Sunampe (Chincha), land of wines

Hello everyone, I hope that all of you are well.

There are places that are so close to our beloved capital city that we can go to and not spend too much, and they will also give us positive experiences and make us, in some way, more connected to our country.

Today I want to tell you about a place that I keep in my memory, since I know in other opportunities I have told you about Chincha as one of the cities and provinces that I love the most within Peru however, I want to take this opportunity to focus on one of its districts. I am talking about the district of Sunampe.

Sunampe, the land of my loves

Every district in Chincha has a signature and something that characterises them and differentiates them from the others. In the case of Sunampe, it is known for being the wine-making district of Chincha, and the place where my great-grandparents, grandparents and also my adored mother come from.

How could I not remember this place if I came here as a child, my first trip without my parents and when I was less than a year old was to here, Sunampe. Of this trip I obviously have no memory, but I know about it because of what my parents have told me.

My mum’s father was called Genaro and always came to my house in Lima with a smile from ear to ear and, with his chinchano accent that I still remember, Grandad arrived one day to my house, ready to take me to Sunampe without my mum or dad. Honestly, I don’t know how my mum was able to let me go, being that I was only a baby with less than one year of life, but this isn’t important and my grandad brought me to Sunampe from Lima, he took me there in a provincial bus and there we spent a few days in the middle of the farmhouse in a village that was called Santa Catalina.

Santa Catalina

Santa Catalina was a village that, when I was a child, didn’t have electricity or even water or drainpipes, they were simply houses made of adobe (sun-dried brick) and the farmhouses where you could find different fruit such as, for example, grapes, mangoes, plums, plantain, soursops, apples, quinces, watermelons, figs and many plants like cotton, avocado or guacamole, beans, sweet potato and many more plants.

I have had the privilege of knowing not only my grandparents but also my four grandparents from Chincha on behalf of my dad and mum, my sweet mum. My grandad was a man that, as I told you, he liked to love and care for his grandchildren, and I was the second grandson, the first of this generation of my family was my sister. My grandfather, and the truth is, I don’t know how he did this, but he really used magic to be able to take my sister, my little brother and myself on his motorcycle with him, he always took us on his red motorcycle towards his father’s house.

My great-grandfather, that was called Jesús (just like me), would also always give me his love whenever he saw me, and the first thing he did was something that I will always remember; he took a yellow chilli pepper (this yellow chilli pepper is native to Peru) and I would start to pray, I would pray to not be scared, these are the kinds of beliefs that the people from the deep Peruvian district have to trust, in that they will help children to feel better. Well, my great-grandad did it, and I remember that, every time I went to visit him, it was one of the first things he did upon seeing me so that I would feel more at peace.

Nowadays, these memories fill me with joy despite having grown up in Lima, in the middle of the capital’s modernity, and for the moments I am going to have to tell you that, sincerely, sometimes I refused to be in the farm for different reasons, one of which was that at eight o’clock at night, the lights that were powered with a battery engine turned off and so, magically, the gas lights began to turn on which illuminated only the inside of the house, quite a big house in the middle of the farm.

Being in such a big house, I was, at times, scared, especially because my uncle (the brother of my mother) scared me by saying that there was a woman that came during the night, dressed as a witch, flying through the skies where you can see the stars, and I remember that I liked to look at them, especially because there I learned the three stars that are known as Orion’s Belt, at night through the roof of every room there was a kind of hole that was illuminated with natural light every time the gas lights turned off and there were moments I couldn’t sleep, what I felt during some nights was purely fear and dread, so I would listen to the sound of the witch – believe me, I heard the sound of the witch, and I cried and was scared and would call for my mum.

The witch of stories that wouldn’t let me sleep

Chincha would fill me with fear on these days, but then when I grew up, I realised that there was no witch, have you ever heard the sound of the owl? It was actually the sound of the owl, the owl that then was able to make me realise that the cause of my fears was a very small bird, light brown in colour, similar to the brown earth when it is dry, the owl only moved during the nights although, sometimes it flew in the morning to hunt some of its prey.

