Posts Tagged ‘COCLA cooperative history’
Most visitors know La Convención as the jungle province where Cusco’s coffee and cacao grow, but this valley’s history runs far deeper than agriculture. It was the Inca Empire’s last stronghold, the site of a hard-fought land struggle that reshaped Peru, and the birthplace of the country’s first agrarian cooperative. Here’s the story behind the valley.
**Before the Incas**
- Long before it was La Convención, this territory was known as Wilcapampa Yunca, home to groups like the Mañaríes, Pilcozones, and Izcaringas; peoples who made contact with the Inca civilization as it expanded toward Vilcabamba. Deeper into the jungle, along the Bajo Urubamba, the **Matsiguenga** people have lived for centuries and still do today, one of the Peruvian Amazon’s living indigenous cultures. Archaeological work elsewhere in the wider Cusco region, at sites like Yuthu, has also shown that Andean communities were already organized farmers and herders as early as the Formative Period (roughly 400–100 BC), participating in exchange networks that reached into these same jungle lowlands.
- That instinct for collective work has deep roots in the Andes, too. Long before the hacienda system disrupted it, land and labor were often organized communally, a tradition the Incas formalized through the **ayllu**, a kinship-based unit that became the basic building block of Inca society, economy, and land management. It’s a thread that, centuries later, would resurface in an unexpected place: the coffee valleys of La Convención.
**The Last Inca Stronghold**
- La Convención’s most dramatic chapter began in 1536, when **Manco Inca Yupanqui** rose up against the Spanish after a brief, uneasy alliance. After a major offensive that included a prolonged siege of Cusco from Sacsayhuamán, Manco was forced to retreat, first to Ollantaytambo, then deeper into the jungle. In 1539, he established a new, independent Inca state at **Vilcabamba (Espíritu Pampa)**, in what is now the Echarati district of La Convención.
- From there, Manco Inca and his successors, Sayri Túpac, Titu Cusi Yupanqui, and finally Túpac Amaru I, led Inca resistance for nearly four decades, preserving Inca government, language, and religion deep in the jungle, beyond Spanish reach. The resistance ended in 1572, when the Spanish viceroy Francisco de Toledo ordered an invasion of Vilcabamba, and Túpac Amaru I was captured and executed in Cusco’s main square, the final chapter of the Inca Empire.
- For centuries, the exact location of Vilcabamba was lost to history; even Hiram Bingham, who stumbled onto Espíritu Pampa in 1911 while searching for it, mistook Machu Picchu (which he found shortly after) for the real “Lost City.” It wasn’t confirmed as the true Vilcabamba until decades later, through the work of explorers like Gene Savoy. In 2022, Peru’s Congress formally recognized Manco Inca as a hero of the fight against colonialism, and declared Vilcabamba district the last bastion of Inca resistance.
**A Province of Extremes**
- La Convención was formally established as a province on July 25, 1857, under President Ramón Castilla. It remains the largest province in the Cusco region by far, covering roughly 47% of the department’s entire territory, spread across 16 distinct ecological zones that range from high Andean puna to dense Amazon rainforest. Elevation alone tells the story: the province spans from just 20 meters above sea level in the Bajo Urubamba jungle to 4,316 meters at the Abra Málaga pass, with **Quillabamba (1,050 meters)**, founded as the provincial capital on November 29, 1918, and elevated to city status in 1957, sitting comfortably in between.
**The Hacienda Era**
- After the conquest, Spain began granting land titles in La Convención as early as 1541, among the first grants in the region, just eight years after the fall of Cusco. Over the following centuries, the valley’s fertile land was consolidated into large haciendas, worked under a system of tenancy: families farmed a small plot in exchange for unpaid labor owed to the landowner, typically 10 to 25 days a month. Over time, as more tenant farmers, known as arrendires, arrived, some began subletting portions of their own plots to newer arrivals (allegados) under the same terms they themselves faced, creating a layered system of obligation that stretched from the hacienda owner all the way down.
