Fin de semana #2 - Huancayo & Inginio

After 4 days back at work, it was time for a little R&R. My friend Mario came in from Lima (as a reminder, a Peruvian neurologist I met in Seattle) and we decided to hit the town. We met up with two Peruvian gals, the daughter of my landlord and her cousin and commenced with the revelry. This included karaoke (I bust out a mean Bon Jovi), live music and dancing until the wee hours of the morning. Come to find out, the cousin is actually a dance instructor! Major bonus... not to mention that she was "Miss Huancayo" for two years running. Some ridiculous luck I have.

We managed to get up in time to finish breakfast by noon at Mario's family's restaurant a few miles from my place. Restaurant may be a slight misnomer as it's more of an outdoor cafe, but the food was great if not your typical breakfast: sopa verde and cau cau (a kind of potato soup and a dish with cow stomach, potatoes and rice). That afternoon we had a nice walk around his old neighborhood, made friends with a little girl who showed us how to get past the gate down the river and generally goofed around along the Rio Mantaro. Later that day I fell asleep on the riverbank of another river close to town where people were bringing in a huge carrot harvest. We closed out Saturday by heading to La Cabana for dinner and internet.

Sunday was amazing. Mario and I had heard about a good place to visit in the mountains on Saturday from a guy by the river, so we headed out to see if we could find "Arco Iris." We took a shared-ride taxi out to Juaja (hoo-huh) and then hired a taxi to take us to a little more remote area. We ended up outside Inginio, a fairly touristy spot for expats and locals alike. Green mountains, a clear stream and lots of parks tucked in the valley. We arrived next to a park with a family playing volleyball and asked if we could join. They ended up inviting us for lunch too: pan-fried truche (true-cha) with red chili fired in a pan over a camp fire. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Supposedly truche is a small, imported salmon, but whatever it is, it was amazing. The family was celebrating one of the girls' birthdays, so Mario and I made sure to sing Happy Birthday in English. Her little brother was hilarious, a 3 year old named "Peidrito." We also took a few moments for a hike up a valley before being turned back by the approaching rain.

Instead of paying our way back to Huancayo, we snagged a ride with the family and treated them to ice cream from a local creamery (fresh milk!) on the way home. Back in Huancayo, we got caught in a "chaperon," a fierce, but brief, downpour. As it broke, we left our shelter on the side of the street and passed through the Sunday market. I snagged an alpaca sweater for 10 bucks... not bad, not bad.

We rounded out the day with a church service with Mario's mom followed by another trip to La Cabana for good food, wine and an incredibly uplifting conversation with Mario's mom. She exudes a sense of warmth and joy and was able to speak some really powerful truth to me about trusting in God and how ridiculous it is to doubt Him.

After this weekend, I can't say a word to disagree with her.