Day 3 was a fun day. Wyatt spent a lot of his mission in this area (the mountains), so it was a really important stop!
Huancayo- Street view:
Reesey getting excited to squeeze back in the car. Either that or Reese and Jon were talking rubbish and giggling about it!
Wyatt had organized to meet up with one of his favourite families to show us around the area. They were so excited to see him again. Weird right? Just kidding! Wyatt was a great missionary, and very (obviously) loved by all the members in Huancayo.
Here we are with the Espinosa Family, Carlos and Mary, at their home. Carlos is a Bishop for the Church in one of the wards there. Take one with is with Triana, take two with me.
They have two children, Melanie and Chemo (the "ch" is pronounced "cha"). They were getting ready when these were taken.
Wyatt and Carlos catching up from their time apart. That guy seriously LOVES Wyatt!
A cute park in the middle of the City.
Here's the group walking to breakfast and a view of Huancayo. The weather couldn't have been more perfect- especially for winter. It was a little cool in the mornings and evenings, but perfect during the day.
Lots of street vendors selling fresh produce....
And crying, snotty-nosed children for sale too! Cute little guy, hey?
While we were there, most of the people in this mountain region were drunk. This is what we'd call the Festival of Huancayo. They are celebrating their anniversary of becoming a town and it happens during the month of August. Random singing and dancing in the streets, doing dances called the santiago and hualas.
Downtown Huancayo
After watching some of the drunken festivities, we finally made it to breakfast. Delicious right? Jon, Triana, and I had the caldo de gallina soup. Which was basically a chicken noodle type thing with potatoes. Reese and Wyatt were a little more adventurous and got the mondongo soup which has cow stomach in it. GROSS! The soup was good (can't say much about Reese and Wyatt's), just very strange for breakfast....
Everyone eating dinner breakfast.
Bottoms up!
After breakfast, we made our way back to the cars but not before stopping by the park to explore a bit more!
I was in tourist mode most of the time with my camera attached to my hand. Check this cute little Peruvian girl...
Baby in tow!
Getting ready for a group picture:
Wyatt and the Espinosas:
The group minus Melanie and Chemo:
See the "Dios es amor" on the door behind us? It means God is love (thank you husband). The park just had a bunch of statues of Huancayan culture. This round house thing was no different. One of the city workers happened to be on site, so he opened the house for us to check out.
Stairs to the top:
On top of the house. Wyatt and Carlos:
Reese, Jon, and Triana with the beautiful unfinished buildings in the background:
View of below:
Like I said, the weather was perfecto!
Here is the traditional woman from this part of Peru. "Mountain people". She's all dressed up in leggings, two long plaits, the famous falda (skirt), and a wide-brimmed hat. I guess they've been dressing like this for ages. Triana and I decided they were the original legging wearers.
Me, the giant... and the little people....
From Huancayo we made our way to Sicaya (another town in the mountain region) to get some souvenirs. What is a drive there without more drunkeness the Festival of Sicaya going on?
These people were dancing in the middle of the highway... Just making their way down the road. Drunk out of their minds. And Wyatt and I decided to join in. Why not right?
Learning how to shake it:
Getting our groove on. Wyatt has clearly mastered the dance:
The festival can't continue without the fabulous hats!
I have to say that while we were there, the whole lot of us stuck out like sore thumbs. For instance, look at my blonde hair and long legs in the sea of black haired short people! And look how tall and extremely white Wyatt is! Hence us being video taped by Peruvians standing by...
It was a lot of fun. Where was Jon, Triana, and Reese while Wyatt and I were dancing? Probably dying of laughter.
The outfits there are wearing are the traditional festival outfits. Wyatt was saying that they probably just rented them for the dancing because an entire outfit, hand sewn would run about 25,000 sols, or $900.
Here is video of the dancing:
Jon walking back to the car:
Really bright outside with no sunglasses- my eyes were on fire later that day!
Look how cute this little boy is in his festival clothes.
Reesey and Triana petting the llama... at least I think thats a llama...
Me doing the same:
The primary reason for going to Sicaya was to get some Peruvian trinkets to take home. In the back of the little market we discovered child labour laws being violated... if there was such a thing! These little boys were quite impressive though. Weaving the yarns to make beautiful blankets!
Serious workers!
Seeing some sort of live stock on the side of the road while we were there was not uncommon at all. I'm actually surprised I don't have more pictures of perro's (dogs) from this trip. Jon, Wyatt, and Reese pointed out about 10,000 of them while we were there...
From Sicaya, we made our way to the Virgin of Constitucion.
The Virgin in all her glory:
Reesey!
