High into the Andes - Huanuco and Cerro de Pasco

12 September 2017

At Altitude

This week's journeys took us again high into the Andes Mountains in Cerro de Pasco. At 14,400 feet elevation, Cerro de Pasco is the highest city in the world (according to Wikipedia). We came for the donation ceremony of critically needed medical equipment in this remote region.

High in the Andes - Cerro de Pasco, center of mining in Peru. Half of the city is consumed with an open-pit mine, and other open pit and underground mines surround the city.

Golden arches welcoming us into this mining capital at high altitude.

Many mothers and newborns have been lost in this remote region due to inadequate medical diagnostic equipment. This project was designed to improve maternal and newborn health at a series of five remote health centers.

Expectant mothers gathered at the Pasco Health Fair, being held along with the donation ceremony.

In total, our donation included the following items that will be placed in remote health clinics where poor mothers currently have limited diagnostic care:

• 3 Ultrasound Machines
• 2 Fetal Monitors
• Biochemical Blood Analyzer

Currently, without these medical devices, many poor mothers have to spend one or more days waiting in lines to get ultrasounds at an overcrowded government hospital, and most just give up and go home and never complete their checkups until it is too late.

The press always shows up at these events. Here I am being interviewed by four local radio stations all at once - and all in Spanish.

The regional department of health decided to hold their health fair in conjunction with the delivery ceremony. This turned out to be a great idea since it started raining on us and on the equipment. All of the tents for the health fair provided a great escape from the storm that let loose right in the middle of the delivery ceremony.

Rains put a damper on the celebration for a little bit. Thank goodness the health fair had tents setup that helped protect from the downpour.

At the delivery ceremony in Cerro de Pasco with some of the equipment being donated to remote health clinics. Government, health, and church leaders (along with volunteers in their yellow 'helping hands' vests) gathered to celebrate this life-saving donation.

We had been working on this project for about 6 months, including getting Area leadership approval, obtaining bids and purchasing the equipment, working with the health leaders in Cerro de Pasco to develop their plans, and then delivering the equipment. The formal delivery ceremony represented the end of many hours or work. The end result should be an improvement in maternal and newborn health for many years to come.

Journey to Cerro de Pasco

Getting into Cerro de Pasco is a challenge. Due to its extremely high altitude, there is no airport. We first had to fly to Huanuco, spend the night, then have a driver take us early in the morning in his car for 2 hours to get there. Twisting, winding mountain roads are the rule if you want to go anywhere in the Andes Mountains.

Cerro de Pasco sits on the back-bone of the Andes Mountains. We flew to Huanuco and spent the night before the 2-hour drive that got us up to Cerro de Pasco.

The 2-hour drive each way always presents interesting scenes. This was our second trip to Cerro de Pasco. Our first trip in March had many delays caused by boulders falling on the road or herds of alpaca. The traffic jam on this trip was caused by donkeys and sheep.

Traffic jam high in the Andes - donkeys and sheep this time, but no alpacas and llamas (which are sometimes the cause of the jams).

Twisting roads, deep canyons, and sheer drop offs mark any journey into the Andes Mountains. The Andes run the length of South America through six nations.

Surprises lie around every bend. We stopped for this photo-op where a spring was gushing right out of the side of the mountain.

Traditional Women in the Andes

Many women in the the Andes wear traditional clothing. This consists of a hat, shawl, and an unusually wide skirt. Although the dress varies a little from region to region, most of the clothing has these basic components. It is always interesting to observe their outfits.

Typical hats and wide skirts worn by many women in the Andes. The skirts are so wide because they have multiple layers of petticoats to help keep them warm.

Many traditional Andean women, if they don't wear wide hats, wear tall knitted hats (like the woman in the center). They always carry their babies in bright-colored blankets.

Note that most of these traditional Andean women speak Quechua (rather than Spanish) as their primary language.

Many traditional Andean women like bright clothing. They may wear tights under their skirts and multiple petticoats to further keep their legs warm. 

This traditional Andean woman was wearing subdued clothing as she sat on her porch knitting. We think she was probably mourning the loss of a spouse or child, thus her clothing. 

These women are not too traditional (they left their hats and skirts at home), but they prefer to carry their babies in the traditional way, wrapped in bright blankets on their backs.

Llamas and Alpacas in the Andes

During our drive between Huanuco to Cerro de Pasco, we saw what must have been thousands of alpacas and llamas. For many traditional Andean people, these animals provide their only source of income as they raise them for their fur and meat. You only see these animals at high altitude in the Andes (unless they are being kept in zoos and parks in coastal areas like Lima).

Thousands of domesticated alpaca graze on the steep hillsides high in the Andes.

Alpacas in the front, llamas in the back. Alpacas are shorter, fluffier, and have shorter ears and are often bred with white fur. Llamas are taller with longer ears. Their fur is usually not spun, so llamas appear in more colors.

Mother and baby llama. Note the colorful bands that the owners put through their ears to identify the animals.

This llama even had a bell around its neck.

Brown llama with his white alpaca cousins. Alpaca meat is preferred over llama since it is more tender. Llama meat is most often made into jerky (or "cherqui" as the locals call it).

Huanuco

Before driving up to Cerro de Pasco, we had to fly into Huanuco and spend the night. Huanuco sits at 6,000 ft elevation and is said to have the best weather in the world - it is spring-like year round.

Grand Hotel Huanuco where we stayed - this reminded us of hotels where we have stayed in Spain.

The Huallaga River runs through the middle of Huanuco and is one of the headwaters of the Amazon as it flows down into the jungle.

The valley floor in Huanuco filled up with houses and crops, so the only place to grow was up the side of the mountain.

The Huanuco Cathedral reminded us of being in Spain.

And so the adventure of this trip is now behind us and it is time to move onto our next (of many) projects we are working as we try to improve the lives of those most in need here in Peru.