Day 7

By elissam

We had some trouble finding cars to take us from Chachapoyas to Chirimoto. We thought we would be able to use the university trucks during our entire trip, but apparently those were only meant for our stay in chachapoyas. One of the drivers came with us to Chirimoto, but we had to take 2 extra taxis as well. 

We had stopped for in Mendoza to do some shopping and had lunch at Antonio Trigoso’s house before continuing on to Chirimoto. We also stopped on the highway above Chirimoto so that Lucho could set off his customary fireworks to let the town know that we had arrived. Lucho introduced us to Panchito and his family, and Panchito gave us a tour of the hummingbird house and their land. Panchito and Wilma live in the Hummingbird house and take care of it in Lucho’s absence. They have 5 children: Malco, Aner, Elder, Jarold (el diablito), and Donnie (el osito polar). 

We set up tents and get all of our stuff organized. After dinner we went to the meeting of coffee growers in the municipality to make introductions and meet some of the townspeople.