Despite the fear that I told you about, that then I could already overcome, there were times where I couldn’t get used to Sunampe, the hamlet of Santa Catalina, I missed something that I couldn’t find. My uncles from Lima would laugh at me every time that I would come back from my trip to Chincha because my mum would take my brothers and I during the summer holidays from college when we were in nursery and then in primary. My uncles from Lima would tell me that I could always come back much darker, as though I were a Chinchano, as Chincha is the capital of Afro-Peruvian culture and is the place where you will find a good percentage of African descendants in Peru.

My family from Sunampe

What I would also like to tell you about is that, with the passing of months and year, I realised that what I lacked there were friends, because as children it was only my little brother, my sister and myself, and one day, without wanting to, I remember that I met a large family with maybe seven siblings, some around the same age as me and other much younger than I. It was with them that I played every time I went to Sunampe, and so I felt more at peace.

Now I am an adult, 29 years old, these memories I take with me with lots of love and care, since I have been able to realise that between hate and love there is only one step, that having this fear of Sunampe and Santa Catalina began to change to me loving it and wanting to come with my mum whenever we could and, of course, as I told you, my first trip in my whole life was to here. To Chincha!

Grandad Genaro

The years passed, the circle of life moved us away from those we love and so, regrettably, one day, my Grandad Genaro passed away from cancer, when I was only ten years old. I was in the sixth grade of my primary school (year 7 for UK school reference), and they made me leave early so that I could go to my house that was only a block away and from there, from my beloved house in Lima, I have to go to Santa Catalina in Chincha, this time not to enjoy the summer holidays that my mum would take us on, but to say goodbye to my grandad. I remember that this was the first time I had seen a coffin in front of me, the first time I saw a dead man, and that dead man was my grandad, and I could see the cotton that covered his nose and face, as though he were sleeping through the glass of his coffin.

People began to bring my grandad from Santa Catalina to the entrance of Sunampe, and I brought one of his tears, and then brought my grandad to the cemetery in Chincha – the same cemetery where now the brother of my mother and my great-grandad are buried. I don’t know if I have told you this but, in my family, every generation from my great-grandfather has somebody with the name ‘Jesús’, and I am the fourth-generation ‘Jesús’, my name is Jesús Alonso.

I am the Jesús of the fourth-generation

When I was born, the brother of my mother, who was called Jesús Benjamín, passed away, and it was then when that I was born, and so they gave me the name Jesús in honour of the uncle I never met but I was able to see photographs of him and the way he would write in some books where he would put his name and surname.

The farmhouse of my dreams

The farmhouse of Santa Catalina, the beautiful house made of adobe and with a reed roof, would never be the same after the passing of my grandfather, everything changed: the trees stopped growing fruit and the plants began to dry up, the dog that was mine before then being a companion to my grandad in Chincha also later died (the dog was called Gringo and was the only dog I’ve had in my life, my mum brought him to me from Chincha).

By that time, my grandfather, before passing, had bought a plot of land in the outskirts of Sunampe, no longer in the village. Years passed by, the family of my grandfather decided to sell the farmhouse, and the new owners destroyed the house and the trees and everything I remembered as a child disappeared, leaving only one branch that was protected by a thorn bush that I also very much remember seeing and it reminding me of needles.

The Huaca of Fear

Something else that I also remember about my grandad is that he brought us to La Huaca Centinela (a huaca is a kind of tomb or safe, made of earth, and used to protect objects of value in Chincha culture), and he scared us with his voice in the Huaca Centinela and we, my two siblings and I, screamed in fear, but then afterwards he calmed us down when my grandad kindly gave us ice-creams as an apology.

