Julcamarca population 2,000...

Talor: As if Lircay wasn't small enough... our next stop was even smaller! This rustic village had just two hotels and two restaurants, but friendlier than Lircay. The 2-hour shared taxi ride left us at Plaza de Armas, where there was a party going on at the Municipal building to celebrate the education system. They motioned us over, handed us glasses of punch loaded with the local hooch, and welcomed us to their village... nice.

Settled into the Hotel Nazareth, where we got a large room with 3 beds, 3 chairs and a toilet in the courtyard, and running water for only several hours in the evening. Not exactly my idea of luxury, but all that for just $4. It was our cheapest accommodation yet! It even came with a pet parrot who Erik made friends with and played “pick up the corn” game with. Lunched at Super Gordo's on the usual 3 carbs of rice, potatoes and pasta then took a walk around the whole village, which took less than an hour. With not much else to do, sat in the park at the Plaza and watched as life went by.

Back at the Hotel, took a rest from our very rough day, then got washed up and ready to go out to dinner. We decided to give the other restaurant a try, where an old man had fried rice with salchichas (funny hotdogs) on the menu. We ate watching the rain outside and laughed when we saw a giant rat come in to get out of the rain. Afterwards, went back to the Plaza to take in the “nightlife,” which consisted of a mini-concert in the park, but not so much fun getting wet so we retired for the night in our room with a game of cards til lights out at 10:00pm.

Erik: once again the trip to Julcamarca was half the fun. The tiny toyota station wagon which the 6 of us were jammed into suffered up and up until we were well above the tree line. Again the high-mountain views were amazing, if tempered a bit by our cramped quarters. As we topped a summit and began the long, winding trip down, I asked the driver the altitude of the pass, which was nearly 5000 meters - over 15,000 ft.

Julcamarca was very cute, and very small – about 2000 inhabitants. Drinking powerful cocktails with locals while still carrying our packs was a nice welcome to town. Paying $2 each for our room was nice, too. After that the fun wore off, and we got bored quickly. We did meet some very nice, friendly people and some nice, friendly dogs as well, but one day was enough, so the next morning we were off for Ayacucho, a much bigger city about halfway to Cusco.

Our photos from Julcamarca:
http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/JulcamarcaPeru#