Chacas

Chacas sits at 3,360 metres in the Conchucos valley on the eastern side of the Cordillera Blanca, and its character was shaped by one arrival: Ugo De Censi, an Italian priest who came in 1976 and founded the Operación Mato Grosso schools, training local young people in woodcarving, furniture making, stained glass and stonework. The result is a town where carved wooden doors, balconies and window frames are everywhere, a large church built and decorated entirely by local craftsmen, and workshops that supply work across Peru and abroad. The project has also run hospitals, hydroelectric schemes and mountain refuges in the range. The town is white-walled with a wide plaza and it is on the road over Punta Olímpica, which is one of the most spectacular drives in Peru. It is a base for trekking in the Conchucos and for the Huayhuash approaches.

History

Chacas was one of the lordships of the kingdom of the Conchucos, on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Blanca, until the Inca period of 1460-1533. The Spanish town was founded in April 1572 by the Augustinian friars Hernando García and Alfonso Espinoza with Captain Alonso de Santoyo y Valverde of Huánuco and the encomendero Diego de Álvarez, and it has kept its Andean-Andalusian architecture of narrow streets and carved balconies (Wikipedia, Chacas).

Highlights

• The carved woodwork - doors, balconies and frames throughout the town.
• The church - built and decorated by locally trained craftsmen.
• The workshops - carving, furniture and stained glass training schools.
• The setting - a white highland town on the eastern side of the Blanca.

When to go

May to September; the Punta Olímpica road closes in bad weather. A day or an overnight, often as a stop crossing the range.

Before you go

Reached over a 4,700-metre pass, and the road can close without warning. Cold at 3,360 metres. Workshop visits are by arrangement, not drop-in. Limited accommodation and restaurants.

Nearby

The Punta Olímpica pass is west; San Luis and the Conchucos valley run north.

Key facts