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.