**The Fight for the Land**
- The system began to shift in the mid-20th century, and coffee played an unexpected role. As malaria was brought under control in the late 1940s and new roads reached the valley, families returned to farm their plots, and increasingly turned to coffee, a crop well suited to smallholders and, unlike the hacienda’s traditional cacao, sugar cane, and tea, one the tenant farmers could grow and sell largely on their own terms. Coffee income gave families a degree of independence the old system had never allowed. (For more on how that crop went on to define the region, see our [short history of coffee in Cusco](https://tourscuscomachupicchu.us/short-history-of-coffee.html).)
- Between 1952 and 1962, tenant farmers filed 33 formal complaints against hacienda owners, primarily over excessive unpaid labor obligations and their right to freely sell their own harvest. In 1958, eight local unions joined to form the **Federación Provincial de Campesinos de La Convención y Lares**, uniting farm workers across the valley for the first time. The movement grew rapidly through the early 1960s, and by 1962 a valley-wide boycott was underway: tenant farmers refused to work for hacienda owners or pay rent on their plots.
- The government responded in stages: a 1962 presidential decree abolished the old unpaid-labor obligations, and by 1963, the state formally recognized tenant farmers’ de facto control of their parcels, arranging for them to purchase legal title directly rather than through the hacienda owners. In barely a decade, a system of land tenure that had defined the valley for roughly 300 years came apart, replaced by independent, coffee-growing smallholders. It was a shift that predated, and helped set the template for, Peru’s national land reform later in the 1970s.
**From Union to Cooperative**
- Out of that same movement came something else: Peru’s first agrarian cooperative, born from the coffee-farming unions of La Convención. That organizing eventually led to the founding of **COCLA (Central de Cooperativas Agrarias Cafetaleras)** on July 26, 1967, when a first group of coffee-growing cooperatives came together to secure fairer terms and a stronger voice for their members. Peru formally recognized cooperativism nationwide in that same era, with the Ley de Cooperativas (Law No. 15260) passed on December 14, 1964. In many ways, COCLA and the cooperatives that followed weren’t creating something new so much as reviving something old: the same spirit of collective land and labor the Incas had organized through the ayllu, centuries before.
- Today, COCLA brings together more than 20 first-tier cooperatives representing thousands of coffee-farming families across the valley, and its farms, most run by families of Inca heritage, at altitudes between 1,300 and 2,200 meters, are certified organic and fair-trade.
**The Valley Today**
- That history isn’t just something to read about; it’s still being written. Peru has grown into one of the world’s leading coffee exporters, with national coffee exports reaching nearly US$1.8 billion in recent years, cementing the country as a leader in organic specialty coffee. Here in Cusco, some 1,850 coffee-farming families across Calca and La Convención are working to grow their harvest by half over the next year. The cooperative model born in this valley over half a century ago isn’t a relic; it’s still how most of that growth happens.
- You can’t visit a museum for most of this history; it’s not behind glass. It’s in the working coffee and cacao farms of Huayopata and the surrounding valley, in the cooperative structures that still organize the harvest, and, for the more adventurous, in the jungle ruins of Espíritu Pampa itself. Walking those farms today means walking through all of it at once: the ayllu, the hacienda, the strike, and the cooperative that came after. At Cocla Tours, we make it easy to experience this living history firsthand: explore our coffee and cacao farm experiences here to meet the families behind the harvest.
**Sources**
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Peru’s Ministry of Culture (Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura Cusco)
- Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP), *El Movimiento Campesino en La Convención*, Wesley Craig (1968)
- Centro Bartolomé de las Casas (CBC)
Tags: agrarian reform Cusco, ayllu Inca cooperativism, COCLA cooperative history, Espíritu Pampa, hacienda system Peru, Huayopata coffee farms, La Convención history, Manco Inca, Matsiguenga people, Quillabamba coffee tours, Túpac Amaru I, Vilcabamba Inca resistance
- Cusco isn’t just a stop on the way to Machu Picchu; it’s a destination in its own right. Travel + Leisure readers recently named it the best city in Central and South America, and the Peruvian government has awarded the historic center its highest possible tourism distinction. Whether this is your first trip to Peru or your third, here’s what to know before you land.
