Huancayo is 5 hours east of Lima up in the mountains (but not as high up as it could be!).  A lot of people get altitude sickness (nausea, vomiting), but it is said that people with asthma get cured in Huancayo... not after just one day, of course.  It is VERY cold at night and early in the morning, but the daytime sun might actually inspire you to take off that sweater and grab your sunglasses!  It has less traffic than Lima (duh), so it is much easier to get around and much easier to BREATHE!

Today's Huancayo is a buzzing new city growing as tourism and agriculture improves.  They have streets and EVERYTHING!  I had to take an 8 hour tour to the city of Ingenio before I saw a burro in the street and a lady herding her sheep through the town.  It was cool.

GO to Huancayo.  Take one of the turs (that's how they spell tour) and enjoy.  My tur cost S/. 20 and did not include my food or entrance into the Convento de Ocopa (6 soles I think) or the fish hatchery in Ingenio where they grow trout (S/. 1,50), so I topped out at 40 soles.  When in Ingenio go to El Encantador (something like that) and eat the Trucha a la Parrilla - grilled trout.  Also eat the Papa a la Huancaina. OMG.  I have had this dish before and I love it.  HOWEVER, once I put the first bite in my mouth in Ingenio I stopped and just kind of froze for a good several seconds as I realized this was the most delicious papa a la huancaina I had ever and probably WOULD ever put in my mouth.  I savored the moment and then continued to destroy the evidence.  =)  The tour guide lady spoke only Spanish, of course, but everyone was super nice.  On the tour, we stopped at a silver store and got a demo about how they make filligree.  Neato.  Next was a place where they take raw wools, spin them, make cool stuff out of it and sell them.  Super cheap.  Bring moneys for purses, ponchos, trinkets, plushy llama fur doggies, whatever.  Then, a dairy factory in Jauja.  GET THE ICE CREAM!  It actually tastes like MILK!  Ice cream doesn't taste like milk in the States!!!  Afterwards was a lovely boatride in a polluted lagoon.  It was pretty, but the told us not to touch the water.  Mining.  Boo.  The Convento de Ocopa was on the way home.  We missed the Catacombs because it was late, but the tour of the place is awesome.  HUGE LIBRARY.  Lots of different mini museums of stuff.  Must see.  Plus, Fransiscan Monks.  Who sees Fransiscan Monks these days?!  Me, that's who!

Anyway, go see Huancayo.  50 soles from Lima to there, 3 soles MAX per cab ride, 20 soles for the tur, 20 more for food and admissions on the tur, 50 soles back to Lima.  Can't help you with lodging.  A hostal should be fine and easy to locate.  I have NO IDEA where to find these cars, but it shouldn't be too difficult to find out.  Ask you Peruvian friends, get on a forum and find out from them or walk into a travel agency and ask if they know... also, maybe a taxista can tell you, but don't let him be the same guy that drives you to Huancayo.  Scam alert.  Only go with the guys you're supposed to.

ENJOY!

Leaving Huancayo, again in the early morning to finish the 10 hour bus ride before darkness, I was rather ready to get to Cuzco after such a long time spent on the buses on abysmal roads. The road to Ayucucho was paved until the town of Izcucho and thereafter a winding dirt path skirted the walls of the canyons as it followed a river downstream. In the beginning the railroad tracks followed alongside the road but these diverged here too, towards Huancavelica. A section of the tracks continued onward, obviously little used, towards a small town who´s prosperity had long since been eclipsed with the passing of the railroad era. The road continued to follow the briskly flowing river, which had lots of rapids, for quite a while before it eventually turning into a stagnant brown pond for some distance, a sure indication of a dam lying ahead. Soon enough we approached some fenced in offices and you could see the edge of the dam. As we rounded the bend there was a big fence topped with barbed wire on the side of the road and a large sign that said it was prohibited to take unauthorized photos of this dam in the middle of nowhere. I´m not quite sure why and I don´t think this applied to bus passengers so I took a few unauthorized photos of said dam, perhaps the first ever glimpse the outside world has ever had of this engineering marvel. As we proceeded on it was warm and dusty inside the canyon, and the scenery was nice, but I think that I had certainly been spoiled by the more amazing things that I had already scene. Eventually we reached Ayacucho about 30 minutes before dark and I walked the streets, which had a nice two block pedestrian zone, and unfortunately the cathedral in the main plaza, which had a splendid gilded altar with multiple tiers (prohibited to take photos), was not ¨brilliantly illuminated¨ as the guide book said it would be, it was in fact, un-illuminated. I did manage to see a few other tourists, maybe 5, I had seen three in Huancayo, but other than that I had not seen any since entering Peru except for two in Huaraz, two in Cajamarca, and one in Pedro Ruiz.
 
The next morning began early again for a 6:30 bus to Andahuaylas, about a 10 hour ride which started with a climb out of the valley and out of hazy layer of pollution sitting over the city.  The climb continued gradually up to the unihabited highlands before descending into a dust bowl of a canyon that was very hot and dry. The heat was stifling in the bus with the windows closed, tempting you to open them, upon doing so you would be promptly greeted with a cloud of dust. The bus stopped for lunch at Chumbes, it is apparently the place to stop for anyone on this route as there were a total of 4 buses there and two combis. Continuing further through into the canyon, eventually, the dust prevailed over the afternoon heat and with some windows open I arrived in Andahuaylas with a thin coating of dust. I promptly bought my ticket for the bus to Cuzco at 6:30am the next morning and went to clean up before my return to civilzation tomorrow.