Love for pets

Pets, the love that I have for dogs was born here in Chincha since you always see dogs in Chincha; every time that I came here on holiday, I saw a new dog, and played lovingly with them. Additionally, I remember that my sister played with the dirt and, one day, my father told her she would be an architect, and today, well, he was not wrong; my sister is an architect, and I am a Tourism Administrator although everyone said I would be a vet, but this didn’t happen since I actually have a fear of rats and I couldn’t bear to think that, at some point, a rodent would come to my surgery. I really could not dissect a rodent’s stomach, I give up!

Horror stories also fill me with fear, especially one time, when they told me that a goblin wanted to take me away, because people very much believe in witches, in goblins and in everything like that. I also remember that I heard stories that my grandfather once found a witch on the roads to the farmhouse who appeared as a weeping woman, furthermore next to the house where we lived, at the lower part at the bottom we saw a house where we said a witch lived and, only by thinking of this, I would freeze up in fear, this house was an abandoned house and I could only been seen there once.

My dream for this place

Now I am going to tell you one of my main dreams, for me, in truth, I would really like to buy this farmhouse from whoever bought it, and return to establish a lodging here, like a kind of Ecolodge for agricultural tourism and for eco-tourism. I would like to build a house and then begin to build bungalows for those that want to live here, sowing again the seeds of the plans that I saw when I was a child and making my two younger siblings, that never came to really know this house, feel the family legacy. I know that it’s just a dream, but I also know that, one day, I will make it come true.

And this is why I tell you, as now, nearly 19 years after the incident of the death of my grandfather, the story has changed, there are now lights, water and drainage pipes in this area. There are now also lights that light up your path, modernity has slowly arrived here, and I think that a sustainable tourism could really help the people in this area.

Privileged area

On the other hand, Santa Catalina is found in a very privileged area a few minutes from the sea, where you can go to swim in the big waves and where you can also find mussels and you can sunbathe in the middle of nowhere. To get here you have to take a hike through the farmhouses that are worth seeing, especially because they inspire you to disconnect and breathe in air from nature, that nature that we all need to be able to move forward in our lives and to continue enjoying good health. Now, I mention health because I am going to tell you about my grandparents on the side of my nan called Gabriel and Julia, who were people that lived in the countryside and sowed seeds in the farmhouse that I have been telling you about. I remember that my nan cooked with firewood and would carry the firewood over her shoulders and would prepare sweet potato over the ashes, and I would eat it. I also remember that there were some laying hens that would lay eggs of different colours, if you can believe it! Never again have I seen hens with different coloured eggs, but I can tell you that the colours I remember the colours being yellow, green and blue, strange, right? But believe me, it’s true, and how I would have liked to have had a photo camera to record the memory of the revelation of all these memories that I take in my heart and mind today.

Building from nothing

Over time my nan, a role-model mother, began to, bit by bit, build the new house, here you can already see the changes and the modernity that came to be in the city: they began with only two rooms, then three, then four and so it continued but yes, the construction here kept the same legacy of all of the southern area of Peru: the houses are made of adobe cobblestone and the roofs made of reeds of bamboo as though they were sugar canes, covered with substantial straw. The truth is, I am not sure that I am describing them well, so if a Chinchano is reading this then I hope you can help confirm this information!

I love you, Sunampe

Chincha and Sunampe after my capital city of Lima have been the places where I spent the most time as a child; here I learned to see the beauty of nature and to feel the history and begin to love them, because my grandad would bring us on the red motorcycle to an archaeological centre called Huaca Centinela and, from here, you could see the sea in all its splendour. While the Huaca Centinela didn’t belong to Sunampe, it was very near to Santa Catalina, walking across the fields you could arrive in less than forty minutes, as you can see, everything is very close! It’s for this that I would like to return here, partly for the sea and partly for the archaeological centre, as well as the farming. What more could you ask for?

