The capital of the Amazonas region, Chachapoyas, was created in 1538 by the Spanish. 10 km north of the city is the pottery village of Huancas. There you are next to the viewpoint of the Sonche Canyon. Discover Vaca Huillca today, whose shadow still hangs over the Sonche river. This story from the oral tradition is brought to us by José D. López Rodríguez.
On the right bank of the Sonche river, at the place called Jaramillo, facing Rumi-Shitana, on the hillsides, there is a small rock where a black figure, like a cow, is drawn. A curiosity of nature, there is no doubt.
The common people who had traveled on the dirt road and who today take the road built on the same path on the left bank of the Sonche river, look at this bovine figure in stone and say to others: “Here is the “Vaca Huillca”.
And so they say that a long time ago, there was a very strong cow. When she saw travelers passing on the way, she rushed on them and attacked them with her horns. She seriously injured them, and sometimes killed her victims and drank their blood. People, terrorized, hardly used this dirt road which linked the city of Chachapoyas to the villages of the surroundings on the eastern side.
One day, a wizard who owned the Jaramillo land had to go to Chachapoyas. On the way, he encountered the cow, which attacked it. But he possessed a devilish spell and managed to dominate the cow. With the help of a traveler who accompanied him, he wrapped a rope around his neck and they took him to his home.
At the foot of the rock where we see the cow, there was a large cave which served as a doctor’s office and clinic. He treated his patients there, sometimes with the help of Doctor Satan, depending on the severity of the illness or in the event of witchcraft or hex. There, in this cellar, he performed a spell: he transformed the cow into stone and encrusted it forever in the rock so that it would never hurt travelers again.