Over looking the city of Constitucion
You can actually pay to climb a number of stairs to the top of the Virgin. Can you see us?
Closer look:
And here is some battle. From the looks of it, it was a depiction of some Peruvians fighting with Chileans. That goes way back... today, they just don't like each other for the most part! For the record though, we love both Peru and Chile.
For lunch, our tour guides took us to Ingenio where they have a Trout Farm/Restaurant. You see this guy running next to the car? They get paid to bring cars to the restaurant. From where we turned, to the actual restaurant it was probably about a mile. They sprinted with the cars, the whole way there. Amazing to me because I hate running AND the fact that we were at about 3,300 metres (10,000+ feet).
Holding on to the car, running.
The Trout Farm and Restaurant:
This picture is hilarious because Chemo didn't really care much for any of us... yes, even Jon. And this picture pretty much sums his feelings up. Back turned, chair as far away as possible.
And that is the delicious grilled trout. 30 minutes prior, it was swimming around. Fresh fish! And Wyatt reminded me that Mary (the mom) ate her entire fish, bones and skin, as well as the rest of Wyatts fish. She just kept packing the food in. It was quite amazing actually.
This was back in Sicaya. What is happening is they're dancing around the tree's, drunk, singing and chanting. Someone has hosted this event, and the tree is full of goodies and money. The host appoints someone to cut down the tree (that person then has to host next years event) and once the tree drops, its a free for all! Let me remind you that these people are so drunk, that when they tree fell, they actually jumped under it to try get the prizes first. Fearless, I guess.
There is the lucky winner who gets to by the booze next year:
We went to the Catholic Church in Sicaya. The were getting this Saint ready for the weekend festivities
Views of the Church:
Happy as a chappy...
The church was in the center of town, which was were the party was gonna be. Here they are setting up the homemade fireworks.
Disclaimer: If you are from Peta or hate seeing cooked animals, I would just skip this next section...
This part of the trip, I think Reese would like to repeat and not eat the pork. But thats for day 4...
This was just a line of women cutting up pork off the spit and selling it by the napkin.
Reese's first mistake... buying the pork...
Delicious right?
Second mistake was eating the rind!
No, that is not a girl. But he is serving this stuff called arroz con leche masa morada. It's a rice dish with some jelly like substance on top. It was actually quite delicious!
Yum!
Wyatt spoon feeding Jon!
So, so good. Wyatt is in heaven!
Ok, so if you ever go visit Peru, you have to get your hands on some homemade Peruvian donuts. They're called picarones. They are absolutely divine!
They fry the dough on a pan, flop it on a plate, and drizzle it with loads of delicious syrup. SO GOOD!
Digging in! Yum!!!
And the Peruvian speciality. Guinea Pig... Also known as Cuy. Can you see their teeth and eyes?
More pig over the braai:
Very happy to see an actual policia on sight. You'll see why in a second...
Oh how 'bout that... crates and crates of homemade alcohol! Woo!
Discussing the rest of the days plans...
A mountain woman in all her perfection! Across from the little hut she's standing in front of, was the loo. And I use that term loosely... Triana had to use it. No toilets or sinks. You squat over two feet marks. Do your business. A bathroom attendant throws a bucket of water over the floor, and you're done! We had hand sanitizer- don't worry!
Look familiar my South African friends? Baby on back...
The last stop in the area we were in (around Huancayo) was this beautiful park called Parque De Indendidiad. It is absolutely stunning. Probably one of the most beautiful city parks we've ever been too!
Triana at the entrance:
Lovely, isn't it?
Beautiful stone work:
Reese posing like a Mountain woman.
Reese and myself!
More of the park:
The walkway to the playground.
Have you ever seen a jungle gym like this?
Reese and Jon. Definitely father and son!
Wyatt posing like a gangster...
The cool shaved trees:
Cacti...
Stone statues of the mountain women...
I am not sure who this man is... But you can see more of the mountain woman with their hats and plaits.
Stone sheep:
Wyatt being a goof!
Like I said, the park was the last stop of the night before we hit the sheets. We had an absolutely wonderful day with the Espinozas. They were great tour guides!
The last picture of Wyatt taken with one of his favourite families. We are so glad we were able to meet them and spend the day with the wonderful people who helped take care of Wyatt while he served for two years.
Day 3 was a wonderful day! We were so tired by the end of it, but so happy to have explored the mountain region. Stay tuned for day 4!
2 comments:
I'm so glad we now have somebody in the family who can dance in public and not be an emabrassment! Seeing that pig still grosses me out. Reese totally got what was coming to him.
Picarones!!!! My favorite...now I'm more hungry. I think couples go to the parks there to make out. Nice dancing guys, love it!
Post a Comment