The old and the new Peru

by Marie Robinson Wright

From Tirapata, the headquarters of the Inca Mining Company and an important town of the plateau, the railway crosses a bridge and makes a slight ascent to Ayaviri and Santa Rosa, and a steeper climb to La Raya, which is the highest point between Juliaca and Cuzco. La Raya marks the boundary between the Departments of Puno and Cuzco, and is also the summit of the watershed which divides the Amazon system from that of Lake Titicaca. It is situated at an altitude of fourteen thousand one hundred and fifty feet above sea level. From La Raya, the train descends rapidly to Aguas Calientes (hot springs), Marangani, and Sicuani, two thousand five hundred feet lower, in the valley of the Vilcanota River. Before the completion of the railway to Cuzco, a diligence carried passengers from Sicuani to the ancient Inca capital, and, although the modern method of travel is to be preferred for many reasons, there was something charming in the drive along the old coach road that cannot be enjoyed by the traveller who is being whirled over the route at railway speed.

Formerly, the train arrived at Sicuani in the evening and passengers spent the night in one of the quaintest and most interesting towns of Peru, before taking the diligence to continue their journey to Cuzco. The market place of Sicuani is a glow of color when the Indians fill it with their wares. In the early morning they may be seen coming down the mountain into the town, the men wearing a dress introduced by the Spaniards during the time of the viceroyalty, with knee trousers and a coat of the period of Louis XIV., the women gorgeous in their almillas, or chemises of bright red or yellow; their chamarras, jackets of bright blue or green velvet; their chumpes, many-colored scarfs wound around their waists; and their flat, broad-brimmed hats made of cloth, lined with red and covered with silver braid. They scurry along the mountain road in high glee, their llamas in the lead with heads erect and long straight ears adorned with tassels of red, yellow and green woollen yarn. All the dignity of the procession is borne in the stately carriage of the llamas, whose leisurely movements are never disturbed by anything but fright.

RAILWAY ENGINEERS’ CAMP ON THE LINE BETWEEN CHECCACUPE AND CUZCO.

Since the railway has been opened to Cuzco, there is no longer any necessity to break the journey between Sicuani and that city, as was done in the days of the diligence, when a stop was made at Cusipata, “the happy place,” after a wonderful ride along the valley of the Vilcanota, crossing the Checcacupe River and revelling in scenes full of historical interest and romantic charm. The second day’s ride used to take one from Cusipata to Cuzco, past the ruins of Viracocha’s famous temple, and close to the lake of Urcos, where, tradition says, the chain of Huascar was buried when the Inca’s subjects learned that the Spaniards were coming to Cuzco. This wonderful chain of gold, which is said to have been long enough to enclose the plaza of Cuzco three times and so heavy that each link weighed a hundred pounds, has been the object of many expeditions to Urcos. Near this spot, Almagro and Pizarro fought one of their bitterest battles, and in the neighborhood tradition locates many victories of the Incas’ armies in earlier times.

The rope bridges formerly swung across the river have in many cases been replaced by bridges of stone, though a few of the older construction remain and are still strong and serviceable. Ruins of the ancient aqueducts are to be seen, as well as the Incaic andenes of the mountain side. The road passes through deep gulches mantled with green and under the shadow of sheer palisades towering a hundred feet above. Rippling streams pour their silvery tide into the river that winds its broadening course along the valley, and pepper trees, eucalyptus, furze bushes six feet high, and prickly cactus, grow in profusion along the roadside. The present railway follows closely the old diligence road. From Urcos, a branch line has been surveyed to the port of Tahuantinsuyo, on the Madre de Dios River, and another line is projected to connect the city of Cuzco with Santa Ana, the capital of the province of Convencion, in the same department. The immense importance of the railway to Santa Ana lies in the facilities it will afford for traffic in the region of the Montaña that is richest in coca and other valuable products. The law authorizing the construction of this line, prepared by Dr. Benjamin de La Torre, was passed by Congress in October, 1907, and the work is to be completed in three years more.

HIGHWAY BETWEEN THE SIERRA AND THE MONTAÑA. IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUNÍN.

Not only have the Central and Southern railways been extended and supplemented with branch lines within the past four years, but nearly all the existing railways of the republic have been brought to form links in the general system which the government has planned for the facilitation of traffic throughout the whole country. From the trunk line,—which, when completed, will extend from the border of Ecuador in the northwest to that of Bolivia in the southeast,—branches are being built to the head of navigation on all the great waterways of the upper Amazon. These lines will open up the vast region of the Montaña to the ports of the Pacific, and will multiply the available resources of the country a hundredfold. Products of the interior which have been cut off from the consumers of the coast by the great wall of the Andes, will be exchanged for goods brought to the Pacific ports; and months will be saved in the transportation of articles required for household use in the Amazon valleys. It will no longer be the custom for deputies from Iquitos to travel to Lima by way of Europe and Panamá, as at present, rather than across their own country, because the foreign trip takes less time. One of these branch lines is that previously mentioned as under construction to connect Urcos, on the Southern railway, with the port of Tahuantinsuyo on the Madre de Dios; another is being built from Oroya to the Ucayali River, passing through Tarma and along the present road to the Pichis and Perené Rivers. It is to be completed in 1913. A third line is entirely new, to be constructed from the port of Paita to Puerto Limon on the Marañon River, with a branch to Puerto Yurimaguas on the Huallaga.