The ride to Cuzco was rather uneventful, we made good time because the driver was driving the bus as it were a Formula 1 car, flying around corners and passing everyone on the road. From high up on the mountain the town of Abancay came into view way, way down below. After seeing it I think we were on the bus for at least another hour before we finally reached the town to stop for lunch. Onwards from Abancay it was easy going on the well paved road all the rest of the way to Cuzco. Shortly before Cuzco in some small village the lane into Cuzco was blocked off by people protesting something and all the incoming traffic had to detour through the village on a narrow dirt road with numerous switchbacks too sharp for the bus to handle in one pass. The police were on the scene of the protest but were just sitting there watching and refused to do anything. Despite this small delay we reached the limtits of Cuzco with views overlooking the city below, a sea of red brick buildings and red-tiled roofs with some ancient churches interspersed here and there. At about the same time as our bus pulled into the terminal it started to rain, heavily. There was a mad rush of people from the three buses that had just arrived as people stampeded towards the shelter of the roof. Under the roof people pushed and jockeyed to get to the exit while the rest of the people waited for the rain to let up so that they would start to unload the luggage. Not exactly a fine welcome to Cuzco.

So after some 95 hours on a combination of buses, cars, and vans, I have arrived in Cuzco by traveling solely through the Andes. It was a long journey, and quite arduous at times, with poor roads and poor buses requiring much patience and endurance. But in traveling this route I have seen some truly amazing things and it has certainly been an experience inequivalent,and in my opinion, superior to traveling down the coast and visiting the more established tourist destinations.

It's a small city in the valleys in Highlands. Always sunny. So peaceful...  If you are looking for adventure, you have to do the Choquequirao trekking. It's amazing. I haven't done it... yet ;) Does anyone want to join me?

Abancay had always been in my list of destinations, but never couldn't find the time to do it. This time my mom had to go there because of business, so I decided to join her. She was born there, so it was great to know her home town. I felt so ashamed I haven't done that before.

We flew from Lima to Cusco and then took a "colectivo" to Abancay. A "colectivo" is like a taxi, but you will share it with 2 other people. We could have done it by bus, but by the time we arrived to Cusco, the buses have already left. Anyway, the drive took about 4 hours. It was a long drive, but the scenery was so beautiful. You could see, how everything was changing. I mean. Abancay is in a valley, so you notice you were going down and everything looked "greener" and full of flowers. Also the weather was really good! All the flowers were blossoming and the warm weather was perfect.

She had a meeting with the major at the city hall. The major was a really nice guy. He also gave us a drive through the city - which is small - and the countryside. All the landscapes are just amazing! I couldn't have asked for a better tour guide. He told me I have to come back for longer and visit all the attractions the area can offer.

We stayed there just for 2 days. So I didn't have much time to visit the attractions. It was so good visiting the town and listening to my mom, while she was telling me how it was when she was a little girl. I have to go back, that's for sure.

This the place I want to be THE place. Five minutes far from the central "Plaza Constitucion" of Huancayo (PERU), El Tayta is a bar with good ambiance where you can share great moments with your friends. Find a large diversity of drinks(BEERS, COCKTAILS, CALIENTITOS, SHOTS...). Big Screen and the last music hits to enjoy each day. * HAPPY HOUR Sun-Wed 6:00-7:00pm and Thur-Sat 8:00-9:30pm (only beers) PROMOTIONS Everyday : Two pitchers of calientitos, get one for FREE !!!

5 days with... Lucho (guide, cook and man of the people), Ann (mother of two from Belgium, currently living in Lima, smoker) and Sofie (dreamy 21 year old from Denmark).

Day One: Almost one down. A rough taxi ride found us at La Estancia, a little cabin at the beginning of one of the trails into the Huaytapallana range. Forgive my use of adjectives like ¨spectacular¨ and ¨awesome¨ because they´re necessary to describe what we saw, particularly on that first day. The mountains are rugged, and the path trailed around many a lake. We lunched at a lookout point over a beautiful lagoon that constantly changed colours according to the sky. Lunch was made in a plastic bag - tuna, tomato, spanish onion, chilli and a squeeze of lemon, eaten with the little hard bread rolls that are so popular here. The feature of the first day is the glacier; we left our bags by a large rock and followed Lucho up to around 4,600m right to the edge of the ice. Every now and then you could hear cracks from the ice. There was a rock used as an altar, where we sifted through a bag of coca leaves, found the whole ones, and sent well wishes to our friends, family and pachamama (mother earth). Lucho took Sofie right up to the ice, while Ann and I rested near the altar; then Ann decided to get a head start back to the bags. However, when the three of us started back on the trail, we couldn´t see her anywhere and began to fear the worst. And then the mists started to roll in, making visibility very poor and the air cold; it would only be an hour and a half till darkness. It´s hard to describe in retrospect, but it was pretty awful thinking poor Ann would be left out on the mountain by herself. Lucho went back to look for her and we yelled but couldn´t hear anything. Eventually, we made it back to the bags (some 20-30 minutes away) and there she was, waiting for us. It was hard to believe that she could have taken the trail back without getting lost, so difficult it was on the rocks to see which way we´d come. I think we were somewhat impressed, frustrated and relieved to find her. We set up camp by the most magical little lake that had mist rolling off the surface, and dinner was pasta soup and calientito - apple and cinnamon tea with rum and sugar. Just the thing to keep us warm. I don´t think any of us were fully prepared for how cold it would be, and we woke up with ice everywhere - even the shallow parts of the lake had frozen over. But we survived...

