Callalli

Callalli
Sunday, after an easy morning hanging around the town plaza and talking with the tourist police in the morning, I took a local van to a town an hour away named Callalli(pronounced Cayayi with a hint of l mixed with the ys) a bit tough for a gringo. This was my first experience of how many people can fit in a regular sized van. I couldn’t count the seats but in counting heads there were 22 people in at one time. Luckily 3 were small children. Needless to say I didn’t see much of the scenery, facing backward behind the front seat in the middle, but I had a nice conversation with the man next to me mostly about how Big Pine compared to the local area. Callalli, like all the local towns has a plaza and a large stone church about 300 years old and a couple hundred adobe houses maybe 15'x 25'. About 10% were abandoned and in various stages of decay. The move to the city is evident but as yet, the 2nd home movement is nil. Some houses still keep the traditional thatched roofs but most have switched to corrugated metal. There was a small Sunday market going on and a side street was full of colorfully dressed women and the more drab men. For some examples native dress by a Native painter that is a link to his website. As i sat next to an older woman, several 7 or 8 year old girls gathered around asking where I was from and what I was doing. I showed them some pictures on my camera of the 2 mesas near town I had photographed and flower close-ups from the day before and the chatted excitedly but when I offered to take their picture the woman told then not to accept. Most people don?t want their photos taken and most of those that do want to be paid. There was a real bus to take me back and the views of the mountains, fields, terraces, and ruins were much more appreciable on the ride back to Chivay.