V Ecosports Festival of Tres Cañones-Suykutambo 2012

Arequipenian team awarded by Autocolca

by the Colca Specialist

The 29 of April the arequipenian team came back home after two days of exciting competition.

The much awaited river rafting competition between Arequipa and Cusco never took place because the judges couldn´t arrive on time to the event.That was the excuse the authorities gave to the sportsmen but as everybody knows there was an organized clearly seen boicot against the event. The lack of experience and profesionalism of the representative of the Municipality of Espinar Juan Tapia Vargas made the situation even more complicated .

The Festival continued and the people had the oportunity of enjoying intense exhibitions performed by the different teams.

The arequipenian Rafter Gustavo Rondón Alvarez and his River Rafting Team Expediciones y Aventuras did a wonderful show in the river that everybody enjoyed . Kids were the most enthusiastic during the exhibitions. The member of the River Rats Guillermo Rendon Cuadros was there also with a small raft having fun in the river.

The second day Rappeling and Zip Lining exhibitions were really impressive.

The team of Sacred Road Xtreme directed by the well known rock and mountainclimbing instructor Arcadio Mamani Viza gave a a real show to all those who were present there in The Three Canyons of Suykutambo.

Jose Arias suffered a small accident the first day in the zip lining exhibition.

The second day the team was reforced with the presence of Guillermo Rendón Cuadros,the well known Kamikaze Nitro who left the raft inside the hotel and the second day joined Arcadios Sacred Road Xtreme Team.

Everybody there was eager to see the xtreme sports champion performing his favorite crazy maneuvers.

His first jump was dedicated to his fellow Jose Arias who the previous day had an unexpected accident during the zip lining exhibition.

Jose Arias accepted the dedicatory and Guillermo Rendón “The Kamikaze Nitro” performed his favorite maneuver “The Fallen Angel” which provoked the reaction of the locals who considered the most beautiful and xtreme maneuver during the whole Festival,maneuver that was awarded by the people through an intense clapping that lasted after his landing. A picture taken by one of the spectators was chosen to prepare a souvenir poster of the event.

After the Festival all teams came back home happy of the work well done other unhappy because they were unoticed during all the festival such as the kayaking team from Calca-Cusco who were a complete dissapointement specially after all the propaganda done by their representatives.A real disaster!

In Arequipa, Autocolca awarded all the arequipenian sportmen and Dr Freddy Jimenez Rios is now organizing a sports festival in Cabanaconde, Colca Canyon and it seems that we are going to have the option of watching Guillermo Rendón performing the “fallen angel maneuver and other xtreme tricks“in the Colca Canyon! That would be great!That would be massive!

Everybody is awaiting for the press conference in order to have more details about this event that promises a lot.

Congratulations to all the participants and the Colca Specialist will be sharing with you more details about the oncoming events in Arequipa.

The Colca Specialist.

V ECOSPORTS FESTIVAL OF TRES CAÑONES-SUYKUTAMBO 2012

The best adventure sports festival of all the south of Peru is going to be in Espinar province in Cusco!

by the Colca Specialist

Tres cañones (Three canyons),a beautiful natural marvel located in Suykutambo district in the cuzquenian province of Espinar, Cusco will be this 27 and 28 of April the scenery where all the most recognized xtreme sportsmen from all the country will meet in a festival which is going to be historical.

The difference with the past festivals (whose lack of importance and trascendence was notorious) is that for this year the organizers who belong to the proyect called Mintur E of the Municipality of Espinar province decided to break all the established schemes and they put a strong emphasis in QUALITY and not in QUANTITY with the purpose of improving not only the festival but also the extreme sports exhibitions and the marketing of the event.

Because of these reasons,this festival before being done has received several congratulations from the different media and it was already qualified as “the best sports extreme sports festival in all the south of Peru”,”event of the year 2012” and all thanks to the organizers who decided to re-structure the festival which comes back this time to the scene but this time with the best extreme sportmen from Peru.

Now that the house is clean there is no place for the improvised sportsmen but just for the headliners.

In this festival there is going to be several adventure sports exhibitions. Such as Cross country and downhill mountainbiking, rock climbing,rappeling,zip lining,kayaking among other alternative activities such as hiking and horse riding to the different touristic attractions of Espinar-Cusco.

