Thanksgiving in Jauja - Part I

Though Thanksgiving isn't really celebrated in Peru, the date served as a good excuse for us to get out of Lima and head for the mountains for good food and great company with our friends, Bruno and Merideth. Bruno has a charming B&B in the central Andes of Peru, in a town called Jauja. If you are ever anywhere near Jauja, Tarma, or Huancayo, Hostal Manco Capac is where you'll want to stay. You won't find better hospitality anywhere.
Driving from Lima to Jauja takes about 5-6 hours depending on traffic, and especially on how many trucks and buses you encounter on the 2-lane highway that is the Carretera Central. The road winds through spectacular scenery and gorges. Coming from Lima, in the first 2.5 hours you rise from sea level to a 4,800 meter pass (that's more than 15,000 feet). There are also very austere scenes, as you go through large mining areas and very poor villages.
Still, the region around Jauja is quite beautiful. There are wonderful hikes and sites all around. Above, you see the gang ready for action, including Bruno's 4-wheel drive, 4-door pickup truck. Believe it or not, this qualifies as one of our dream machines at this point. Very handy for exploring the back roads (which is nearly all of the roads) of Peru. You need 4-wheel drive, because most of the roads are unpaved, and this being the rainy season, they are deep with mud.

Here, you see Britt stuffing the turkey with a delicious mix created by Bruno that included sausage and nuts and bread crumbs and cognac, or something like that, plus other wonderful things. It was only a part of what would be a delicious meal.

Here are some views around Jauja. Above gives an idea of the countryside. When we came last April, it was full of colors from the patchwork of crops that were in bloom. This time of year, the landscape looks like a sepia photograph, because we are following the dry season and only just getting into the rainy one.

Above is a typical street scene in Jauja. Note the dog. There are feral dogs everywhere.

Just another random dog, only this one stopped in front of a red door, and I liked the contrasting colors.

This is a scene right next to the Jauja airport. There are 2 flights per day from Lima; both are in the morning and leave within 30 minutes of each other.

To work up an appetite for the Thanksgiving meal, we took a hike in the hills above Jauja to some pre-Columbian ruins that feature dozens of walls and circular storehouses. You can see the rain in the background of the photo, above, making its way toward us.

View from the ruins - down into the valley and its patchwork of fields.

The rain caught up with us as we were climbing around the ruins, and we were soaked.

Some of the fields are tilled with tractors, but others are worked by hand, or with hand-held plows pulled by oxen or donkeys.

People here are very poor. And this time of year, there's mud everywhere.

Here we are back at Hostal Manco Capac, ready to enjoy a terrific meal.

The next day, we headed down to Huancayo and then up into the mountains for a spectacular hike. Here's a preview. I'll load more photos tomorrow.


Sheep in the high Andes.

Alpaca in the Andes. The mountains are steep, high, and very beautiful.