Day Two: We climbed a mountain. After breakfast of coffee (Lucho swears by it), a chocolate energy drink with quinoa, and toasted bread with strawberry jam, we head off to conquer the mountain. From around 2,700m we scaled a rocky cliff face, then edged our way across loose dirt to a little pass at the top - some 4,600m again. There we rested and had some snacks before picking our way, slowly, down the mountain. It wasn´t too bad - some parts were slippery with dirt and small stones; the worst bits were the big, loosely packed rocks. Nothing strenuous, but oh so tense - you have to think about where you´re putting your feet and weight every second. Once we reached the bottom, we followed a trail along a dirt road to a little group of huts where some Andean mountain people live. They take care of many animals - llamas, cows and sheep, plus several dogs, 3 amusing ducklings and a tiny black puppy. There was rather minimal interaction with the people themselves, as they were quite shy. Dinner was strange but nice: some 7 varieties of potatoes in a bolognaise sauce with beef and tuna, followed by more calientito. The four of us slept in the storage hut (the huts are made of rock, with a thatched straw roof), on top of sheep dung, sheep skins and our sleeping mats. While it was a lot warmer and cosier than the night before, it was also somewhat suffocating, and sleeping for 12 hours when you´re not the least bit tired is a challenge.

Day Three: Mountain life. The beautiful blue skies and strong sun make you forget the cold of the night. In the morning, the women milk the cows and make queso fresco (the common cheese in this area) - by putting cow intestine, or some other acidic body part, into a bucket of milk, and moulding the curdled bits together to form a big wad of cheese. The llamas had some sort of itchy disease so were herded into the stone circle (almost every mountain hut will have a stone circle, where the animals are put in for the night to keep out foxes and whatnot), where they were lassooed one by one and given a shot. Our porters forgot the food for the day, so we ended up having a breakfast of potatoes and onion fried in butter. Our packs were carried by llamas, so it was an easy walk along dry grassy hills and then along a riverbed. Sofie and I developed an obsession with rocks - there were rocks of all colours, particularly dusty blues, pinks, purples and even greens. Lunch was bread rolls with cheese, ham and mayonnaise, then it was a short walk to the next group of huts where we would stay the night. Two sisters live in the huts - they´re only 15 and 26 and they look after a large group of animals - llamas, cows, alpacas, horses, a rooster and hen and the obligatory dogs. It´s hard to believe that they lived such isolated and (what we consider) lonely lives, just the two of them, up with the sun to milk the cows and let the animals out, and surviving every freezing night with little more than a pile of blankets. They were very shy, although Marta, the older sister, was hospitable enough to let us into the kitchen hut to warm up by the llama dung-fuelled fire. We all slept in the same hut, a long rectangular mud-brick building with a corrugated iron roof and a door that didn´t close properly. Not exactly the warmest of places to sleep, but dry and comfortable with hay and extra blankets to lie on top of.

Day Four: Rock and more rock. I learnt something very useful this morning. Don´t get out of your sleeping bag until the sun is up. The two sisters were up with the first light, and not being able to sleep, I decided to get up and watch the sun rise. However, it takes a long, cold time for the sun to peep over the mountain even though visibility is normal. Marta let me sit in the kitchen again. Ahh, the smell of llama dung smoke. Once the sun was up I felt a lot better and we thawed ourselves on the grass in front of the huts. Breakfast was freshly made queso fresco with strawberry jam on bread. I´ve had queso fresco before, but the stuff sold at the markets is a lot older and harder and I think they add salt. Freshly made, it has a soft, creamy texture and not much taste, which makes it quite nice to eat with jam.

Another beautiful day as we headed off. We came across quite a big river that we had to cross and it was decided that shoes off was the only way to go. The water was awfully cold, which made me jump out of the river and onto a bed of prickly grass needles. Ouch. Our llamas soon overtook us. We skirted several large grassy hills and the landscape began to change - it became rock. Lucho says this area used to be covered in ice, and eventually they´ll become fertile land. It certainly fed our obsession with rocks - we found some beautiful quartz and other stones whose names I don´t know. Lunch was potatoes in a nutty, creamy, spicy sauce, on a bare rocky pass overlooking a new ice mountain and more rocks. We then descended down through the rocks, skirting another lagoon (Ann and Lucho were whizzing their way around the lagoon while I was trying to concentrate on not falling). The landscape changed again to a lovely fertile green valley littered with big boulders. We started heading upwards again - stunning scenery, and opposite us a big bare rock mountain from which we could hear dynamite explosions.

Finally, we reached the place we were to stay the night - another mountain folk home, except this time we set up our tents on the soft grass in front. Nice and open - ie. beautiful view, and lots of wind. An older couple and their daughter live here, and we were joined by our two porters and the llamas. It became dark and cold far too quickly, but luckily their kitchen was big enough to fit all of us; a pity that it had terrible ventilation and we came out reeking. Dinner was bacon in tomato salsa on spaghetti - luxury. It was that cold outside that when Lucho was frying the bacon, the fat had frozen while he cooked the next lot. This place had a toilet - a hole in the ground surrounded by planks of wood, and don´t mind the sheep! But an incredible view. I was determined to be relatively warm and put on all my clothes. It worked.

