Want to discover the rural activities of a local community during your trip? During your stay in northern Peru, you may want to share a moment with villagers. In partnership with the villagers, we offer different traditional and rural activities in Leymebamba.
By participating in these various activities , you have the opportunity to meet the local population. The villagers will make you discover with pleasure their traditions. You havea a choice of activities such as weaving, local craftwork, milk and cheese production or horseriding.
1st day of traditional activities in Leymebamba: Horseback riding and traditional music in the evening
Mummy Museum
After a quiet night in one of the new guest rooms of the community, you will visit the Museum of Leymebamba, famous for its more than 200 mummies that were saved from the mausoleums of Laguna de los Condores, 40 km from Leymebamba, a 3-day trek that is rather difficult.
The Museum, which exists since 2000, is the only museum that deals with the history of the Chachapoya people, that lived in the Amazonas region and the surrounding areas long before the arrival of the Incas around 1470.
Horseback riding, picnic en route
After visiting the museum, around 11 am, you will ride on horseback to the Canyon of Rio Atuen. The walk will take about 4 hours and you will take a break at the place called “Purumacho”. Here you have time to admire the view and eat your picnic prepared by one of our local partners the day before. A solidarity stay should involve several people from the same village, which is done here.
Your picnic will include traditional tamales (or maybe juanas or tortillas), but also fruit, a dessert (cake or compote) and something to drink (water, “refresco”, tea or coffee). All prepared with local produce and surrounded by leaves in order not to use plastic. Remember to bring your water bottle that we will fill for you.
Return to Leymebamba around 16 hours. You will have time to rest before dinner.
2nd day of traditional activities in Leymebamba: Livestock and cheese activity, weaving and painting workshop
Livestock and cheese activity
Today you will go to the fields to see the work of the farmer in the Andes (about 20 minutes walk). On site they will explain you the organization of their daily work with the cows, but also the whole process of milking and then bring the fresh milk to the cheese maker.
After a demonstration, it’s up to you to milk the cow. You will see, it is not as easy as it looks 🙂 If you wish, you will enjoy the fresh milk!
Now you hike back – with your milk – to Leymebamba, to Frank and Marina’s workshop, at the Kisulac cheese dairy.
On site, Frank explains you the whole process of the preparation of fresh or aged cheese. He has participated in several trainings in the region of Cajamarca (known for its cheese) and also at the University of Chachapoyas to improve in the production of cheese. Its cheeses are now sold to the best hotels and restaurants in the region.
Of course, you will enjoy the cheese with a small Cafécito.
Weaving workshop
In the afternoon you will visit Isabel for a traditional weaving workshop. The women of the region do not weave with a loom (semi-automated), but with a traditional device that is fixed around the waist. The weaver settles on a small bench, fixes the other end of her weaving work around a pole and begins to weave.
But before any weaving process, there is all the preparatory work. If it is wool, it must be cleaned, spun and dyed with natural products before the actual weaving can begin. Isabel will explain all this to you.
After that it’s again your turn to try weaving!
Workshop with Migual Huaman, Wood carver
Miguel was part of the local team of excavations during the mummy rescue of Laguna de los Condores. Inspired by the discovery, he then began to study wooden objects, vases, musical instruments or goblets from the Chachapoya civilisation in detail. Fascinated, he started to do more research and reproduce them in wood.
Today he is a recognized artist, he sells his objects to Lima, and even abroad.
You will have the opportunity to work with Miguel. He will have prepared the sarcophagi you will paint according to Chachapoya traditions, always under the watchful eye of your teacher. At the end you will leave with your painted sarcophagus, an unforgettable memory.
A responsible stay differs from a traditional stay in relation to the exchanges with the local population, the encounters that are put in the center of your trip. Traditional rural activities are an opportunity to meet Peruvians and share their culture and everyday life for a few days.
We propose activities in the villages with the aim of a fair development of the tourism economy. It’s about creating unforgettable memories for you. Through your visit, you help promote ancestral traditions and provide rural residents with additional income.
