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You should be ecstatic... Why? Because just for you I pushed my fears of looking like a tourist aside, pulled out my camera and took pictures of my new hometown, Huancayo... and by the way, I would totally fit in otherwise if it weren´t for the camera. ;-) So anyway, enjoy my pics and of course I can´t leave you without giving you just a little bit of information about my new hometown:

Huancayo is the seventh or eighth largest city in Perú, depending on which source you look at. It´s 325,000 inhabitants or so puts it on par with the metropolitan statistical area of Peoria, Illinois. Huancayo is located at an altitude over 10,700 feet up in the Andes and is about six hours by car directly east of Lima. It is my understanding that the name, Huancayo, is actually the spanish spelling of a Quechua (language of the Inca´s) word that means ¨rock.¨ While the town has a long history spanning back to the Inca Empire, Huancayo was not officially established until 1572. Then, it wasn´t until 1820 when Huancayo gained it´s independence from Spain. If you want to try out your castellano and read a little more about the city I now call home I recomend visiting this website: http://www.huancayoperu.info/index1.php

Welcome to La Plaza de la Constitución. It is absolutely gorgeous and if I block my peripheral vision I can pretend like I am in a small town in Spain or Italy (the dome kind of resembles the dome of the Florence Cathedral, a little bit, don´t you think?). ...but don´t let the plaza fool you, this is not what the rest of Huancayo looks like. Still, I love it in this plaza. It´s just a twenty minute walk from home and I will usually come here in the mornings to read, chat it up with the locals or try to spot other gringos (without much luck, might I add).

More of the plaza... above is a statue of Don Ramon Castilla, who decreed the abolition of slavery in Huancayo on December 3, 1854, eleven years before slavery was abolished in The United States.

There are other great plazas/parks to go to in and around Huancayo as well. This is Parque de la Identidad Huanca. It showcases many of the plants that are native to Huancayo along with numerous momuments dedicated to famous Huancaínos, art and music. I came here one of my first days in Huancayo (with a camera that was very low on batteries... I only have this one shot) and what shocked me is how much it looks like Gaudi´s Park Guell in Barcelona, which is my absolute favorate park of all time. This is a place I´m definitely going to come back to.


... and this is home, Jirón Arequipa 1465. This is an absolute mansion compared to the other houses in Huancayo and what I love most about my new home is the gate out front with the flowers that have climbed all the way up to the third floor. Beautiful! The window that is visible on the second floor is Iris´ office window, she is an accountant with her own business. The small window on the side of the house is to our bathroom. My bedroom window is on the back of the house and not visible from the street or to the sun, which means it gets really cold in there.

Anyway, architects (if you guys are reading this... Brian, Mish, Tim I'm totally calling you out), I want you to look at the building in the distance. Somebody forgot to trim the rebar after construction. In fact, somebody forgot to trim the rebar in most of the buildings in Huancayo. Why do you think this is? Is it cheaper to leave the rebar sticking out of the concrete or are the construction workers just lazy? Any thoughts? As far as I can remember in my six years of architecture schooling and however many summers of internships, trimming the rebar is not an option. Please help me solve this mystery.

Lovely picture, isn´t it? During my first month or month and a half here whenever I would go out walking with Iris, she would ask me, ¨Okay Heather, do you know where we are at? Where´s home?¨ (Funny, I have been asked this question in Metamora, Champaign, Versailles/Paris, Chicago and now Huancayo... like I have a problem with directions or something.) Anyway, eventually I got to the point where I actually knew where I was at (thank goodness) and was able to say, ¨Totally know where we are at Iris... and to get home it´s just adelante and then an izquierda at the blonde in the red thong.¨ Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris that always showed me how to get to the train station that would take me back to Versailles or the Sears Tower in Chicago which I could always see from miles away and would guide me a few blocks north to my apartment, in Huancayo I just have to look for my naked gringa friend and I know how to get home. Comforting... isn´t it?

While walking is my favorite form of transportation there are many other ways to get around Huancayo as well. One way is by bus/van. Cram in here with business men, produce from the market, babies, women, chickens, whatever and you can go anywhere in the city for about $0.40. Unfortunately I really don´t fit in these automobiles.... the seats are only spaced about three inches apart and my long german legs just won´t fit. I am happy, though, that the buses employ seven year olds to literally hang out the door and yell out the destination while the bus rambles recklessly at top speed through the streets. Child labor at it´s best... I guess everyone has to do their part.
... and just in case a bus doesn´t sound appealing, might I offer you a ride in a mototaxi. I much prefer this form of transportation (if I absolutely have to chose between a bus and this). It just seems um, cleaner, I think is the word I am looking for although I am sure this is also a bit more dangerous. It just doesn´t have the heft that a bus has.

But, like I said, I prefer to walk. Here´s a picture of my walk to my Spanish class at 7:30 in the morning. It is rush hour in the photo and traffic can get pretty nutty not to mention that everyone uses their horn to its full extent... Driving too slow? HONK! Red light not turing green fast enough? HONK! See a dog three blocks ahead? HONK! Thinking of potatoes? HONK! See a white girl? HONK, whistle and make kissing noises. Rush hour´s a little bit different here...


Continuing on my walk to class, I pass over El Rio Shullcas, which has to be the most polluted river I have ever seen in my life. The picture just doesn´t do it justice. In fact, a couple times a week the river will flow red. Seriously, red! The first time I saw this I was a bit nervous that it might be a sign of the apocalypse but as it was not followed up by a swarm of katydids blocking out the sun, I knew I was okay.

A typical neighborhood... The landscaping that is in front of these houses is very rare to Huancayo and if you could zoom into this picture you would see that there is a fence of barbed wire around the grass. Just like in France, grass here is for looking and not touching. Usually plots of grass are only found in parks and most houses are simply surrounded by dry mountain dirt.


Another view of the same neighborhood. People tend to do their laundry on the roof here and if you are up high enough you can see lines of drying laundry for miles and miles. I think all the bright colors are beautiful and it very much reminds me of strings of prayer flags in Nepal.

The same neighborhood again but looking a bit more desolate without the grass and colorful laundry.

Huancayo is naturally very beautiful. Here´s one of the many pastures that surrounds the town.


Victor and Iris own several properties all over Perú, like the eucalyptus forest above. Everytime I hear about an additional property that they own, it reminds me of the history books I´ve read where much of the theme is centralized on the grand disparity between the wealthy and poor and how something like eighty percent of the land in Perú is owned by fifteen percent of the population. Victor and Iris, although they came from extremely humble beginnings (both their parents still live in the country without plumbing or electricity) have managed to make themselves part of the elite.



But on a lighter note, hidden in all these properties, and roaming the streets of Huancayo really, are types of farm animals like this cute little contortionist lamb.



... and this calf that made me want to yell out ¨It´s Norman from City Slickers!!!¨

And let me finish with a picture of Iris and Victor, standing proudly in front of their trees.

Huancayo really is a beautiful area with its mountains, trees, wildlife and kind people... a little maintenance and clean up could go a long way but I have a feeling the people of Huancayo have more to think about than where their trash is going or what is going on with the building that is crumbling down the street. Next week I begin working at PROMYPES, a small grass-roots micro-lending organization and am looking forward to getting a different, more internal viewpoint, of the city around me.