Las Huaringas

Las Huaringas are a group of lakes at around 3,900 metres in the páramo above Huancabamba, of which Laguna Shimbe and Laguna Negra are the best known, and they are the most important centre of traditional Andean healing in Peru. People come from across the country and from Ecuador and further to consult curanderos, who conduct night-long ceremonies involving bathing in the freezing lake water, cleansing with herbs, swords and stones, and the use of San Pedro cactus, a mescaline-containing plant used ritually in the Andes for several thousand years. The practice is a genuine and continuous tradition, not a performance, and it is also unregulated: practitioners vary from serious lineage healers to opportunists, San Pedro is a powerful psychoactive with real medical risks, and anyone considering participation should understand they are taking a substance under no medical supervision at altitude in cold water.

What's there

• The lakes - cold water at around 3,900 metres in the Piura páramo.
• The ceremonies - night-long healing rituals conducted by curanderos.
• The tradition - continuous Andean healing practice, not staged for visitors.
• The páramo - the wet high grassland ecosystem around the lakes.

When to go

April to November. Ten hours by road from Piura to Huancabamba, then horse or foot to the lakes. Two days minimum.

What to expect

This is a living religious and healing practice, not an attraction. Ceremonies involve San Pedro, a powerful psychoactive taken without medical supervision, plus immersion in freezing water at altitude. Practitioners are unregulated and vary widely. Very cold and wet at 3,900 metres.

Nearby

Huancabamba is the base town; the Piura highlands run north toward Ecuador.

Key facts