Day Five: Back into civilisation. It was a very pleasant morning, following my little rule; I got up with the light but didn´t leave the tent till we could feel the sun come through. Breakfast was rather meh, old bread and jam and the usual coffee and chocolate drinks. We got an early start and were cresting grassy hills - very very windy and cold. We reached the top of a rock cliff and took a detour off to the side - for the view. Quite unnecessary, Sofie and I thought, as we picked our way slowly across the gravel and loose stones. I suppose falling wouldn´t be so bad, it´s more the tension of having to be so careful. My legs ache just thinking about it. Back at the top of the cliff, we added rocks to the piles as offerings, again sending good wishes to friends and family. Then we began the long, slow and lovely descent into an incredibly beautiful valley, following a stream which wound its way between several mountains. Very green grass, big boulders, purple flowers and lots and lots of cows grazing. We had lunch in an open patch of grass - papas a la huancaina. Potatoes in a slightly cheesy, nutty sauce. It´s a good thing I like potatoes. Another hour or so down the valley and we started to see houses, and also people walking the other way with their animals. The path eventually led us to the town of Racracalla (pop. 2000) where we were stared at by the locals (in a curious, friendly way). Here, Lucho treated us to the freshest yoghurt I´ve ever tasted, and some cheese, and we sat in the main plaza while a local showed us a million variety of potatoes.

Eventually, we got into a car headed for Concepcion, a town some 30 minutes from Huancayo. Except Lucho made us take a detour (along a winding gravel road with a sheer drop on the side, mind you) to a newly built waterfall lookout. We declined to do the walk (another 45 minutes), and although I´m sure it was lovely, I´m glad we didn´t; we ended up driving along a very rough road for another 1.5 hours, facing the sun, just to get to Concepcion. (At times the sun was so bad the driver had to look out his window at the side of the road to see where the car was. And we inhaled dust for 1.5 hours.) It wasn´t really the ending to the trip that we´d expected, especially as two of us felt somewhat sick when we made it back to the hostel. But nothing that a good pizza, red wine and a Pisco sour couldn´t fix. The only downer of the night was that Lucho refused to join us because Ann had started smoking again (she had quit smoking early on Day 4, at Lucho´s insistence). Quite unreasonable, I think, as it should be her choice to quit in the first place.

and... the verdict? It was such a remote, isolated trail, it was terrific. Every day the scenery stunned us; who knew mountains had so many colours? Glaciers, ice mountains, lagoons, little lakes, marshy swamplands, dirt tracks, green valleys, open fields, rocks and of course dry grassy hills - just amazing landscape. The nights were difficult to get through but it only makes you appreciate and respect the lives that the mountain people lead. I would highly recommend this trek to people looking for something that´s truly off the beaten track. And do it soon before Lucho retires, because he has a wealth of knowledge that he´s more than willing to share to the inquisitive trekker.

¨Grandmother´s House¨ really does feel like a home if you have the luck to stay here longer than a night or two. What makes this place special is the care and attention that has obviously gone into the hostel and the personable staff. Staff is probably the wrong word; Abuela may be suffering from Alzheimer´s and no longer does the cooking due to this, but she´s always cheerful and smiling and ready to laugh. Nilda works mostly during the week as receptionist/cook and is happy to learn English; both her and Gloria (her sister) cook simple but tasty meals and manage to run the hostel between them while looking after their young kids (1.5 and 3 years old).

The hostel isn´t huge but it´s a big house, old, wooden floored and creaky. It´s cold at night but the beds are comfy enough and the rooms are warm. Lots of common areas, including a place to watch cable TV or DVDs, a fusball table and small bar, the big dining table and the pleasant outdoor eating area make this a place for meeting people. And not to forget about the animals; you will meet Kiko, the big grey dog, his playful and cheeky son, Kikito, Becko the black cat, Kintarro the fat green parrot and the most recent addition ¨gatito¨ (yet to have a proper name), a gorgeous grey and white kitten who´s a sucker for a warm lap.

Breakfast is included in the accommodation price and includes fruit salad with yoghurt (usually papaya, banana, pineapple and sometimes mandarin), very good strong coffee or tea, and little pieces of bread with butter and jam (maracuya and some other fruit; sweet, orange and tasty). Other meals I´ve had at La Casa include lamb stew, lomo saltado (a sort of beef, tomato, onion and potato stirfry), pasta, soups and of course potatoes and rice. They will let you use the fridge to store your stuff and you can also use the kitchen.

The one minor gripe about the hostel is the irregularity of hot water. Upstairs has the hottest shower (the one on the right) but only in the morning and night, and personally, it´s rather erratic, but always hot at 10-11pm at night (when it´s freezing outside). Other than that,  I have to echo the sentiments of many of the travellers I met at La Casa - it´s a lovely place to stay and relax for a few days, and a good place to base yourself when exploring Huancayo and its surrounds.

Saturday: una fiesta, sorta… Lucho had mentioned that there would be some kind of show at the orphanage for the kids before I left. I turned up at the appointed time, 3pm, and watched as a clown and a young woman dressed in a cute blue outfit entertained the kids. They also got me up on stage briefly to say some parting words. Somewhat embarrassing when the clown´s job is to make the kids laugh and after 5 days of trekking and speaking English, my Spanish was sorely lacking. The show was organised by Incas del Peru but I´m still not sure, to this day, exactly what sort of role I had in it; after an hour, the clown left and the lady mentioned that she´d been told I was going to prepare something to eat for the kids. Talk about being put on the spot… it was a lucky thing I had actually brought ingredients to make hot chocolate, which I made as quickly as possible. (An aside: Huancayo actually does have a lot of cocoa, but it´s all marketed as various hot chocolate powder mixes. Silly me.) In the end, it turned out well and the kids were happy.

