The area between 10,000’ – 12.500 has been farmed for thousands of years. The rock used for the early homes had been largely replaced by mud brick and now mostly baked brick & cement.Over the decades, I have developed a fondness for rock work. The funerary buildings had marvelous domes built of large flat stones or very large long ones, and subtle interplay of large & small stones in the walls.
The 2 we entered aligned east and each had a ritual power rock that probably oriented to some seasonal celestial event. We have been unable to find more information. The site is thought to be funerary. The site is mostly lived in and farmed. The people recycled or cleared a lot of the stone walls. Some of the original canals are still in use. We saw one indigenous farmer tilling his small stone-enclosed field with a 2 oxen drawn wooden
plow with a steel head.
Dealing with the high elevation (10,500’-11,000’) is still a physical challenge, especially walking uphill. We walked all over the central part of Huaraz. It is a livable and busy little town. Most structures were built after a disastrous earthquake in the ‘70s. We lunched at a trout restaurant right next to the hatchery & pond. I ordered the delicious trucha orgy: trout ceviche, trout a la plancha and pan-fried trout. The trout was so fresh that it tasted more like it came from a fresh water white fish family than a salmon family!
We are spending a total of 4 nights in Huaraz and booked a 9AM-8PM tour of the 1,000BC site day after tomorrow as the private site is closed on Mondays. With the high mountain light and the movement of the clouds over the Blanco Mountains, the view, particularly from our suite, changes every few minutes. Wednesday will be a travel day to Lima, 265 miles away. We hope to be better acclimated for the 13,000’ stay at Cuzco.
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