corcor, peru

An experience we will never forget

Our visit to Corcor, a town of 46 people about an hour out of Cusco, was one of the most unique and by far the most authentic experience we have had on this trip. The warmth, patience and hospitality of the family was inspiring and far exceeded our expectations of the home-stay. Like anything with travelling, it wasn't all easy. But the four days was an experience we will never forget.

Getting to Corcor

We had been told to head to a town called Alpachaca and when our colectivo dropped us off in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road, we were confused. We asked a local if he knew our homestay contact by the name of Gumercindo Cano.  The kind local told us to walk another kilometre up the road. Excited about meeting our new Peruvian family, we put our backpacks on and headed up the road. Passing local families going about their daily chores, we were clearly not in a tourist district. As we walked past an Andean lady she asked us, "Where are you going?" We cheerfully announced,"Alpachaca!", and happily marched along the road, pack on our backs, grin on our faces, greeting confused locals with a cheerful "Buenas tardes!!" "Como estas!!... Bien! Bien!"

Day 1: We fucked up

We arrived at our meeting spot with not a soul in sight. After waiting a long 20 minutes Australian time, (but apparently a short 20 minutes Peruvian time), we ventured out to search for the man in question ourselves.We grabbed a taxi, a guy who said he knew Gumercindo Cano. We guessed that he in fact did not know him, because he stopped at every passerbyer to ask them if they knew where his house was. After a few verbal transactions with different locals, we stopped at a house. After some time of poking about the house, we found Gumercindo's wife. She looked distressed.

We were not meant to be there. We had assumed that at some point Gumercindo would just go back to the house to eventually find us. As it turns out, it takes 2 hours to walk from our meeting spot to the house and so there would be no Gumercindo anytime soon. Needless to say we felt terrible.

As we waited, Eleina was magic in helping us feel comfortable. She first took us to their personal Cuy (Guinea Pig) farm and after she saw how much we enjoyed that (and after witnessing Kassandra cuddling her chickens) she took us to help her herd the sheep. It was a great introduction and before long, Gumercindo arrived. He had a grin on his face, an enthusiastic handshake and a cheery disposition. The husband and wife wasted no time in helping us don our traditional attire before leading us up the mountain for a better view of the picturesque town.

Night quickly fell and Eleina had prepared a traditional Andean meal for us. It included quinoa soup, a variety of whole steamed potatoes, Andean spinach and maiz pancakes, and fresh herbal tea. Of course all of the ingredients we harvested from their own backyard.

Day 2: Chinchero Markets

We were greeted in the morning with hot noodle soup, a sweetened quinoa breakfast drink and locally baked bread. Fascinated by the limited interaction we had already had with traditional weaving, Kassandra asked if we could attend the Sunday markets in Chinchero that day. Being the completely agreeable person he is, Gumercindo agreed and kindly chauffeured us through the event. As we hadn't bought the expensive tourist ticket for the area, Gumercindo helped us sneak into the nearby Incan ruins before leaving us to explore the market's offerings of local Andean food and handmade textiles.

Day 3: A taste of the real life

We weren't shy in expressing our interest in the family's lives, and we feel that this is why we were rewarded with invitations to experience real life activities with the family. Kassandra was invited to help prepare dinner, spin Alpaca wool, weave a chumpi (belt) and knit a chullo (hat) . Once again, Eleina was wonderful. She was patient with explaining the activities (in the traditional language of Quechua, mind you) and never became overwhelmed or frustrated with, let's face it, how shit Kassandra was with conducting the occupations.

Eleina was excellent at knowing when enough was enough (a girl can only do something that she is rubbish at for so long), and it was time to help prepare lunch. Onion salad, pasta, rice, potatoes and vegetable soup. Shawn was a wonderful scribe in recording the recipes as the ladies went about their business. He also found himself useful in tending the kitchen fire, which Eleina found hilarious. Every time Shawn went outside to collect firewood or stoke the fire, Eleina asked Kassandra to take a photo.

Gumercindo returned from his day's work and asked Shawn if he wanted to help harvest the potatoes for dinner. We headed to the field and as the men went to work, Eleina sat beside them with a bowl to collect the potatoes. She didn't hide her laughter as Shawn harvested the potatoes with less efficacy than what she was probably used to seeing her husband perform. Shawn was told to put the potatoes in his poncho, and wear it on his back to carry it to the house. Eleina laughed harder as the potatoes fell through the head-hole of the poncho and Shawn stood, looking around, not knowing what was happening. Of course his clueless-ness only made her laugh harder. I guess we had been so involved in our own interest in their lives, it had never occurred to us that they would find interest in our incompetency in performing their day-to-day activities.

Day 4: Saying goodbye
On the day of our leaving, Eliena filled Kassandra's hat with flowers and we were treated to a visit to Gumercindo's quinoa crop and one last herding of the sheep. While Eleina continued with alpaca wool spinning (her hands were never free of her spinning tool), Kassandra got to cuddle the lamb!

Back in Cusco
We had promised Eleina and Gumercindo that we would give them a copy of our photos. After all, during the entire four days Gumercindo had been grabbing our DSLR and running around taking photos. None of them were any good and in fact he was so enthusiastic, we ended up having to tell him that the batteries were flat (they weren't) so we could enjoy the activities with the family in peace. So we knew how much he wanted the photos. We gave him a call to let him know that the photos were ready and we shouted him a $1 meal at the local Cusco markets. It was awesome seeing him again.