Huancavelica
Huancavelica is a popular follow-on destination from Huancayo as there is a direct train. (Popular in this sense means that maybe 1 out of every 8 people I met at La Casa was headed there. Which is probably not a whole lot in the scheme of things.) The Lonely Planet gives Huancavelica about half a page. I caught the train from Huancayo at 6.30am and arrived here about midday. Normally I would be worried about arriving in a new place without a map or a place to stay, but from what others have had to say about it, I knew it would be fine. I followed the stream of passengers from the train and found myself on the main road in no time. Unfortunately, while I looked for one of the hostels mentioned in the guidebook, I couldn´t find it (later I realised I was at the wrong plaza. Such a small town and they have two plazas?). So I ended up in Hostal Virrey. My room feels like a prison cell, which is why I´ve spent the last 3 hours in an internet cafe. I wasn´t sure whether I´d be spending 1 or 2 nights in Huancavelica, but the hostel made my mind up. No toilet paper in the toilets (not even a provision for it, like a little metal rod; I think you have to buy it) and the tap doesn´t work in the girl´s toilet, and only erratically in the boys´. At least, at least, I have a bed, a desk and a chair. Yay. I haven´t yet asked about hot water but I suspect it´s going to be somewhat erratic too. I might wait till I get to Ica.
The town itself is even more tranquilo than Huancayo, hardly any cars, a nice quiet plaza surrounded by pretty colonial style buildings and a very beautiful mountain presence. The mountains are right up and close to the town (probably more correct to say, they built the town right at the base of the mountains). I hope the residents here appreciate the town´s beauty!
There´s not much to do here though; lots of little restaurants as usual and a bar or two, so I´ve decided to take it easy and spend the night catching up on reading. I´m excited because I found Gabriel Garcia Marquez´s book 100 Years of Solitude, in castellano! A pity I have to read it in the fluorescent-lit prison cell atmosphere of my room once it gets dark.
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Room: I`ve likened it to a gaol cell, but maybe I´m being too harsh. Bare, dirty walls painted blue. A bed, desk, chair and fluroescent light. No windows to the outside world. However, the bed had lots of blankets so it was quite warm, although something made me wake up in the middle of the night with an incredibly itchy back.
Staff: Generally friendly enough, not sure if they speak English. Nice enough to let me keep my bags in the deposit for several hours at no extra cost.
Bathrooms: Cleanliness of the girl´s toilet was good, but a pity that none of the toilets flush! I think they must have a quota of 1 flush per hour or something. Add no toilet seats, toilet paper and no running water from the tap, and you get minus points for the toilets. I´m only happy that I wasn´t sick while staying at this place! The showers do have hot water, but this needs to be turned on by the staff some 20 minutes before you want your shower. The guy went out of his way to test the water for me and told me when it was ready, but I got a shock because not only was the water not hot (not even lukewarm), I watched as the healthy stream of water became a trickle, and ended up having a cold half-shower. Very uncomfortable. Minus points for the shower too.
Atmosphere: Very close to zero. The hostel has 3 floors with rooms facing inwards to the stairs. It´s light enough, with an open part at the top. At night the staff watch TV on the typically crappy Peruvian sound system, so it sort of blares through the walls. In the morning I had an interesting encounter with the Peruvian police, who I think were checking the hostel for illegal migrants here to work. Or something. They wanted to see my passport and asked me what I was doing here. (I was thinking, trust me, I don´t want to be staying here any longer than you want me to!). They were satisfied with my answer, although rather surprised and almost suspicious that I was travelling alone. I guess it´s just not done that much around here.
I suppose for one night, it sufficed - I had a private place to myself, a comfortable enough bed and a place to go to the toilet, what more did I really need? Maybe I´m just too spoiled from those weeks at La Casa...
