THE ROCK FOREST OF HUAYLLAY Text and photos by Victor Miguel Ponce

A marvel far away Visiting Huayllay is not for the faint of heart. It is a remote area, in a country such as Peru, where attractions such as Cuzco, Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines overshadow everything else in terms of vacation travel. To visit Huayllay and enjoy its "Bosque de Piedras" [Rock Forest], you must be free-spirited and willing to endure the inconveniences which typically await travelers who stray from the well traveled path. But, alas, once you get to Huayllay, and observe with your own eyes what Mother Nature has been doing for up to 65 million years, you will not be disappointed. Photo by Victor Miguel Ponce The King's Crown. Huayllay is not just a hill with interesting rock carvings. There are plenty of those around. Huayllay is properly a vast and complex array of eroded rocky hills, literally hundreds of them, where time and Mother Nature have joined forces to produce what may well be the largest and highest geological museum the world. The total area of the Huayllay Rock Forest is 6,815 hectares [16,840 acres], lying at an altitude of 4,300 m [14,108 ft], along the High Plains [meseta] of Bombón, in Pasco, central Peru. The climate is cold and steppe-like, with temperatures ranging from 14oC to -8oC [59oF to 18oF].

Geology The geology of the Huayllay formation dates back to the beginning of the Cenozoic Age, about 65 million years ago. The rocks are of volcanic and sedimentary origin, the latter mostly limestones. What makes Huayllay unique is the prevailing stratigraphy, which has permitted differential erosion to carve some of the most unimaginable figures, literally, rocks of different shapes lying upon rocks, almost as if somebody had painstakingly taken the time to place them one on top of another. A common sight is a rock balancing on one point, with all the remaining degrees of freedom ready to topple it, but for some strange and unexplained reason, it has yet to happen.

Sculptures There are eleven routes or paths that can be taken to enjoy Huayllay. Some are easy; others are more difficult and require a time commitment of several hours, and a good guide to be sure. Route No. 1, the closest to the road and, consequently, the most frequently visited, lasts about one hour. Here the visitor can admire the bat, the UFO, the seahorse, the King's crown, the watchman, the thinker, the crocodile, the snail, the fish, and many other seemingly close-to-perfect sculptures. Photo by Victor Miguel Ponce The Alpaca. Other routes feature similar sculptures, with names only limited by the imagination. The more challenging routes require special permits from the local park administration to gain access. All are a marvel for the eye and a haven for the natural-resources photographer, professional or otherwise. Due to the frequent presence of near-vertical walls, taking good pictures requires precise timing and some measure of luck.

Cave paintings Huayllay features many caves, which contain prehispanic paintings, typically of camelids, but also of other zoomorphic and anthropomorphic drawings. These paintings are positioned in walls, both covered and uncovered, mostly of great size, and painted in several tones of red. The age is attributed to Early preceramic (2500 B.C.-1000 B.C.) to more recent times [For a detailed description of the Huayllay camelid cave paintings, see http://rupestreweb.tripod.com/camelidos.html].