Easter, bbq Peru style, climbing to the glacier


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South America » Peru » Junin » Huancayo
April 11th 2015
Published: April 16th 2015
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Our last few weeks in Huancayo were very busy. Teaching took most of the weekdays, and exploration took the weekends. We visited Wari ruins, that pre-date the Incas, climbed to about 5100meters on Huaytapallana, a mountain with a glacier, and took the train to Huacavallica. Now we are in Huaraz, another town high in the Andes, circled by huge craggy mountains covered in snow and glaciers. Mountaineering folks from around the world come here. Unfortunately, our first couple of days were pretty raining, so we don't have the best of photos to show.

On our big climb on Huaytapallana, the breathing got pretty laboured. I had the most trouble, working hard just to breathe OUT! I also fell and wrecked my baby finger on my right hand pretty badly, cuts, sprained and sore. Spectacular mountain though.

One thing you may not know about Peru, just like Ecuador, they have fabulous bakeries! Great bread on every corner, and fantastic cakes for great prices. You may see them in the photos. People here do a great deal of very heavy work. A normal work week is 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and everywhere you look, you see manual labour, like farming, building, bicycle cargo. And lots of mind-numbing work, like sitting all day watching a few sheep, goats or cows. Many of the women knit constantly, as they sit in the market, or on the bus, or watch the children. Hand made sweaters are on half the population. They carry their children on their backs, from newborns to large toddlers. They use a large woven cloth over their shoulders and tied in front.

The Panchamanca BBQ is a long process, involving digging a pit, building a fire with rocks suspended over it, then when the rocks are red hot, collapsing it, throwing chicken, beef and pork on the rocks, covering them with more hot rocks, adding the potatoes, and lots of vegetables, corn tamales, and cover with more hot rocks. wait an hour, then feed the crowd!

Easter was a little hard to follow, since we didn't live near the center, but we got to one mass on Good Friday, and Lisa and I went out at 3:30AM Easter Sunday for mass, and a huge fireworks display and a parade. Check out the photos!

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