Scenic Trip to Huancavelica

Our recent trip to Huancavelica was a wonderful treat. This post is about the spectacular scenery that we saw as we traveled along the spine of the High Central Andes from Tarma to Huancavelica, the southern-most town in our mission. Scott snapped over 300 pictures and could easily have posted 100 breathtaking views. But he showed constraint and only posted six representative pictures. If you want to see more, check our Picasa Web Albums.

All along the 6-hour trip, we encountered farmlands and villages like this one:


These high valleys, at altitudes of 12,000 to 15,000 feet, included huge tracts of sheep pasturelands:


Nearly the entire trip consisted of tight cutbacks as we climbed up above one valley and then dropped back down into the next valley:


During our journey, we saw hardly any land that was not covered by farms:


Many farmhouses clung to the sides of mountains:


We got dizzy looking from the tops of the mountains down into the valleys below:


Both of us were worried before our trip because we had heard so many stories about how dangerous the road was with its numerous curves and steep climbs. But the highway turned out to be in excellent shape, and the beauty of the vistas took our mind off the danger. We look forward to going back to Huancavelica next month.