Dancing in Huancavelica...

Talor: I love Huancavelica! Aside from the altitude (at 3800m above sea level, I was still struggling with headaches) and the weather (freezing cold in the mornings and evenings), I've got nothing bad to say about it.

Huancavelica is a happy, prosperous city that seems to be growing rapidly. Major roadwork and building/housing construction going on made walking around a challenge at times, but all is good when you're constantly greeted with, “Hola Gringo! Hola Chinita! Bienvenidos!” (Welcome!) And welcome us they did with smiles, gorgeous mountain views, good food and comfort at the Hostal La Portada.

I knew it was all good when on our first night, after a really nice meal of pizza and pasta, we strolled around and saw a bunch of teenagers dancing in groups, what appeared to be folkloric dances, in front of churches and plazas. From then on, not a day went by without seeing dancing going on in one form or another, from an incredibly cute school dance competition to an amazing traditional scissor dance extravaganza. It's downright infectious so that we had to take ourselves to a pena to bust a move with the locals!

Situated in a valley, there were fantastic views of mountains everywhere and cool rock formations to flowing rivers and very rustic villages just a short “hike” away. Sheep, llamas and alpacas wander as freely as the dogs, some of which were the healthiest we've seen in Peru. And the kids were so adorable and always happy to pose and smile for the camera.

The food was hearty, filling and delicious! We ate lunch nearly everyday at the San Sebastian Cafe where they cooked up the best Milanesa (breaded beef patty), spaghetti in pesto sauce and yummy fish soup with lots of vegetables. We also had pretty good pizza and really delicious spinach ravioli at Pizzas Roma, the only pizzeria in town. And on Sunday afternoon, we lunched at Joy, a very popular restaurant just outside of town where they make the best Pachamanca (a local specialty of a variety of meats cooked with potatoes and vegetables in a dugout hole in the ground).

We treated ourselves well by checking into Hostal La Portada and taking their deluxe accommodation, which had a separate sitting area, scalding hot water in the shower and included a continental breakfast in their cafeteria just a hop skip and a jump away from our room.... aaaah, what luxury for $17 a night!

But the best part was when the very helpful Municipal Tourist Office put us in touch with Alberto, a local tour guide who took us around the city, and eventually became our friend. Life is good in Huancavelica...

Erik: Yes, Alberto was a great guide and became a good friend, as well as castellano (spanish) tutor. Our second day he led us on a tour of the town, giving us all the cultural and historical facts we could absorb. We were almost happy that the tour was cut short after 3 hours by a freak hail storm – our brains couldn't process any more spanish, though Alberto was always quick to provide us the english translation when needed.

The next day Alberto and I hiked up to the small village of Sacsamarca, about 2 miles up into the mountains. The town is built completely of volcanic stone and seems lost in time. I met many locals, including a curious alpaca, and a lovely store owner named Nicolasa, who showed me traditional thread weaving, herbal plants, etc. She also served Alberto and I a much needed cervesa. The town was so other-worldly and welcoming that I took Talor back there the next morning. (Nicolasa gave her the exact same demonstrations – her tourist routine, I guess.) We enjoyed spending time with Alberto so much that we went out Friday night to the pena with him and danced and drank the night away.

It's true that for a smallish town (population 40K or so), Huancavelica seemed to boast a parade, fair or other pubic event nearly every day – sometimes several times a day. While the kids there love to listen to western music and surf the net, they also seem very connected to and proud of their past, enjoying all that the ancient Quechua culture handed down to them – music, dance, traditions, etc. In all our travels through the Americas, this is the only place we found the youth so a part of their past. It was very heartening and refreshing.

Though we both really loved our time in Huancavelica, we agreed that we'd rather leave wanting more than wait until we grew bored of the small mountain town atmosphere. After a week, we felt ready to move on, even if we were sad to leave at the same time. We enjoyed the pueblo life so much, though, that we changed our very loose travel plans to continue a path through the other small mountain towns rather than descending back down to cities along the coast. The bus trip from Huancayo to Huancavelica had been so breathtaking, that I was hoping for more of the same...

For those with time on their hands, here is our vast collection of photos from Huancavelica: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/HuancavelicaPeru#