A Day trip to Cieneguilla

Saturday, May 1st, Jack and Kay Beals and Dad and I took the opportunity to visit a mountain village about thirty minutes east of La Molina. The Beals have attended church here a few times and knew the bishop well. They wanted to take him and his wife out to lunch in Cieneguilla. The bishop knew of a restaurant/resort with folk dancers, a live band, and musica de Peru. The name of the restaurant is Mesas de Piedra, tables of stone.

Nothing grows on the cerros or even the "country side" if one can call it that. Anything green is hand watered or watered with water trucks. This stand of eucalyptus trees is one of several stands along the road. In the West we think the foothills are dry and barren, but they are green by comparison to the brown rock and dirt cerros of Peru. It rarely rains. It does not rain in Lima; it mists.

This is one of many settlements along the road to Cieneguilla. We were told that neighborhoods or settlements like this one sprang up quite quickly when the terrorists were active in Lima in the 80s. Notice some are made of cardboard and tin. Others are made of a reed-like material also used for fencing. Most houses are made of hand made adobe and painted bright colors.

This fellow was one of the dancers who entertained us throughout our dinner. His hat is made of pieces of leather sewn together with leather laces. We were surprised how heavy the hat was.

Look at the size of the trout. It was perfectly seasoned. The yellow potato is a common side dish served without butter or salt and pepper. On every table is a selection of sauces, some mild, some wickedly hot. The sauces take the place of butter, salt and pepper.

The costumes are so colorful. The young women are really beautiful. The young men are guapo. There were probably twenty dancers who danced throughout the four pavillions of serving tables.

We were greeted by an Inca king and his maidens bearing smoking clay pots. One of the pots had a small piece of fragrant burning wood.

One of the dancers is a member of the bishop's ward. We really enjoyed meeting them. They loved posing for a picture.

In this case a picture is worth a thousand words. A professional photographer was also taking pictures. We were surprised he let us in on the action and let us take pictures at the same time. The costumed greeters invited us to join them for photo. Now we wonder where our picture will turn up. Maybe in a magazine or on a brochure?

This is just one of many brown dirt and rock cerros we passed driving to Cienegilla. The same scenery is here in La Molina and houses are built right into the rock.

On the way out of town, I saw this sign. Cienegilla is the name of a mosquito of which there are many because of the river. The blue sky is such a change from the gray, cloudy skies we have most of the time. It's a rare day we have full sun here because of the proximity of the coast and the fact that Lima is in a bowl, much like the Wasatch Front. However, the Wasatch Front has more sunshine. The Lima fall has been sunnier than the summer was.