Sunday: Doing good things for unlucky people… The girls in my cooking class had pleaded to be taken to the Sunday markets one week, and so it was organised. Some of the girls had never been! This was my fourth time. I was accompanied by six girls, those who didn´t have any parents whatsoever (because many kids have one or both parents who for whatever reason can´t take care of them), and one of the tias. Lack of communication seemed to be rife this weekend; I assumed that I would be shouting the girls little gifts here and there, but no one, not even the tia, had any money at all on them! It was a lovely morning though, as we strolled arm in arm in twos and threes down the crowded market streets. The girls bought earrings, rings and hair clips and we ate lunch at one of the many market restaurants. I tried cuye (guinea pig) for the first time (apologies to all those who own guinea pigs at home, lol). I had it ´dorado´ (fried) as opposed to ´colorado´ (with a sauce), mainly because I wanted an ´authentic´ taste of cuye for my first go. A mistake, as not only did it come out some 5-10 minutes later than everyone else´s (and I was damn hungry as usual), it was the flattened back leg of the poor creature, or something. Very tough skin. The meat itself is tasty but as many people had told me before, there´s a lot of bones. I would try it again though, but maybe at a place renowned for their cuye culinary prowess.

Cooking and creativity… As I have a habit of doing, I put a lot on my plate in the last 2 days in Huancayo. I had one more cooking class on Monday, but I also had to finish a calendar that I had started before the trek (that I had been talking about for awhile, so I definitely had to finish it). The calendar was for the orphanage, and was to include all the recipes we´d cooked, plus photos I´d taken and pictures drawn by some of the younger kids. I spent a rather pleasant Sunday afternoon cutting out photos and pictures and decorating the calendar (with the resident kitten asleep on my lap). I had also asked Nilda and Gloria (the sisters who do the cooking, cleaning and reception) if I could cook a meal as a kind of thanks for all their cooking in the past weeks. I had it in my head to cook lasagne, and we decided lunch on Monday was ideal. I also wanted to use up the rest of the ingredients I had sitting in my room so I baked a cake on Sunday night to be iced as lamingtons the next day.

Monday turned out to be hectic. I had a parcel of things to send home, a couple of rugs, books, gifts, etc that I didn´t want to carry with me. I knew it would be something of a mission (especially when I got a long winded answer from Lucho about how to send stuff (he has family in New Zealand and sends stuff there often, so he knows). Apparently there are ladies who sit outside the post office with scales and material, and they weigh your parcel for you and sew a cloth around it. I had seen people with scales around the post office before, but of course when I went I couldn´t see one. I ended up spending about an hour, lining up and relining up as I kept having to do more things, or I filled the form out wrong. In the end, my parcel ended up being 5.14kg which put it in the 5-10kg price bracket (apparently this is what the lady had tried to tell me at the beginning when she first weighed it. Yes, I still have to work on my listening skills in Spanish!). By that stage I just wanted to get the damn thing sent so I paid the extra 100 soles or whatever, using a 200 soles note that I had been given last time I changed money (at a reputable money changer, recommended by Lucho). The lady almost wouldn´t accept it! I know fake notes are a problem, but it had a clear watermark, and I had to point out the little stamp that the money changers clamp onto the notes, before she would (grudgingly) accept it. By that stage there was a line of discontent Peruvians behind me so I was glad to get out of there.  On the way out I was accosted by a nice woman who must have seen the address on the parcel (mine), and told me her daughter wanted to move to Australia to work and how easy was it to get a visa? I tried to tell  her as much as I knew about visas (not much at all) and then rushed around the shops buying things to make for the lasagne.

I ended up making two, which was lucky as there was 9 people to feed (including an English guy who´s travelling around the Americas looking for rare birds, with his Japanese girlfriend in tow. Admirable? Crazy?). Then I went to the orphanage for the last time. Hopefully not forever. We made apple pie, which turned out pretty well considering the girls butchered the base recipe (added too much oil, then too much flour, then an egg which wasn´t even in the recipe), and also considering their incredulity at the crumbly top (I didn´t know how to translate the word ¨crumble¨). After many hugs and photos, I finally took my leave. It would make me very happy to be able to come back one day, and see the kids grown up and happy (assuming they will grow up happy). But sad to think some of them will have to leave by the time I return.

Chupaca & Ahuac: Last Saturday, I once again found myself in Chupaca, this time with two Danish girls and a Canadian girl who are taking Spanish lessons with Incas del Peru. We were provided with Miguel, a friendly local guide, and a ´boxed lunch´ (bottle of water, piece of bread and ham again!) for free, as part of the Spanish lessons, and well, just because I´m around all the time, I guess.

We got off the kombi at the animal markets that, a week earlier, Dave and I had not managed to find. One of the first sights to greet us was a sheep being beheaded. (Imagine it in slow motion. It was maybe 20 metres away, and I saw a sheep with its front and back legs tied together, so it was struggling a lot. Then a man picked it up and took it to the side, and slit its throat. And then kept sawing, so that the whole head eventually came off, with lots of blood - very red from where we were - spilling on to the ground. The body kept convulsing for awhile longer.) After a quick walk through the markets, we caught a taxi to Ahuac, which is a tiny little town at the foot of the mountains. We walked along back country roads (where there´s hardly anyone around, yet we saw 2 ice-cream trishaws???), then up a bunch of stairs to the ruins of some sort of fortress with a fantastic view of the Mantaro Valley, and the Andes in the background with snow-capped mountains. We then walked to a lake where we had freshly cooked trout (another meal up there with the best so far).