The destructive earthquake

The house my nan currently lives in is in front of the Sunampe stadium, which is where everyone would almost always do their activities and where there were some tropical or even chica and cumbia music festivals. The years went by and, with them came my responsibilities. Years passed, and I began at The National University of San Marcos, in the professional academic school for Tourism. My classes began in 2005 and, in the blink of an eye, it was already 2007 and a time that I would never, ever forget.

The earth shook without mercy

It was the afternoon of the 15th of August of 2007, to be precise it was 18:50, and I was then in the central library of my university, as I was working as a stockist, and in that precise moment I was at two points: about to pass through the reading room and into the bookstore that was a huge store with thousands and thousands of books on its shelves, the library of San Marcos is one of the largest in Peru.

In that moment, the ground began to shake, the people began to run, terrified, to the reading rooms, looking for the exit. In that moment, I saw how so many books fell to the floor and I felt as though this modern building was living up to its boat-like shape, moving as though we were at sea, as though we were in the middle of the waves, a though we were, regrettably, not standing on a concrete floor but rather a floor of jelly, the man in charge of the bookstore on the level I was found shouted to me because he realised I was also about to run like the rest; the only thing I could do in that moment was to lean against the wall where the lift was.

Never before had I felt the ground move with such fury, in the wake of all of Lima, the capital city of Peru transcended into chaos, the news was barely coming through and telephone signals had crashed, there was no way to communicate with your loved ones, or if one wanted to it was truly very nearly impossible.

The walk home

Many of the students at that time left the university city walking, without being able to take the bus, the people and the traffic became diabolical, the taxi drivers didn’t want to take any passengers, public buses were completely full, everyone was worried about their family – I, of course, was worried about mine – and, in that moment, I thought about my house in Lima, about my siblings and my mother, and I though that the worst had happened.

Without electricity, the worst is just beginning

We were without electric lighting for many hours, I had to finally go by foot from the university to my house which took me more or less an hour and a half to get there. When I arrived, the house was dark and, thankfully, nothing had happened to my house, nor to the other houses in my area, nor to the majority of the houses in Lima. Honestly, it was a miracle.

The terrible consequences

However, the real epicentre soon arrived to my house in Lima with the news, when we were informed that the earthquake had started in the Ica region, and lasted 157 seconds with a magnitude of 7. 7, bringing with it terrible news of the disaster that, at first, didn’t seem to be too much but, little by little, began to increase and, according to the latest statistics, the earthquake left approximately 596 dead, almost 2, 291 injured, 76, 000 houses totally destroyed and uninhabitable and 431, 000 people affected. The most affected areas were the provinces of Pisco, Ica, Chincha, Cañete, Yauyos, Huaytará and Castrovirreyna.

Help for all

My family in Lima and all inhabitants of Lima that lived through such a strong earthquake, after many years, began to show solidarity with this catastrophic event and, of course, my beloved Sunampe and Santa Catalina.

These memories became very sad for me, with my mum we were able to borrow some transportation from a cousin of hers to be able to go and help the family in Chincha and Sunampe. I had never before seen the tracks of the road as they were during this journey: practically split into two with a height that could easily reach the second floor of a house.

Arriving at the city of Chincha, it was inevitable that we would feel the pain of the population, the people in the doorframes of their semi destroyed houses, and others totally collapsed, looking at the corpses that the terrible earthquake had brought, as well as the people with their placards asking for food. To be able to continue on from this terrible process, the Peruvian State provided aid to the people, but it was never enough, and there are still houses now that need justice and help from the state.

Free Prisoners

Very near to the Socorro beach was also a prison, where the prisoners escaped from in the middle of the night, crossing the farms without light, the people of the city would see ”the highs” passing through the streets, crossing and submerging themselves in the middle of the destroyed city. One of these people that lived and felt the calamities of the earthquake was my nan in Sunampe who, with my great-grandmother and my uncles, were thankfully able to survive the earthquake, fate or miracle, whatever they wanted to call it, was the support that meant their house was not destroyed and remained standing, although of course it was marred with the massacre of the land, the world of the south of Peru would never be the same after this natural disaster.