The most important activity which is going to make the difference in this festival is going to be THE FIRST WORLDS HIGHEST RIVER RAFTING COMPETITION which will take place in Apurimac river. The distance to be covered is going to be 8km aprox and the river¨s altitude: is 4014 meters above sea level.(13,169 feet).

The favorite teams in this competition are the locals from Cusco and those from Arequipa.We know that the rivalty between this guys will be enough to make them fight ´til death for a place in the podium. The purpose of this competition is of course very obvious to break a Guinness world record for Espinar-Cusco.

The arequipenian dream team is integrated by 17 ranked sportmen in the different specialities of xtreme adventure sports.

The four “aces” of the arequipenian team are Arcadio Mamani Viza, recognized mountainclimbing instructor from Arequipa and ex member of the expeditions done by National Geographic and Discovery Channel.

Juan Justinien Mamani Becerra,son of Arcadio Mamani. Juan is a trekking guide from CEAM and one of the best rock climbers in all Arequipa.(Arcadio and Juan see picture below).

Gustavo Francisco Rondón Alvarez. Member of the team Expediciones y Aventuras. Gustavo is a lover of Kayaking and River Rafting. Gustavo is a very experienced Rafter and kayaker from Arequipa who is going to be showing his skills in Apurimac river.

The other ace in this full hand of winners is going to be recordman Guillermo “Kamikaze Nitro”Rendón Cuadros famous because of its feats in mountainbiking and in other xtreme sports.

Guillermo Rendón is coming back to the River Rafting World after his participation in the PERUVIAN RIVER RAFTING EXPEDITION DISCOVERY which was done in the upper part of Colca Valley in Condoroma area which was considered as one of the worlds highest river rafting expeditions.That expedition was organized by Maurilio and Paul Zuñiga, which belong to the most famous family of river rafters in Arequipa: Zuñiga-Cuba family.

Condecorated by different authorities and goverment institutions Guillermo who was recently declared as “The proud of Arequipa” and “Adoptive son of Caylloma province”comes back again but this time as member of his own river rafting team : THE RIVER RATS.

As part of the event of the year there will be musical shows and of course the unmissing traditional gastronomy contest!

The big party is going to be in Tres Cañones Cusco and all of you are invited to participate in the event of the year!

Espinar is awaiting for you!

The Colca Specialist

Three Canyons Suykutambo: The other marvel of Cusco

by the Colca Specialist

Many friends of mine in Colca Valley and Colca Canyon are wondering Why the Colca Specialist is writing about the K´ana people and about Three Canyons Suykutambo from Cusco?

Simple.The K´ana people were one of the first inhabitants that occupied Colca Valley and Colca Canyon. The K´ana people has a cultural link with our people in Colca Valley and Colca Canyon and that can be appreciated in a direct way through the pallayes or weavings symbols and through specific rituals and festivals where we can easily realise about this situation. The Cabana people are descendants of the ancient K´ana people.

The townhall of Suykutambo district directed by its major Pedro Pablo Rojas Figueroa organized the I festival of traditional carnival dances which had as scenario nothing less than the three canyons of Suykutambo. Suykutambo is one of the districts of Espinar province located in Cusco.

Cusco is a box of surprises for the tourists who are seeking new touristic attractions in the land of the Incas.

Three canyons of Suykutambo are one of the new attractions recently discovered and they are located in what it was the K´ana realm in the high provinces of Cusco.

According to the Spanish chronicle writer Pedro Cieza de León,one of the most important shrines of the inca empire was the shrine called Aconcagua which was considered as a powerful oracle and shrine now called María Fortaleza in Tajrachullo, place closed to Suykutambo area.

The three canyons of Suykutambo area where considered as a shrine by the Incas too, so definitively there is much to see in this place. The landscape is simply amazing.

The area is crowded with archaeological sites, rupestrian paintings that belong to different periods and even paleontological findings like the ones that where found in Pichigua district in Espinar, Cusco.

The culture is one of the most important attractions this place has to offer, and this is the right place for those that are seeking to see traditions that are literally lost because of the influence of modern society.

In this place, the K´anas continue performing the ancient ceremonials and keeping traditions that literally have disappeared in other areas of Cusco. If you love culture this is the perfect place for you. Far away off the beaten touristic track.