A City Built to Last
- Cusco sits in a fertile valley in the heart of the Peruvian Andes, and under the Inca ruler Pachacutec in the 15th century, it was redesigned into a complex urban center with distinct religious and administrative functions, becoming the capital of the Inca Empire. When the Spanish conquered the city in the 16th century, they preserved its basic structure but built Baroque churches and palaces over the ruins of the Inca city, which is why walking through Cusco today means walking through two civilizations at once. UNESCO inscribed the city as a World Heritage Site in 1983, recognizing it as a unique testimony to Inca civilization and to the fusion of Inca and Spanish cultures. Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism recently went a step further, awarding Cusco’s historic center its Jerarquía 4 distinction — the highest ranking the state gives to destinations of exceptional value, authenticity, and international relevance.
When to Visit
- Cusco has two clear seasons. The dry season (May to October) brings clear skies and stable weather — ideal for trekking and visiting Machu Picchu, though June through August is peak season, with more crowds and higher prices. The rainy season (November to April) means greener landscapes, fewer tourists, and occasional disruptions to hiking routes. March, April, October, and November offer a good middle ground: decent weather without the crowds.
Altitude: What to Expect
- At roughly 3,400 meters (11,150 feet) above sea level, Cusco’s thin air catches most first-time visitors off guard. Headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath are common in the first day or two. The fix is simple: take your first day slow, stay hydrated, skip the alcohol, and try coca tea, a local remedy available in nearly every hotel and café. If you’re planning a trek to higher elevations, spend a few extra days acclimatizing in Cusco first.
How Many Days You Need
- Peru’s regional tourism plan organizes the Cusco region into six official tourism development zones: the city of Cusco itself, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu–Choquequirao–Vilcabamba, the Valle Sur (South Valley), the Apurímac River area, and Manu. A trip focused just on the city and Machu Picchu needs at least 5 days, enough for a proper first day or two of altitude acclimatization before you start moving. Add the Sacred Valley or a coffee farm experience in the jungle, and plan for 6 to 7 days total.
Beyond Machu Picchu
- Machu Picchu gets the headlines, but it’s far from the only reason to come — and Cusco’s tourism offer keeps growing beyond the classics. Most of these can be done as part of a group tour or booked privately, depending on your pace and budget.
- History runs deeper than the Incas. Tipón showcases an Inca hydraulic engineering system still functioning today, and Pikillaqta preserves the urban planning of the pre-Inca Wari culture. Further out, in the province of Canas, the Q’eswachaka bridge is the last surviving Inca rope bridge in the world — rebuilt by hand every June by local Quechua communities using centuries-old techniques, a tradition UNESCO recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. And for travelers who’ve already done the popular routes, Waqrapukara — a dramatic archaeological site perched on a cliff edge shaped like a pair of horns — has become one of the region’s most talked-about alternatives for something further off the beaten path.
- Nature has its own circuit, too. Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca) and Humantay Lake are the best known, but the Siete Lagunas de Ausangate, a trekking route past seven glacial lakes of different colors, with natural hot springs along the way, is quickly becoming a favorite for travelers who want mountain scenery without the crowds.
- And then there’s the valley itself, grown, not built. La Convención, the jungle province just a few hours from Cusco, is home to some of the highest-altitude specialty coffee in Peru, along with native cacao, both farmed organically by small family cooperatives. But coffee and cacao are just the beginning of what this corner of the Cusco jungle has to offer: the province is also home to dramatic waterfalls, the Pongo de Mainique — a sacred canyon carved by the Urubamba River, and the Megantoni National Sanctuary, one of the most biodiverse protected areas in Peru, where the Andean cock-of-the-rock (Peru’s national bird) can be spotted in its natural habitat. It’s also a natural place to recover from the altitude: Quillabamba, the province’s main town, often called the “city of eternal summer”, sits at around 1,050 meters (3,450 feet), a welcome drop in elevation if Cusco’s thin air has been wearing on you. The overland route runs through the Sacred Valley and over the Abra Málaga pass, taking roughly 5 to 6 hours by road.