The people began to be afraid of rebuilding their houses anew from reeds and Guayaquil, but people were also already making miracles and, with the sweat on their brow, began to slowly raise up their houses with the materials that you can now find in many houses in Lima, with brick and cement. But the aftershocks continued on from the day of the earthquake, and fear reigned in Sunampe.

Doubts

Sometimes I think and ask myself if everything happens for a reason, for some life motive that we sometimes do not know of. Sometimes I ask myself what might have happened if my family from Chincha hadn’t moved from Santa Catalina to the city of Sunampe: if this hadn’t have happened, maybe that old house would not have had to endure the calamities of the natural disaster.

Additionally, another thing that I thought was that all of the effort that my nan had put into being able to build her house had been destroyed in the earthquake and with this came a new necessity: to return and completely destroy the house and start anew to create a new story for the family.

Thanks to life that no family of mine lost their life, as they say that material things can be recovered, but loved ones cannot be, they must always be loved and cared for, for all of time, and you must, above all, give them unconditional love and care.

The world seemed as though it had already ended for the people in the south of Peru, but despite this, many rose up out of the ashes and bit by bit, slowly, Chincha and Sunampe returned to being the same as before.

Typical food from Sunampe

There is something else that I cannot forget, especially because my nan Margarita, every time that she came to my house in Lima to visit us, would always bring the ingredients to make us one of the most delicious meals on the planet, this succulent and delicious dish is called sopa seca, one of the most representative dishes of Chinchanos.

The sopa seca is a dish that will delight you by more than its delicious seasoning made by the hands of the Chinchanos. Its ingredients include noodles, potatoes (sometimes they also put in huancaina sauce – a spicy cheese sauce) and its stew that contains potato that is not dry ad it is accompanied by its condiments that give it its characteristic seal that every Chinchano should be proud of.

Here, for example, in Sunampe, alike to all of Chincha, the activities of the Capapulcradas are carried out, where the people support each other. For example, if there is a relative who has a health problem, what people do is, either in the house of the ill person or of another relative, they prepare the carapulcra with the sopa seca in giant pans and they sell portions to neighbours, friends and other relatives. This also occurs in Lima in what you would know as a fair, selling fried chicken with potatoes and salads. Every area has something that characterises them, and in the case of Chincha, it is without doubt the sopa seca with carapulcra that is the star of the show.

But the gastronomy in Chincha goes much further than this. There are many typical dishes that you can taste and fall in love with, one of which, for example, is beans with rice. Also, something that I will always remember is mussels that they use to make a soup and also to make ceviche.

Telling you about the typical things in Chincha also reminds me of special dates that they celebrate in Chincha, such as baptisms because I tell you that when they baptised me when my grandparents and great-grandparents were alive and living in Santa Catalina, there the godparents are given an entire turkey, I’m not joking! A huge, entire turkey for each godparent, and they also serve a large bread that goes around the turkey that is boiled and stewed, and they serve sopa seca.

As you can see, dear friends, here food is so good and tasty that, when you come and taste it, you will realise that I am completely right and I am not exaggerating. As the saying goes: ¡Vamos pa’ chincha familia! (Let’s go to the Chinchano family! )

Sunampe festivities

Sunampe, blessed land, land of cotton farming but also of the traditional grape, as I told you at the start of this extensive story, one of the things that characterises Sunampe is the celebration of grapes and wines. In this area, the month of March, between the 14th and 20th of March there is a traditional grape and wine harvest festival, where they celebrate the arrival of grapes and their harvest.

Here people celebrate to the max. Not only with wine, but also with traditional “cachinas”, as well as grape liquor, so nobody can say that without music there is no fun, as here the people dance, sing, enjoy themselves as though they were at home. It is the lace for fun and for good opportunities to get to know your vineyards and wine-makers as well as trying the wine and grape liquor.

