Waman Way Alpaca experience

Accompanied by local people in traditional dress, we will set out on a guided walk around the community of Calshi. We will visit the Virgin de Peña, an image of the Virgin Mary that was painted on a cliff after her presence was revealed in a dream to a Calshi resident in the 1930s. We’ll stop to converse with shepherd women in bright shawls, their faces bronzed and lined by the sun, who spin wool as they watch their flocks. Those feeling brave will have the chance to try their hand at milking a cow and drinking the warm frothy milk. Stopping at the reservoir, we’ll marvel at the feat of engineering that allows the community to automatically irrigate its crops with water from the Carihuairazo volcano, before visiting the carrot washing and packing plant where their main crop is prepared for sale.

A 2km walk through pristine paramo to two crystalline lakes, Lagunas Molinococha and Chuquibantza, and a millennial polylepis forest, where ancient trees are hung with lichens. We will learn about the paramo ecosystem, its medicinal plants, and how it provides water for the region by trapping humidity from the air, eventually forming streams and rivers.

We will participate in the pachamanca, a traditional way of preparing food for special occasions in a subterranean oven. After lining the oven with leaves and fire-heated stones, we will fill it with layers of meat, vegetables and hot stones, before covering it with earth. Accompanying the meal will be sumfo, a tea made with a paramo plant.