- There’s also a deeper story behind every cup grown here. In the mid-20th century, La Convención was the birthplace of Peru’s first agrarian cooperative movement, as coffee-farming families organized into unions and, eventually, cooperatives to gain fair access to the land they worked. That organizing became a defining chapter in the country’s agrarian history, reshaping land ownership in the valley years before national land reform followed in the 1970s. The cooperative tradition that grew out of that period, COCLA (Central de Cooperativas Agrarias Cafetaleras), among them, still organizes many of the family farms you’ll visit today, connecting small growers to fair-trade and organic certification. It’s a living piece of social history as much as an agricultural one, and it’s part of what makes this valley worth understanding, not just visiting.
- Coffee and cacao farm tours have become increasingly popular in recent years, with more and more agencies now offering them — but at Cocla Tours, this is where we started: we’ve spent years building relationships with these growing families long before it became a trend, helping them market their harvest and share their work directly with travelers. Spending a day (or two) on a coffee or cacao farm here means harvesting, processing, and tasting alongside the people who actually grow it — a very different rhythm from a bus tour of ruins.
Practical Info: Hours and Tickets
- Most archaeological parks in the region open at 7:00 am, with closing times varying by site — Saqsaywaman and Moray stay open into the evening (5:00–5:30 pm), while Ollantaytambo, Pisaq, Tipón, and Pikillaqta close at 4:30 pm. Always buy your Machu Picchu tickets through the official government portal (tuboleto.cultura.pe) rather than third-party resellers, and keep in mind that access now runs on a system of timed circuits with daily visitor limits — see our full guide to Machu Picchu circuits, tickets, and expert tips for everything you need to book with confidence.
- Getting to Machu Picchu by train is handled by two operators, PeruRail and Inca Rail, both departing from Cusco (via a bus-and-train combo) or directly from Ollantaytambo. The bimodal bus-and-train service from Cusco utilizes Pachar station as a transfer point for select schedules — worth confirming with your ticket or operator before travel day.
Choosing a Safe, Certified Operator
- Cusco’s tourism sector is large, and, as in any high-demand market, not every operator is equally reliable. The Peruvian government’s Safe Travels certification recognizes tour agencies, hotels, and guides that meet international health and safety standards; the Cusco region alone has over 150 certified travel agencies and nearly 1,900 certified official tour guides. When booking, look for operators with this certification, official MINCETUR registration, and verifiable reviews.
What to Pack
- Weather in Cusco can shift within a single day. Pack in layers: a T-shirt, a warm mid-layer, and a windproof or rain jacket, along with sunscreen, sunglasses, a reusable water bottle, and comfortable walking shoes.
Money and Safety
- The local currency is the Peruvian Sol (PEN). We recommend carrying S/100–200 in small bills (10s and 20s) for everyday spending, since rural towns and small shops rarely accept cards. Keep an eye on your belongings in crowded spots like the Plaza de Armas and San Pedro Market, where pickpocketing can occur, and feel free to firmly (but politely) decline unsolicited tours or photo requests from street vendors.
Need Help Planning?
- For free, official travel assistance, Peru’s tourism board runs iPerú, a 24-hour information service for visitors — reachable by phone or WhatsApp. And whatever your Cusco itinerary looks like, Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley, a trek, or anything in between, Cocla Tours can help you plan it. It’s also where we happen to specialize: as pioneers in coffee, cacao, and tea tourism in the region, we can build a farm experience into your trip as a day, a couple of days, or the heart of the whole itinerary.
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (MINCETUR)
- Peru’s Ministry of Culture (Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura Cusco)
Tags: altitude sickness Cusco, best time to visit Cusco, COCLA cooperative history, coffee and cacao tours Cusco, Cusco travel guide, La Convención cooperatives, Machu Picchu tickets, Megantoni Sanctuary, Peru travel tips, Pongo de Mainique, Q'eswachaka, Sacred Valley, Waqrapukara
