Monday, November 17, 2008

Sights of Peru: The Provinces

We took a 5-day trip to the provinces (the outlying areas away from Lima) where life is very different from what we see on a daily basis in the capital city of Lima. Here are some random pictures from our trip.

A side street (most streets are actually paved, but this one isn´t) in the mountain city of Huánuco, altitude 6,800 feet above sea level (very low), but we had to cross the high Andes to get there.


Mototaxis in Huánuco: These motorcycle taxis are common through the provinces, but are never seen in Lima.


Another typical street in Huánuco and common in other cities of the provinces:


Our next stop was in the jungle city of La Merced, at an altitude of only 2,800 feet (like St. George, Utah), but to get there from Huánuco, we had to go up over a 15,700-foot pass! La Merced was 90 degrees and nearly 100% humidity. We nearly died of the heat. Here´s one of the streets of La Merced:


Our next stop was Huancayo, at 10,600 feet. I was the first zone leader in this mountain town back when there were only six missionaries and almost no members. Now there are two stakes in the city! One of the chapels is right near the center of town. In this picture, Beverly is standing in front of a beautiful, modern chapel (not shown), across the street from these old run-down buildings:


This is the Plaza de Armas (main city square) of Huancayo:


We left Huancayo and followed the beautiful Mantaro Valley, with its many farmlands:


Here´s a little town in the Mantaro Valley:


The Mantaro River:


A footbridge across the Mantaro River:


Along the road from Huancayo to Lima:
This was the high point (literally, but not figuratively) of our trip. It´s Ticlio Pass, at 4818 metros sobre el nivel del mar (msnm) (meters above the level of the sea). That´s 15,807 feet above sea level!


A mountain and lake near Ticlio. The lake is at over 15,000 feet elevation and the mountain is probably over 16,000 feet, higher than any mountain in North America.

By the way, Scott´s heart survived the extreme elevation changes and passed with flying colors. We loved our trip.

6 comments:

McKenzie said...

Oh my goodness! The picture of Lake Ticlio is absolutely breath-taking! It is beautiful! I didn't think it was real! It's beautiful! Hope you're doing well!

Russ said...

15,000 feet? Wow! That had to have been hard to just breath. I loved the pictures, especially the last.

-Russ

Wahines in Bikinis said...

Asssu, que chevere los fotos. Ustedes no me conocen pero soy amigo de mckenzie lawyer. Yo servi en la mision norte hace algunos anos. Amo a Peru y su gente y me da mucho alegria ver el "blog" de ustedes. Gracias por poner sus fotos y compartir con nosotros sus experiencias.
-brandon

Eric said...

Amazing! Sounds like everyday is an adventure. I'm so happy that you get to see Peru while still serving the Lord!

amvmhurst said...

We are so appreciative of your blog. Our son is serving in the same mission (Elder David Hurst from Dallas, Oregon) and is in the Merced area also (as of last week anyway). Please give him a hug from us if you see him! Thank you again for sharing your experiences and the beautiful pictures!

nancy said...

HI, SI ALGUIEN SABE DEL ELDER DAVID HURST, PORFAVOR AVISENLE QUE DESEO COMUNICARME CON EL, TENGO QUE ENVIARLE UN PRESENTE, ALGO QUE DEBIS DARLE, PERO SE FUE ANTES, ES IMPORTANTE, SOY NANCY ADRIANZEN, NO SE SI EL SE ACUERDE DE MI, PERO ESPERO SE ACUERDE DEL MICKEY MOUSE INVISIBLE QUE LE DIBUJE EN SU MANO Y LUEGO EL VIO AQUEL DIBUJO CON LA LUZ DEL LAPICERO. MI CORREO ES omeganikita1@hotmail.com
ESPERO QUE TODO TE VAYA SUPER BIEN, YA TERMINASTE TU MISION, TAKE CARE.BYE, SEE YOU