The festival was really amazing. I was invited by the major of Suykutambo Pedro Pablo Rojas Figueroa and by Iván Escalante Vargas to take part in this festival in order to film the festival for the Peruvian TV program Pureq Runa (The walker in quechua),a program which covers culture and adventure in Perú.

My main interest was to see the dance called TUPAY ,a dance that is associated to fertility. The male dancer is called CHUKO and the female partner is the SOLTERA (soltera means single-girl).

The dance is associated with fertility and procreation and it is associated to the reproduction of alpacas and the llamas.
The big flute called Pinkullo is used by the male dancer and it has a phallic symbolism associated to fertility. In some rituals it is used as a weapon too.

The Pinkullo is not just another musical instrument and there are many ceremonials in which this instrument is used for specific purposes. The instrument was declared recently as a cultural patrimony of the nation (resolution Nro.-2081) and it was declared as part of the cultural inheritage of the high provinces of Cusco.

Back to the TUPAY dance again,we say that the CHUKO or male dancer represents the alpacas and the llamas, that through the colourful wool ornaments he wears on. Through the music and the dancing he flirts the SOLTERA or not married girl and at the same time she is his inspiration. The dance can be performed with or without horses too.

The llamas and the alpacas played an important role during the Inca Empire. The llamas were used as way of transportation, not for humans but for cargo. In fact the Incas couldn´t organize any kind of military campaign without having the right quantity of llamas for equipment transportation.

The alpacas situation was different in those times. The alpacas were associated with water specially the white ones.
The alpacas are white, like the ice and the snow of the mountains, like the sperm, like the foamy white water that comes rolling down the mountain and fecundates Mother Earth or Pachamama, like the white man with white hair called Illa Tecsi Wiraqochan ,the Creator of this world, divinity worshipped by the K´ana people in their shrines of Suykutambo area.

The alpacas are offered in special ceremonials performed in February-March done to the Apus or spirits of the mountains. The alpacas are considered female in ceremonials, all of them, and they are associated to rituals of water and fertility. The mother of the alpacas lives inside the fountains of water or lakes according to our traditions.

If the llamas were used for cargo, alpacas were bred in order to have meat and wool. There are two different types of alpacas: one is called HUACAYA (curled hair alpaca) which is very common in the highlands of Perú and the other type is called SURI or NAPA (long hair alpaca).

The SURI alpaca hair is valuable and the animals are expensive. This type of alpaca is not so resistant against the cold weather and extreme altitudes so they are kept in places with the adequate weather conditions.

Alpacas are considered as children of the lakes because they spend much time in the mountain bogs or close to lakes grazing in the pastures in the highlands.

February and March are the months of reproduction of alpacas. Many new born alpacas can be seen in these months and of course this is the rainy season in the highlands too.

Mama qocha or mother sea is the wife of the mountains: the one that sends water to the husband (the mountains) so this can provide water to the runakuna or people.

That is why water is very important for people in Suykutambo of Espinar province and for other native communes of Cusco too.

These points of view that are not respected by the occidental way of thinking which considers water as a simple resource that can be used and manipulated according to man´s desire and caprice, are the main reason of conflicts in the highlands of Peru.

The festival in Suykutambo is a way to create a consciousness in the local people about our traditions and about the importance of the proper use of our natural resources which should be preserved and protected. Now more than ever, specially in these moments when the authorities of Arequipa are trying to alterate the ecosystem through an irrigation project whose is not being done in a sustanaible and responsible way and whose main benefits are not for Peruvian people but for Chilean businessmen.

A project that without being done in a very careful way would provoke a severe damage to the ecosystem of the affected areas.

The festivals and the different cultural activities are a way to make others understand about the real situation of the natives in the Peruvian highlands and a way to show our traditions and touristic attractions to the visitors.

Nobody loves what is unknown and I would like to congratulate the major of Suykutambo district,Pedro Pablo Rojas Figueroa for the organization of this festival, Iván Escalante Vargas for the coordinations done and the facilities provided during our presentation, Mr. Yulder Prieto Barrionuevo for the wonderful book given as a gift with all the information about our K´ana ancestors and Mr Walter Ccamaque Huamaní for having helped us with the interview and information about the TUPAY dance.