Torre Torre: These are geological rock formations about 30-45mins walk from the hostel, heading into the mountains. I went along with Natalie, a girl from Israel recently arrived at La Casa. It´s a nice walk, open but deserted, and the rocks themselves are interesting; I don´t know much about rock formations but some pretty hardcore erosion went on years ago, and now there are two very tall, terracotta-coloured obelisk things sticking up, as well as a sort of grate-like formation in the cliff face of the mountain. Very cool.

Hualhuas: is the little town where a lot of textile weaving is done. It´s not much more than one long street where you can browse up and down looking into people´s shops/workplaces. This is the place to buy rugs, corridor runners, wallhangings, llama wool mittens, beanies, etc etc.., as well as natural jewellery and trinkets. I got it into my head at some point earlier that I wanted to buy a wallhanging (or rug), so I ended up with two. Now, while people come to Hualhuas specifically to buy textiles, it still remains, like everywhere in and around Huancayo, refreshingly untouristy. Unfortunately, this means it was impossible to find a place to eat a hearty meal. So we decided to catch a taxi to the nearby town of San Jeronimo, but got sidetracked by a pachamanca stall on the way (see my review...)

San Jeronimo: is a somewhat bigger town, where a lot of silver jewellery is made. Now, several people I´d met at the hostel said the jewellery in San Jeronimo is nothing special; you can buy it anywhere. That´s quite true (although it´s a lot cheaper, of course). However, they do some amazingly delicate work, so fine that the silver is still white. Again, I don´t know much about silver and I didn´t quite understand what the guy said when I asked, but all the finely worked silver pieces were beautiful. I have a little butterfly brooch to prove it.

Cochas: On Thursday, I caught the big yellow bus - it can actually be called a bus - to Cochas, a village where gourd-carving is done. For those of you who don´t know what a gourd is (I didn´t), in Peru at least, it´s the dried wood-like shell of a fruit, usually a pumpkin. Very intricate, and sometimes not so intricate, patterns are carved onto the gourd and coloured with inks. You can find many a sugar pot, mask, serviette holder and canasta covered with beautiful designs. You can find gigantic gourds that tell the story of the ancient peoples in the area - very tempting to buy (but essentially useless, apart from the aesthetic aspect).

Parque de la Identidad Wanka: is a fanciful park containing hundreds of native Peruvian plants and flowers and with statues of famous old singers and scholars, and constructions of houses from ancient times. It reminded me of Park Güell in Barcelona, with a similar curving style and lots of stone mosaics. A man who worked in the park as a photographer befriended me and showed me around the park, explaining the flowers and plants and the statues - actually very useful, not only to learn about the local history, but also for my listening skills in Spanish. Unfortunately, they tend to play traditional music in the park, to give it atmosphere, I suppose, but like everywhere else in this place, it blares out of the speakers and sounds awful. Someone get Huancayo a sound engineer.

Nightlife: To celebrate Sara´s birthday on Saturday night, we went out after dinner to a pizzeria restaurant-bar called Antojitos. The feature of the live band was a sort of midget woman (a very womanly midget woman) with a great voice. The crowd was older, and couples danced every now and then. It was hard to stay inconspicuous when you´re sitting with three blonde girls and another girl with dreadlocks, and they tried to get us to dance, but we snuck away. Next stop was Galileo´s, where I went a week earlier, but there were no spare tables or chairs and it was too smoky anyhow. We ended up chatting in a quiet little bar that offered MTV as entertainment - but we were only looking for something quiet.

On Monday night, everyone was in the mood to drink, so we started at the hostel and ended up at Taj Mahal, (which is, according to a local girl, the best disco in town). A big contrast to the weekend though, as it was completely empty except for a young couple. Oh well. The upside is that you get good bar service and the DJ will listen to your requests (I didn´t bother though, because I figured his collection would be somewhat limited).

La Cabaña has live folk and traditonal music Thurs - Sat, and yesterday we were lucky enough to see two traditional Peruvian dances - from the jungle and from the mountains. They were kind of cool, and the dancers (3 girls and 3 boys) were cute in their ´traditional´ outfits. It´s very common to have laughing and shouting in Peruvian music, and I suspect that the kids across the road from the hostel are learning traditional songs and dances every weekend morning and that´s what I wake up to...

Monday: Ceviche. Now, this is a dish that I will definitely be replicating at home, especially as Sydney has such fresh seafood. Ceviche is raw white fish, or you can use mixed seafood, marinated in lemon &/or lime juice and whatever else you want (usually chilli, salt & pepper, and herbs). Left for 30-60 minutes, the acid from the lemon and lime juice actually cooks the fish, which is then served with spanish onion. The girls boiled up some potatoes and popped some corn to eat with the ceviche, and we also had algae (a treat from the people I bought the fish from, which I couldn´t really bring myself to eat). This is a pretty simple dish, and if you like seafood, I would highly recommend trying it.

Wednesday: Empanadas. So much for trying to teach the girls about international cuisine; when I suggested we make spaghetti, they turned their noses up at it and we finally decided on empanadas, which is sort of the Peruvian version of a meat pie. You can put whatever you want in them, I suppose, but meat is always more fun. We also made the pastry, which was a first for me, and turned out surprisingly well, although the girls ended up putting almost twice the amount of butter needed. Basically, you fry the meat (beef) with onions, garlic, and other things, add sliced boiled egg, olives and nuts (the olives were mostly eaten by the girls, and I didn´t buy nuts), then roll out circles in the pastry and seal the filling inside. (This is where my ´practice´ from helping my mum make curry puffs came in handy, for making the fancy twisty seal). They turned out quite nice, although took about 4 times longer to cook than in the recipe, I suspect due to the butter content.

