Text and photos : Guido Van Es
After an eight hours drive from Lima, the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Blanca welcome you in the Callejón de Huaylas valley. Huaraz, the biggest city of the valley, is a lively city with a rich combination of tourists, urban people and peasants, all arriving with their own cultural backgrounds and lifestyles. It is here where many trekkings and climbs to one of the most beautiful mountain areas of Southern America begin. But it is also here where the NGO’s, The Mountain Institute and Crooked Trails, have been working for years to improve the local population’s income from this tourism industry. Many tour operators are in hands of foreigners, and salaries for local workers are low. In many places, the only thing that locals get from the visitors to their communities is their trash. Sometimes, they are even treated badly.
Since early 2005, The Mountain Institute, a Peruvian NGO working since 1995 in Huaraz, Peru, and Crooked Trails, an American non-profit tour operator specialized in community-based tourism, have joined their forces in a so-called “Responsible Travel Center” called Yachaqui Wayi, which should inform tourists and operators about the consequences of badly managed tourism, and give them guidelines in order to improve their personal travel experience. As you stay here, you can inform yourself in the Educational Center about Responsible Tourism, or shop for responsible weavings in our weavings shop, where the weavers will be showing you how they weave and dye.
After a stay in our hostel you’ll probably visit one of the community-based tourism projects in the region. Those projects, Cuyaquiwayi in Vicos and Huascar Haundy in Humacchuco, are situated in beautiful small mountain communities, where many people are still dressed the ancient way and lead a typical, traditional Andean lifestyle. They welcome you in their houses and share their ancient knowledge with you, while you help them on the field or accompany them on a hike through the cultural and natural richness of their community. Your visit is very important to these communities, since they perform natural and cultural conservation projects with the income from the tourism projects. For you as a visitor, it is an educative experience which you will remember for a long time.
A project based in six communities is the Inka Naani. Inka Naani means “Inca path” in the local dialect of Quechua, and the 100 kilometers where this project is situated are the 100 best conserved ones of the whole Qhapac Ñan ; the main Inka Road of their Empire. As you walk from community to community, you will pass by hundreds of evidences of the Inka presence, amongst them small cities, temples and storage rooms. Whilst staying in the villages, you experience the untouched culture of the communities, who have had hardly any development in centuries due to the lack of a road, electricity, or communication. But they are extremely proud of their history and modern culture, and very enthusiastic about sharing it with you. You will camp close to their school, and have many long conversations with your hosts about the past and present. There are many Inka legends and other old stories that are told at the place where they happened, which gives them an extra dimension as you stand there.
All our community-based projects are responsible because the people have learned not only how to treat tourists, but how to deal with the new influences from tourism. The projects give them more pride of their own culture and natural resources, which makes them wanting to conserve them. Come to Yachaqui Wayi and learn about the changes tourism made in the communities we work with. It’s positive changes, thanks to our responsible travelers.
Location and Access
From Lima, the capital of Peru, there are many buses going directly to Huaraz. This takes about eight hours, and costs between 30 and 45 soles. Bus companies Movil Tours and Cruz del Sur are recommendable. Taxi drivers in Lima and hotels can help you to get to the terminal. From the bus station in Huaraz, you can take a taxi for less than a dollar to Yachaqui Wayi : Avenida Tarapacá 1452. This takes a few minutes.
Contact
Yachaqui Wayi Responsible Travel Center
Jr Gabino Uribe 650
Huaraz, Peru
_Tel : (+51) 43 42-6538
Email : info@yachaquiwayi.org
Website : www.yachaquiwayi.org
Languages : A Yachaqui Wayi : English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German. In the village : Spanish, translators can be provided Yachaqui Wayi is the contact centre for all reservations and other contact.
The Mountain Institute
Internet : www.mountain.org
Pasaje Ricardo Palmanº 100
Barrio Pedregal Alto
Huaraz, Ancash, Peru
Tel : (+51) 43 423446
Fax : (+51) 43 426610
Crooked Trails
Internet : www.crookedtrails.com
PO Box 94034
Seattle, WA 98124
United States of America
Tel : (206) 372-4405
Guido van Es
E-Mail : guidovanes@gmail.com
Cultural Information
The communities we work with are Andean communities, some of them still very well preserved. Five communities along the Inka Naani are benefiting directly from the Project : Soledad de Tambo, San Cristóbal de Tambo, Sacracocha, Taparaco, San Lorenzo de Isqu and Huánuco Pampa. They are very open towards tourists, but some cultural sensitivity is still suggested. In the Yachaqui Wayi centre we will gladly help you to prepare for your visit. Generally, all visitors have had a very good conduct towards their local hosts. Just be respectful, ask anything before you act, be open and share your thoughts with your hosts as well. A smile does wonders in every culture !
Recommended Trip
Title : Intercultural Learning Experience in the community of Humacchuco
Duration : Three to five days (or one, or fourteen…)
Dates : Whenever you want
Price : 30 US dollars per day, excluding transportation to the community. This costs either $1.50 (public) or around $20 (taxi) one way.
Includes : Lodging, all food and drinks, guides, entrance to the Park.
Excludes : Transportation to and (if necessary) within the community.
Lodging : A tourism lodge, designed and constructed by the local tourism group advised by experts of TMI, with a compost toilet, (cold) shower and four good beds, located right next to the local family providing the meals. Urban accommodation, rural tourism lodges,
Activities : As long as you have a certain interest in local culture end nature, and you are open-minded, you will have a very nice experience in one of our communities as well as in Yachaqui Wayi. Intercultural activities with the objective to show the visitor the local culture and daily life in the Andes. Possible activities range from helping on the fields to tourist sight-seeing, from school visits to cooking with the host family, from listening to a local musician to making your own bread in a clay oven. Cultural trekkings, traditional weavings, workshops on local culture, conservation and responsible tourism.
Seasons : From April to October is the best, but especially Vicos and Humacchuco are good alternatives for trekkings during the rainy season (from November until March).
Group Sizes : In Humacchuco up to 25 people, in Vicos bigger groups than ten are not handy due to distant locations of the tourist lodges.
Physical Conditions : A basic physical condition is needed, program can be adapted to your physical abilities. You can make heavy walks to high mountain lakes and glaciers, or stay in the community to have more contact with your family.
Seasons : Rainy season between November and March, dry season between April and October. Both season have their pro’s and con’s, April and May are the most beautiful months, with sporadic rain in April, but very good weather the rest of the days. The mountains are still green and the flowers full with colors. June until October are dry and dusty, but weather is beautiful every day and so are the views on the snow-capped mountains.
Recommendations : Bring clothes for warm and cold moments, good hiking shoes, good sun protection (not only sunscreen but a hat as well) and enough batteries/ rolls for your camera. It would be great to bring presents like scholar materials or clothes for the families.