Linking Culture and the Environment

R.E. Mitchell 165
accommodation on a rotating basis with a local family in an adobe hut.
Several committees help to manage the daily tasks, such as housing, weaving,
food and transportation. Each household approved by an accommodation
committee as suitable for tourists directly receives the lodging fees (in
1997, about US$2 per night). Tourist income revenues encourage household
improvements (such as simple bedding gear, extra rooms and kerosene lanterns).
Groups of families own and manage island restaurants.
Chiquian
Chiquian has an urban population of 3801 inhabitants and 1204 households
(1993 census). It lies 110 km south-east of Huaraz, 340 km north-east of Lima
and situated at 3374 m. In many respects, Chiquian remains as isolated as
Taquile Island since it is surrounded by mountains and requires a relatively
arduous journey from Huaraz (about 4 h by bus). Formerly known as the
gateway to the Cordillera Huayhuash, this status may be changing as access
by car to Llamac is now possible. Until recently, many visitors either start
from, or end their Huayhuash trips in, Chiquian. However, most foreigners
and domestic visitors tend to stick to the immediate Huaraz area compared
to relatively isolated Cordillera Huayhuash area. An estimated 95% of foreign
visitors to the Chavín Region (of which Chiquian belongs) visit cities in
the Callejón de Huaylas (the mountain valley north of Huaraz of which the
National Park of Huascarán is located), while only 1% visit Chiquian and the
Cordillera Huayhuash (TMI, 1996).
Some local people in the Chiquian area are hired as porters, mule drivers
and cooks. Other local services that cater to tourists (although not exclusively)
include restaurants, hostels, bus transportation, wool clothing manufacturing
and cheese making. Chiquian and its neighbouring towns offer other attractions
such as colonial churches, thermal springs and archaeological sites. Most
foreign tourists coming to Chiquian intend to trek or climb mountains in the
nearby Cordillera Huayhuash that cover an area of 140,000 ha and is 45 km
long from north to south. The Huayhuash is ‘virtually an undiscovered treasure’
with its extensive ‘hiking and trekking routes, climbing attractions,
archaeological sites, alpine lakes and cultural uniqueness’ (Kolff and Tohan,
1997, p. 29). It contains 46 alpine lakes and has six peaks greater than 6000 m,
including the second-highest mountain in Peru, Yerupaja at 6634 m.
The flow of visitors to the Huayhuash started in the 1970s and reached its
peak by the mid-1980s. From that point on until the group’s effective defeat in
1992, the Shining Path used the Cordillera Huayhuash as a remote base. As
terrorism declined, tourism levels began to approach or even exceed numbers
experienced during the 1980s. Approximately 1000 visitors during 1996 stayed
an average of 10 days per person (Kolff and Tohan, 1997). However, local people
of the Cordillera Huayhuash ‘perceive tourism as only a means of economic
benefits’, and in general do not have a well- developed understanding
of the industry (Kolff and Tohan, 1997, p. 61). In 1997, The Mountain
Institute began discussing a community-based ecotourism programme with