Friday: Black forest cake. Sounds ambitious, I know. I figured I was in for another long walk around town to find cherries (either fresh or sour, in a tin, but not the glacé ones) and fresh cream. In fact, I didn´t have too much trouble finding cherries, except they may not have been cherries, but a very similar fruit that´s not as sweet. Oh well. They looked like cherries, and that was more important. Fresh cream, I´m told, is sold by one man who owns some cows somewhere, but not in the markets or supermarkets. Now, is it at all possible to make whipped cream from fresh milk? I didn´t think so (if there is, please tell me), so I had to change the recipe so the cream that goes on top was actually more like cake frosting. Ie. way too much icing sugar and butter. But, the cake turned out well (a recipe without cocoa, to save me more grief). By ´well´, I mean, it had a hole in the top where it had sunk, but we filled it with cherries and made it look good. Anyway, it tasted great (qué rico! is a phrase I hear a lot in the kitchen, whether it be melting chocolate or frying meat), if a little on the sickly sweet side.

Pachamanca is actually the name of the meal we ate, but it was literally on the side of the highway somewhere between the town of San Jeronimo and Hualhuas (respectively the silver-working and weaving villages about 30 minutes from Huancayo). The ´street stall´ had no name, nor menu, as Pachamanca was the only thing it served.

To start with, the minute we stepped out of the taxi, a woman from the street stall ran across the highway and offered us a humita (little sweet corn bread cake wrapped in a husk) and invited us to eat at her stall. We couldn´t refuse such good customer service and were very glad we didn´t. Pachamanca (in Quechuan, it means ¨earth pot¨) is a hole in the ground, where seasoned meat, potatoes, vegetables and humitas are placed, alternated with hot stones that cook everything. We were treated to hunks of seasoned lamb, three types of potato, broadbeans and humitas, for 8 soles. Accompanied by Cristal beer, it surpassed all our expectations (especially as we had just come from Hualhas, where apparently there are no restaurants. The word ´restaurant´ of course being used to signify anything that sells hot food). I can only hope to replicate this meal at home!

You will pass stalls in the local markets with tanks of small live frogs on the ground and a blender on the table. For 5 soles, you can watch a frog be plucked from the tank, skinned alive by hand (gruesomely fascinating), its guts torn out, washed, then put into the blender. Other ingredients like honey, a milky liquid and something malty are added, then the whole lot is blended and strained into a glass. When I first heard about this drink, I never thought I would have the guts to try it, but it really wasn´t so bad; it was warm, sweet and malty, and a sort of greenish colour. Apparently this drink is good for your health and, well, all of us who tried it are alive and healthy so I suppose it´s true. Salud!

Monday: Walpa Chupe. It´s a thick, brothy chicken soup local to the area (apparently, as I found it in the recipe book put together by Lucho´s wife). I had my reservations about the first class, but it turned out well; I had 5 girls willing to help out, and they were great. In fact, they probably knew more about cooking and preparation than I did. I realised this when I saw them peeling the potatoes with big knives, quickly and competently. I can´t do that - I need a damn good potato peeler! The girls are all polite and help me out when I forget words in Spanish or can´t say what I mean. The soup turned out muy rico and the abuelito and abuelita (the director and assistant of the orphanage) were treated to some too. I was asked for the recipe by one of the tias, so it couldn´t have been too bad!

Wednesday: Pizza. Everyone loves pizza... however, I only had 4 girls to help out as others were busy. Now, some of them told me they´d never had pizza before (amid some giggling) so I wasn´t sure whether they were serious or not. The orphans have quite a varied diet, with different meals every day of the week, but never pizza. Perhaps in the future, though, because abuelita seemed quite impressed by the recipe and copied it down. I used the most simplest recipe for the dough, which is basically flour, beer and herbs. I decided to make a vegie pizza, so apart from the tomato paste, we had garlic, onion, capsicum, fresh tomato, spinach, fresh oregano and 3 different types of cheese. The local cheese, queso fresco, is everywhere, but mozarella was harder to find (in fact, I was given queso fresco when I asked for mozarella which is why we ended up with 3 cheeses). There is, however, a cheese shop in the centre of town where I found parmesan as well. The pizza wasn´t as good as those at La Cabaña but eh, pizza is great as long as it has tomato and cheese on it, more often than not...

Friday: Lamingtons. It was the only real Australian thing I could think of, with a bit of history behind it and fun to make. However, I spent a good few hours in the morning looking for cocoa powder, which doesn´t exist in Huancayo. Well, I was directed to a shop called Cocitos by more than 1 person, but they didn´t have any. They have tons of drinking chocolate and cooking chocolate, just no cocoa. I guess they just put chocolate in their cakes? Anyhow, it was rather frustrating to say the least as I´d already bought the icing sugar for the icing... but not to worry. Melted chocolate, icing sugar, butter and milk will still taste damn good. Today I only had 3 students (I see a pattern emerging...) as the others had to study. The sponge cake was less sponge than cake, as I couldn´t find self raising flour (it does exist though). Not to worry. The cake turned out okay, a little on the small side and stuck to the bottom (no such thing as baking paper or teflon). But lamington in any shape or form is still cake covered in chocolate and shredded coconut: pretty yum. The girls were rather enchanted by the melted chocolate. I hardly ever eat lamingtons in Australia and I honestly don´t think I´ve ever made them before, so it wasn´t a bad effort and in fact it made me a little homesick. I have extra ingredients, though, so I think the residents at La Casa are going to be treated to some lamingtons very soon...

