Camino a Cochan

Another volunteer named Alex, lives about an hour away by car in a town called Cochan. Well, that would be an hour if you had your own car because yes there is a road, but there is only public transportation half of the way. Well for Alex’s birthday last year I told her I would go visit her at her site. It’s a legal trip according to Peace Corps with out having to take vacation because I can get there and back in one day. So I hopped in a collectivo and went to Llapa, the town halfway between our site and then got out and started walking. Before too long a “lechero” or milk truck passed by and offered to pick me up. I climbed up to the top of the roof of the truck and sat down with a couple of other locals. The road was really bumpy and there was nothing to hold onto but a long bamboo pole. Yeah, that worked real well, for about a whole 2 seconds. As soon as we hit a pot hole I grabbed a hold of the bamboo pole and ALMOST fell backwards and 8 feet down into the back of the truck. Trust me, it was a close one.

After a couple of minutes, we passed the street sign pointing to Cochan. Ok, so its not a street sign but actually a latrine that’s spray painted with arrows pointing in the right direction. The truck passed the latrine and continued and when we reached a small walking path they stopped and shouted up to me to tell me it was time to get off. There’s two ways to get to Cochan by foot, rthe first one is to follow the road and the second way is more direct but by no means marked. It basically involves wandering though fields down a huge valley, crossing a river and heading up another huge hill and eventually stumbling across Cochan. I took route 2.

And I’m on my way…. And as my luck would have it, within about 20 minutes it starts raining. Thankfully I had my Gore-Tex jacket with me but it didn’t help much with the my legs that were quickly drenched. Oh well, I was having fun finding my way, picking flowers, taking pictures all while trying not to slip and fall.

Just before I left, my host dad gave me a note to give to Senor Eduardo Rodrigez who apparentally lives not to far from the river I had to cross. Yes, those were my exact directions of how to find his house to deliver this letter “una casa por la careterra antes que llegas al rio” (a house along the road just before you get to the river). Well that would have been fine if I had taken route #1 by the road. The route I took led me straight to the river with out passing by any houses. Had it not been raining I might have considered walking back to find Senor Eduardo but I was wet and cold and not about to back track. Well, just as I come around a corner by the river there’s an old guy walking with a huge piece of blue plastic used as a poncho. I quickly caught up to him and to ask if he knew this Eduardo guy or where his house is. Score! Turns out he’s Eduardo’s dad so I give him the note from my host dad and ask him to give it to his son. Mission accomplished.

So say goodbye to the old man and I continue on my way. Now its uphill and the fog has come in. Visibility is cut down to about 14 feet. I have no clue where I am or where I’m going. Finally I found a creek bed to follow up the hill. Some campo lady had been walking that way so I decided to follow her but of course she’s too fast for me so I loose her after only a couple of minutes. Whatever - I decided to just keep walking. FINALLY I came across some power lines at a distance – BINGO! I knew Cochan has electricity so I followed the power lines until I came across a house. Outside the house there were 3 little kids but when I asked them if I was going in the right direction to get to Cochan, they looked at me like I was crazy (that could have had something to do with the fact I was drenched and slathered with mud).

Eventually the road flattened out which was my landmark to know I was getting close. The mud got extra thick, dark and extra extra slippery. That’s when I knew I must be real close. (Alex always talks about how slippery the mud is in Cochan – she’s fallen more than once ☺ ). Within minutes I was there. Soaked, shivering, and covered in mud… but alive and well and in Cochan.

So what did I learn from this adventure? 1. You don’t need Gore-Tex, a plastic sheet used as a cape works just find, 2. I’ve got great survival skills and I should really consider a career as in orienteering.