Mike. We have not been back to Pucacocha since, but our contacts in Mariposa have approached the village to let them understand what we are doing. This reaction is really strange. We have been staying in the school for a couple of years now during our trips. I held a little speach to the school kids about ecology and conservation after a request from the teachers.
It goes to show, that the hysteria from rumours in these parts of the world is very powerful. One have best to speak Spanish.

Some recent improvements that I soon shall be blogging about:
At the Paty Trail, we have installed some beds in the local school, for the benefit of our clients and to start a small eco-tourism project together with the school.
At Cochabamba on the way up to Unchog, there is now a small communal hostal that we shall be using.
Apaya on the Satipo road will soon have a small community lodge, since funds have been secured by the Mariposa Municipality, Rain Forest Partnership and Kolibri Expeditions.
Next year the whole central Peru circuit can be done completely without camping. Be sure to let people know!

Our plan was to go straight up the dry side of the mountain and then straight down the wet side. Manuel and Reyes assured us that this plan was doable, but that they would need to check with the elders of the next village over, since the land we wanted to hunt in was in a different jurisdiction than Acomayo. Manuel and Reis reported back that we had permission to hunt, but that the elders would not be responsible for our lives.

“What?”

“These people believe in Pistacos.”

“What is a Pistaco?”

“A Pistaco has blue eyes, not brown, like a Peruvian,” explained Manuel

“A Pistaco has brown hair, not black hair like a Peruvian,” continued Reyes, “and have heavy beards, unlike the local folks who have little facial hair to begin with and, as adolescents, pluck out their facial hair with tweezers.”

“And Pistacos roam the forest with machetes, chop people’s heads off, and eat them raw. Nobody’s ever seen a Pistaco and survived.”

I have no idea either how folks got such an accurate description of this beast or why I was dead ringer for a Pistaco. In the interest of science, I decided to make a hard right and follow a ridge to the northwest to an abandoned trail which, years before the Central Highway, had connected Acomayo with the region below the Carpish Pass.

dan