Editors' Note: HIDDEN TRASURES

 

 

 

 

Dear Readers,
Peru is a country waiting for been unravel. Here, hundreds of mysteries lay beneath the news elated on media and the regular image brougth by tourism campaigns. There will always be much more to discover, taste, experience. Take the Ashaninkas, for example. For centuries they have been concealed by the forest, far from the civilization, until the terrorism brutality woke them from their timeless sleep. Now, leaving behind terrible times, they are trying to go back to their simple and happy life.
Hidden trasures everywhere telling endearing stories, mingle reality with fantasy as in the Unu Orco legend, arousing huge buildings like the Kuelap Fortress and showing you the immense cultural diversity locked within Peruvian pottery. This is our newsletter issue for November, but realize that is just a tiny glimpse of Peru. Unravel it by yourself!
Regards,
Jose and Cynthia
 
 
Main Article: ASHANINKA: THE REBIRTH OF A NATION
For more than a decade, in a forgotten jungle world in the center of Peru, in a valley called the Ene, a vicious war raged between the Shining Path guerrilla movement and the Peruvian armed forces.
It was 1987, and the Shining Path had begun recruiting Ashaninka youths by force. Natives were snatched from their communities and many families were divided at gunpoint to form part of these guerrilla troops.
The Ashaninka nation lived a time of terrible hardship in the 1980s, until the army began to push the rebels out of the area at the beginning of this decade.
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Second Article: THE UNU ORCO LEGEND
At the foot of Pitusiray, a play of huge shadows said to represent a puma, an inca and a princess, appears on the cliffs at sunrise at the end of September, and is believed to embody this myth.
In early October, a festival is held at the Inca shrine of Unu Orco, 1 km from town, to commemorate a famous local legend of the origins of Calca's water supply, and the nearby mountains, Pitusiray and Sawasiray. In a tale of thwarted love, a local princess, by being the first to channel water from true love fled and were transformed into mountains. High above the valley near a lake at the foot of Pitusiray, a play of huge shadows said to represent a puma, an Inca and a princess, appears on the cliffs at sunrise at the end of September, and is believed to embody this myth.
See the legend become alive!
 
 
Archaeologic: KUELAP FORTRESS
Kuelap is a fortress that was built amidst the clouds, where men and women could easily reach the stars with their hands. Homeland to a nation encrusted among the steep cliffs of the Chachapoyas Province, name with which they were to be known at the present times. A citadel in which dwelled the men who challenged nature and who were rewarded with a place to live and flourish among this ferocious and uneven territory.
The journey needed to reach this archaeological complex can be regarded as an adventure in itself, and it will undoubtedly fill your traveller's soul with joy and wonder. Once in Chachapoyas, you will have to travel to the Anexo de Kuélap, some three hour trip by an earthen road (72 kilometres). This passage will be a good opportunity to start with the discovery of the marvellous natural diversity of the area, strewn with beautiful landscapes that will keep coming constantly into view at both sides of the road.
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Peruvian Art: POTTERY
Pottery is one of the most widespread art forms to be found in Peru. Ancient pre-Hispanic techniques used by the Vicus, Recuay and Pashash cultures, as well as styles known as Colombian and negative painting (by limiting the flow of oxygen in the furnace) are used today in the community of Chulucanas (located in Piura) and in the northern jungle by natives of the Arabelas community. Another technique used in Simbalá, Piura, as well as in Mollepampa, Cajamarca, is that of paleteo where the potter shapes the clay with his hands and by beating it with a spatula. Utilitarian and decorative pottery produced in Chulucanas -particularly in the district of La Encantada where 250 artisans have been registered- is one of the finest to be found in Peru. It has gained its fame from the fine motifs crafted by potters in the use of the black color and the glazing of their urns, as well as the portrayal of typical local characters (chichi vendors, musicians and dancers) and animals that spring from the hand-worked clay. Pottery is heavily traded in the markets of Cusco, Juliaca (Puno), Arequipa and a network of arts and crafts centers and fairs held in Lima.
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