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. To do this, together with the inhabitants, we propose you different traditional activities in Cuispes.
We are in Bongara Province, Department of Amazonas, in Northern Peru. You will go through these activities to meet the local population. The villagers will make you discover with pleasure their traditions around activities such as bread, coffee or honey.
1st day of traditional activities in Cuispes: Bread activity with Elisa and hike to the Yumbilla waterfall
Bread baking
Your first activity will begin around 8 am after your breakfast. You will be warmly welcomed by the mistress of the place: Elisa.
She will explain in detail the different stages of the traditional Peruvian bread making. Once you have made contact, you will start by preparing three separate bread dough. You will choose among the different recipes: “trigo” (wheat), “biscocho” (sweet), “choclo” (corn), “camote” (sweet potato) and finally “pan popular” (white flour).
The type of bread and flour chosen, you can participate in weighing. It’s time to mix the ingredients. You will put your hand in the dough to mix it with Elisa.
Once the dough is well mixed, you will leave your dough to rest. You will have time to hike to the beautiful Yumbilla waterfall.
Hike to the Yumbilla Waterfall
Yumbilla is considered the highest waterfall in the region, even one of the highest in the world, with its 896 meters. The walk that leads to it is absolutely beautiful, essentially protected from a primary forest still preserved.
At the end of this hike, at around 1pm, you can picnic in a very pleasant setting.
You will then return to the village where Elisa will be waiting for you to continue the bread activity. Your dough made earlier, will have had time to get up. You will then make your little dough buns that you will leave to rest a second time.
To bake her production, Elisa uses a traditional wood oven. It is built, like many of the houses in the village, with dried mud. You can of course participate in the ignition. Elisa will explain how we try to control the temperature of the oven. The latter must be hot enough but not too hot to avoid burning the bread. While your buns are baking, you can give yourself a well deserved hour of rest.
Then you can finally taste your bread still hot.
2nd day of traditional activities in Cuispes: Honey and coffee activities
Coffee picking, roasting and moulding with Rozita
Around 8 am, right after your breakfast, you will join Rozita in her house close to the village of Cuispes. She will explain you the different stages of the production of Peruvian coffee in this part of the Andes.
In order to carry out this rural activity, you will first walk about 15 minutes to Rozitas chacra. The chacra is the land where the coffee plants are, but where they also grow potatoes and other vegetables for the personal use. Once in the field, Rozita will explain you the different varieties of coffee grown in the region. (red-bean coffee, yellow-bean coffee …)
You will then return to Rozita’s house where you will proceed to the “roasting” and grinding of the grains. Finally, you can enjoy your freshly ground coffee, “homemade”. You have the incomparable aromas of Peruvian coffee.
Traditional Activity: Beekeeping with Wilder
Once the coffee activity finished, Wilder will pick you up to visit his hives. In case of bad weather, the ground might be muddy, even difficult to pass. In this case do not worry, Wilder will get you closer with his motorbike.
Along the way, Wilder will explain the plants and animals you may encounter in this lush area. This varies depending on the season you travel. Once at the top of the field, you will be amazed by the incredible panoramic view on the waterfall “La Chinata”.
It is one of the highest waterfalls in the region with its 580 meters. It is in this magical place that you will eat your picnic with local flavors prepared by the care of your host.
After your lunch, you will join the hives that are a little lower down on the property. Wilder will give you some explanations about Peruvian beekeeping. The honey you taste is from organic farming even if you will not see it on any label. Bees forage in an area of 2 km around. This respect of tradition brings an incomparable floral flavor. During your honey tasting, Wilder’s wife will bring you the traditional coffee. You can enjoy it while admiring the incredible view.
With these traditional rural activities, you will discover authentic Peru. You will come across a land rich in culture and the generosity of its inhabitants.
We propose activities in the villages with the aim of a fair development of the tourism economy, not only in the Andes, but also on the coast, in the village of Tucume. It’s about creating unforgettable memories for you. But another goal must be to help local communities in northern Peru. Through your visit, you help promote ancestral traditions and provide rural residents with additional income.
