Huancavelica and Huancayo

Hey all!

Well, I finally got to do some traveling this weekend! I went to the cities of Huancavelica and Huancayo which are in the Sierra, or highlands- Huancavelica is about 4,000 meters above sea level and chilly, which was a nice change for me (from the hot humid jungle), and the mountains there are huge! It's amazing to me that people can live and grow crops there. Huancayo is the capital of Junin District (Satipo is a province in Junin), slightly closer to sea level and a bigger city.

Blanca and I got into Huancavelica early on Thursday and spent the whole day touring the mountains with a group from Rio Negro (the town over from Satipo)- it was a beautiful day, nice and cool (freezing for Blanca, poor thing) and we saw some cool sights- not just from the mountainsides, but we saw an old abandoned mine which I think is the second biggest in South America, and one of the oldest churches in Peru- also saw a ton of sheep and cows, and unfortunately a lot of poor people- Huancavelica is one of the poorest places in Peru, I'm told- but it's beautiful there.

Friday we headed out early to Huancayo and met with Iris, Ricardo's sister, who works as an accountant there. She's very nice, and her house is a palace compared to where I live (no offense, Blanca!)- I also met Heather, a fellow Chicagoan who is working and living in Huancayo- she's very interesting, and the four of us had a nice long conversation over lunch. Afterward, Blanca and I went to the Parque de la Identidad (Identity Park) which was beautifully decorated with plants, flowers and stone pictures, as well as Peruvian-style figures. It was really cool! Then we saw the zoo, which had a lot of tropical animals, and the market downtown- need a guinea pig? Any kind of potatoes? A sheep's head? This market has it. Haha!

Anyway, unfortunately we had to head back Friday night- Satipo had its big party this weekend (ending today) so we wanted to get back for that, though I'm very much looking forward to going back to Huancayo again to see more sights and get to know Iris and Heather better.

Saturday marked the first day of the fair, so there were a TON of people in the main square for a fireworks and lights show at nighttime (really cool!) and people from all over Peru are here selling food, clothes, and other housewares--and trying to get my attention by saying the few English words they know haha! Sunday morning I saw a 4 hour long parade of schools, businesses and municipalities from all over Satipo (Satipo is a province as well as a city), which was fun and hot! Luckily the firefighters were part of the parade, and they cooled us all off with their hoses! So all in all, with my Sierra trip and the Satipo fest, it was a good weekend. :)

Ok, so here are some more pictures! (all in Huancavelica): The town square, a pretty stream, the oldest church in Huancavelica, me in front of a closed-off mine (the sign says "danger-do not enter"), and a little lake high in the mountains. I'll post some Huancayo pics too! Thanks for reading!

Rach :)