The view from the road to Celendin. All photos by Scott Gribble © CARE 2001.

The spirits of the mountains resonated within us as we made the drive from Cajamarca to the Celendin region, a three-hour ride that CARE staff member Mary Mucci described as "religious."

It was truly a spiritual journey, winding around the mountains, climbing to some of the highest regions in the area. We met the Celendin group of Anna Weinberg, Sophie Grimes and Sylvia Gonzalez in a town called Cruzconga -- a spectacular valley cradled in between soaring green peaks.

We had come to Cruzconga to see the vibrant fair that takes place every week in this small village.

The "meat aisle" at the Cruzconga market.

After being away from this group for a night, they immediately began to recount their experiences of the last day.

They already seemed very much at home in the most rural of the three regions the Youth Corps was visiting. Sylvia made us jealous when she told us about the thermal baths they visited in Celendin -- hot springs where they got to swim and feel the steaming energy of the mountains.

As we began to catch up with their adventures, we walked around the bustling and beautiful fair. People from the farthest corners of this secluded region had come to Cruzconga to sell their animals, clothes, food and household products. There was one area full of cows and we learned about the different breeds for sale. The people of the market stared at us as we walked among them. It seemed like they had never seen so many tourists, if any at all.

Sylvia Gonzales shows her skill on the soccer field.

The rest of the rainy afternoon was spent playing soccer with the local people and the CARE staff. We all struggled to breathe in the lofty field that seemed to levitate between the mountain peaks. Sophie, Anna and Sylvia hardly minded the rain, though. They chugged up and down the field, racing their young teammates and colliding with slippery smiles.

Later in the afternoon, we got the chance to visit a trout farm that had been developed with CARE's technical and monetary assistance. The trout farm held more than 3,000 fish and was a huge asset to the town. The CARE staff and local owner explained to us that this was the first trout farm in the area, and that it would not be the last. The trout farm represented a new profitable and productive source of income and food for the people of these dairy towns.

Anna, Sylvia and Sophie feed the fish at a trout farm CARE helped start.

They also explained to us that the trout farm does not hurt the environment, while we followed the river water as it passed right through the troughs and back into the original stream. As the girls fed the fish, they swarmed and shimmered at the top of the water, while the manager of the farm showed the Youth Corps how to use a net to catch them. After catching a few, the fish were thrown in a bucket in which the girls immediately stuck their hands, playing giddily with the slippery trout that would be their dinner.