Within Chincha we have, for example, a very well-known business called Tabernero, and it is one of the main companies for wine production in Peru. There are also artisanal wine-makers such as, for example, Tía Julia among others. Tour their vineyards to sample the different aromas, the different textures of grapes and their derivatives.

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Furthermore, on of the things that is also connected to Sunampe is undoubtedly when, each August month, the traditional grape pruning is carried out, the month in which they also organise all of the preparations so that they grow the same, so they begin to create a kind of roof to cover the grape branches so that they begin to grow in peace and therefore produce quality products for all Chinchanos and any visitors.

Talking about wines and “cachinas” reminds me of when I also experienced something in Sunampe, in my nan’s house: one day I went out and I went to go to the Huaca Centinela and I tell you I ended up more wobbly than if I had ended up in Nazca, meaning to say that I was drunk, which is why I sat down to chat with the archaeologist of the Centinela museum (which I had recently discovered and that had marvelled me with all its history of Chincha and with all its culture), which is when I at least thought I was already totally smashed. I had come here on my bicycle, and I had to climb a kind of hill to get back home.

Here, in the sand, I began to climb that hill and I fell and hurt my knees. And when my mother and father arrived, they didn’t say anything to me, but if I had been them, I would have killed me! They were on the verge of calling the police because they though that something bad had happened to me, besides me being a “chicken” back then: I didn’t drink, much less went to parties with my friends, I was just entering the age of adolescence, but I still serve as the funny story of the family.

Sunampe, as I have been able to tell you, has many rural areas that you can visit and enjoy to the max. I am sure that, here, you are going to be able to find the peace that you need, along with a good climate and tasty food that only Chincha knows how to have, of this I do not doubt even for a second. I am more than sure that you are going to fall in love with its wines and its people.

Furthermore, you can also see here many lodgings that have swimming pools and comfortable prices, there is something for every budget, and whatever the time of year, the climate is always going to be much better than that in Lima.

Now, years have passed and yes, I am now in Italy writing these words. I will tell you that the last time that I went to Sunampe was last year in May, 2016, when I went to surprise my family and see them for three weeks and therefore take advantage of the situation and go with my mother and younger brother to go and visit my nan in Chincha, who couldn’t imagine that I was in Peru.

I had a marvellous afternoon, as well as trying, once again, the traditional sopa seca with its carapulcra and feeling the warmth of my family. Furthermore, although it was only for a short while, we went in my uncle’s taxi to Santa Catalina, not as far as the farmhouse that I have told you about today, but to the entrance where my aunts now live with my cousins.

I have seen the change that has come to this area, and I feel very happy that my nan has been able to move forward, that Sunampe can and is moving forward. Of course, there are problems, just like in any part of the world, but these people are fighters, like my great-grandparents, like my Grandad Genaro, may they rest in peace, and like my nan, Margarita. They have been a part of this process that has served as an example to me to continue giving my best.

I want to invite all of you to come and see the marvels of Chincha, especially Sunampe, a place that you will have already realised has a special place in my memory and that I know will soon be part of my future.

You are going to find provincial mobility that some and goes from Lima at all hours of the day. The journey may vary depending on how you want to travel, but I assure you that when you arrive here, you are going to feel very welcome.

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Go to visit Sunampe during festivals or at any weekend

Many thanks for having read this message full of love. This publication is dedicated to my two maternal grandparents, to my beloved Grandad Genaro and his motorcycle for all terrains and, of course, my mum, Margarita, whose hands are blessed with cooking the best sopa seca with carapulcra in Chincha, and how could I not mention my great-grandparents: Jesus, Margarita, Gabriel and Julia.

I hope with all my heart that you have liked this long composition, I believe that it is the longest I have written up to now, for thinking about these memories fills me with emotion.

Many thanks, lovers of Peru! See you another time and, as you now know: ¡Vamos pa’ chincha familia!

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