博客何飛：Peru-Slowly…Part 2

A journey of a mystical wonder cannot be completed without the people. In Aguas Calientes where visitors to Machu Picchu have to pass by, there’s a place of hidden treasure which offers an exotic lodging accommodation, a spectacular view of Machu Picchu, a fine dining experience to its guests and many more. I was lucky to be able to meet one of the founders and owners of this place (Mr. Francisco Seminario) and learnt about the adventurous and soulful story of how they made their dream into a reality.

When did Rupa Wasi start operating?

Francisco: Rupa Wasi has been operating since 2002.

What was the story behind the idea of this start-up?

Francisco: I was working at a Dot.com company in Lima and it was at a time when the corporation started laying off people. At the beginning, I wanted to spend the compensated money travelling around the world. But, I met a friend who worked in the accounting department of the Hotel Monasterio in Cusco and he told me he didn’t like his job and wanted to become a chef. He persuaded me spending my compensated money running a hotel instead. In the end, I decided to give it a go.

At the very beginning, we operated a low-budget hotel in Aguas Calientes -a town of workers. As we come from a middle-class Peruvian family, we were used to have maids who would take care of everything for our house. But, to run a hotel business on our own, we had to do everything by ourselves such as cleaning, washing, cooking etc. To us, it’s a very new experience that we had never had before.

And, one day, we met an astronomical archaeologist (Mr. Mario Sanchez) who specializes in Inca period. For a period of time, we spent a lot of time with him and he was teaching us archaeological astronomy and through him we even learnt about the movement of the Sun and the Moon of Machu Picchu.

The site of where Rupa Wasi Tree House reception is was actually Mario Sanchez’s land of property (a site full of heritage and historical significance) and in 2002, he decided to sell the land to us.

In order to buy this land, we had to find ways to raise money. And, to carry out our tree house concept, we need to buy more land. Then, we met an accountant who worked for the Santuary Lodge hotel in Aguas Calientes. With the partnership, we were being able to start the Rupa Wasi Tree House Project.

Francisco: We built all by ourselves. My grandparents are from Northern part of Peru where we are used to live in beach house that’s made of wood. So, the wooden house concept had been staying on my mind since I was a child. During the construction process, we also got a lot of support and help from friends and contacts who are architects, carpenters or someone who specializes in construction or related areas. The other reason we chose wood was because the weather in Aguas Calientes is too humid for using cement and bricks for the house. All the wood we used for the tree house was transported from Amazon – so, you could imagine how difficult it’s to bring them to Aguas Calientes. It took 2-3 weeks for transporting them to here.

Why Tree House Hotel?

Francisco: Historically, in the 80s, there was major political and social change happening in Peru. There’s a demographic explosion in the city and a lot of people moving from rural area to the city. So, in a city like Lima, there’s a loss of connection between human activity and nature. We hope to build a re-connection to nature through this project -and in an organic way.

Have you been living in Aguas Calientes since Rupa Wasi had started operating?

Francisco: No, my family lives in Cusco where it’s more suitable for having family with kids. But then, I had studied a master degree on Tourism in Australia. When I returned to Peru, my business partner had also gone to Italy and learnt cooking. We build our partnership based on trust and since we’re a team, we support each other by taking turn on managing our business –whenever it’s needed.

Francisco: We live under a traditional Peruvian family where our grandmothers cooked for more than 25 people for each meal. So, we learnt about different flavors and textures since our childhood. So, we know how to eat and how to mix the ingredients. At the same time, Peru had been under foreign influence due to historical reasons. So, for Peruvian food, there’s a mix of influential elements from different cultures such as Asian, European, Andean….

The production center of our restaurant is based in Cusco (since we live there) and we (partners and our executive chef) constantly working on new concepts and ideas and put together the menu for the tree house restaurant. Then, everything is transported to the tree house. The chief chef working at Tree House restaurant is mainly responsible for implementing what’s briefed based on the designed menu.

Apart from that, our restaurant also offers cookery class for tourists and we are developing new gourmet lines right now as a new project.

What’s the future plan for Rupa Wasi?

Francisco: Rupa Wasi is quecha language. It means Warm House. We will continue growing and operating based on this core value. We will increase the number of cabins but the idea is, we would like to offer personalized service to our guests and therefore, the focus should still be to come here and regain the connection with the nature. The role of sustainability is very important in Rupa Wasi’s development and we don’t want to sell our soul just because of the monetary gain or purely for business expansion sake.

What does Peruvian mean to you?

Francisco: Peruvian means richness of culture. We have unique and various levels of micro-climates which are suitable for 82 different kinds of produce. Our climate and environment allows us to produce more than 4,000 types of potatoes for example. We have different kinds of animals and herbs. Our culture has been influenced by a lot of different elements: Andean culture, western influence (Spanish), African, Chinese etc. Because of the second world war, there’re also a lot of immigrants coming from Europe and Japan. So, as part of our heritage, we learn about different ways of eating and know how to escalate the essence of it by combining them together. That’s Peruvian.

Francisco: Don’t be afraid of following your dream and don’t let life just go by.

We had booked a night stay at Rupa Wasi on our way to return to Cusco from Machu Picchu. The Eco-lodge concept and the close-up view of Machu Picchu from the hotel cabin were what attracted us at the very beginning.But, to our bigger delight, we had a wonderful sleep in our panaromic view cabin suite that evening, savoring the fine food we had at the Tree House restaurant that night in our dreams. When we woke up from our sweet dreams, the sun was rising and started shedding light onto Machu Picchu-a view that we wouldn’t be able to catch if we hadn’t stayed at this lodge house. Then, we believe that the definition of luxury is really not about being around with all the pricey and labeled decors nor the formalized personal service. Rather, it’s the opportunity to experience the warmest welcome –both from the nature and the people.

That morning, after the breakfast, the receptionist of Rupa Wasi walked us to the train station and saw us away with a very warm and personal hug.

Rupa Wasi: www.rupawasi.net
Tree House Restaurant: https://www.rupawasitreehouse.com