Virtual Railfan Tour of Peru 1997 - Cerro de Pasco to Huancayo

The pit at Cerro de Pasco is vast

Cerro de Pasco

We returned to La Oroya on the rear of this freight train, seen here at La Fundicion

An abandoned operation at Shelby had this old industrial locomotive

A short stop at Junin gave us the opportunity to take a look at the town which had a great number oif these three wheeled taxis.

Junin market

From La Oroya we proceeded to Huancayo which is a dual gauge town

The restaurant advertised a wide menu. Cuy is guinea pig, Trucha- trout. 
Pachamanca is a local speciality described by Wikipedia as:
 Pachamanca (from Quechua pacha "earth", manka "pot") is a traditional Peruvian dish baked with the aid of hot stones. The earthen oven is known as a huatia. It is generally made of, lamb, mutton, alpaca, llama, guanaco, vicuna, pork, beef, chicken, or guinea pig, marinated in herbs and spices.
Chicharron is pork rind

However, that day they had cuy (guinea pig) in a peanut sauce. A bit fiddly to eat but very good with rice,

From Flickr
Guinea pigs are a very common food in Peru and Ecuador. In villages I saw them running freely in the cottages which had straw over the mud floors. It was common to see women sitting by the side of the road trying to sell live guinea pigs and showing how fat and meaty they were.

Well fortified we went to bed looking forward to a couple of days on the narrow gauge line from Huancayo (altitude 3,271 meters) to Huancavelica (altitude 3,676 meters)







 

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