On a sunny Thursday morning, Hayley and Dan (brother and sister from England, live in Kenya), Mark (another Aussie) and I got up early and took a cab, with Rosario in the boot, north-east into the mountains. The drive took about 1.5 hours along a very rough track... I cringed at every crunch. We passed little streams and drove between some pretty spectacular scenery. After picking up saddles at a tiny little village, we drove some more to the stables, which were just a small house by the side of the road and a bunch of horses grazing.

Our guide was crap, and didn´t say a word directly to us - we didn´t even know his name. Anyhow, we all got saddled up and on our way. This was the first time I´ve ever ridden a horse, so it´s a good thing Hayley used to ride and Mark´s dad owned a stud farm, so I could ask all the questions I wanted. I had a lovely calm black mare, who was either pregnant or fat (we found out later she was just fat). We didn´t move very fast which was fine, and after about an hour or so we had reached a steep hill with an awesome view of a distant lagoon and the ice-covered peaks above it. (In contrast to the grassy hills around the area.) We had lunch there, which was included in the US$35 fee for the day: bread and ham, three tiny mandarins, a banana and a bottle of water - somewhat disappointing, but oh well.

Onwards we went, off the track this time, and eventually we were walking along a steep ridge with valleys on either side - quite a view. However, I suddenly became allergic to something - either the grass (apparently I´m allergic to some types) or the horses themselves... will I ever find out? I´ve never sneezed that many times in my life. We came across llamas, cows and wild horses, but no problems ensued. Getting down from that ridge was interesting, as my horse decided she was starving and would stop every few steps to chew grass. Bloody annoying when the other four were about a hundred metres away with their (lean) horses. But, my horse did well and got me across rivers and down steep inclines with little trouble, so I was thankful at the end. The end point of our journey was some random place by the side of the road, and our taxi was waiting for us. With a clap of his hands, the horses ran off - presumably back to their home, while we gave the guide a lift home in the back of the taxi.

Well, it was fun; not too much pain sitting down today, and I´ll definitely keep an eye out to go horse riding again...

La Cabaña is the restaurant linked to Incas del Peru and La Casa de la Abuela (perhaps another brainchild of Lucho). It´s across the road from the hostel, so it makes convenient eating. In fact, because I eat most of my meals at the hostel, La Cabaña is basically the only other place in Huancayo that I´ve eaten. It´s best known for its pizzas, which are great and come out much quicker than the hamburgers, which, while tasty, are rather flat (literally flat. weird). They also have great vino caliente - hot wine, which tastes like sangria but hot. I wouldn´t order another hot chocolate, but that´s because I´ve been spoilt for them, and if you like papaya, apple and pineapple, then you might want to order one of their two fruit salad desserts, which come with (strawberry) yoghurt, honey, nuts, grains, ice cream or chocolate sauce on request. The chocolate cake might look good on the outside but is a little dry on the inside - ask for extra sauce or ice cream. For Huancayo, it´s pricey, but relatively cheap compared to other countries. Pizzas range from 20 - 28 soles (small - large) - that´s about AU$8 - $11. A litre of vino caliente will set you back 15 soles. They also have live folkloric music Thurs - Sat nights. Not a bad place to stumble home from.

After several days of 10pm bedtimes, it was a real struggle to stay awake when I finally made it out into Huancayo´s nightlife on Saturday. Like most South American cities, this place sleeps late and wakes early, so dinner can be as late as 10pm. Dave, the other Aussie staying at La Casa, and I met up with his limeño friend Alfredo and Alfredo´s friend Reymundo (interesting name, that - literally ¨king of the world¨) at a chicken eatery. Yummy chips (I was hungry, considering dinner was two boiled eggs and a tomato and onion salad. It´s not that they don´t feed me well at the hostel, just that the last two dinners I could hardly eat).

First stop was Galileo, a sort of live music restaurant bar thing. You sit down and order drinks from the menu, while the band plays covers of songs, some in castellano (Spanish), others like Pink Floyd, U2 etc. I had my first Pisco Sour: delicious. It´s that same pisco rum, mixed with egg whites, brown sugar and lime juice. If I can manage to bring home a big bottle without breaking it then I´m going to have a pisco sour party, watch out.

We caught a taxi to the Taj Mahal, a somewhat happening club just outside the main part of the city. Now, Dave had gone to this club three nights in a row and seemed to like it, but bear in mind even though he´s Aussie, he´s over 30 and doesn´t like electronic dance music. So I sort of knew what not to expect. One room has a live band playing, so we watched them for awhile (again, there´s table service, which is something I won´t mind getting used to). The band here were pretty good and played a bit of a mixture. I had a lot of trouble staying awake though (until they played Boys Don´t Cry). In the other room is the discoteca, where they have strobe lights and pulsing lights and pretty Peruvian girls dancing either in groups or with their boyfriends. The music was mostly salsa, latino pop and r&b. It wasn´t tooooo bad....

It appears that all the people in Huancayo who smoke also go to these clubs. When you walk down the street, it doesn´t seem like anyone smokes, but we came out of that club gasping for fresh air. I´m annoyed that I didn´t bring my bottle of Febreeze.