huancavelica, peru

Why did we do it?
So coming to this place was definitely a mistake. Not because it's a terrible town, it's actually quite cute. But we travelled very very far out of our way to get there and it just was not worth it for a couple of tourists. Huancavelica was recommended to us by a pretty cool guy that we met in Chachapoyas. He had heard good things about it and the reviews online looked promising with words of it being a "hidden gem" and "more people should go" and that it is just such a "cute little town". We had loved Banos in Ecuador and we thought we were about to experience a similar kind of vibe.

The realisation
So after 12 hours on the bus to Huancavelica, we arrived. We tried to stay positive on the first day but as the temperature dropped to near freezing and it became clear that there was nowhere to fill up our vegan tummies, we had to face the facts. We had added 16 hours of travel to our journey for no good reason. It was a hard pill to swallow but we were able to have a good laugh about it.



A vegan walks into a chicken shop...
We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same chicken shop because it was the only restaurant in the whole town that would serve us rice, salad and choclo (Peruvian corn). Our strange repetitive order provoked curiosity in the young waitress working there and after our fourth visit, she asked us where we were from and why we were in Huancavelica.

A vegan walks into a pizza shop...
We did at one point try to order a vegan pizza. We have often done this in places we have visited just by walking into any pizza joint and asking for the vegetarian pizza without cheese. While usually causing a little confusion among the wait staff, it is something that every restaurant has been able to do for us. Not in Huancavelica. When the waitress came out with a pizza drowned in cheese, we apologised, sent it back, and reiterated that we really did not want cheese. When she returned for a second time with a pizza with cheese, she waved her hand over the yellow-sprinkled pie and assured us that it had "solemente um pocco queso" - only a little bit of cheese. We're convinced that the chef didn't believe the waitress in that we really. didn't. want. any. damn. cheese. 

Perhaps great for some, but not for us...

It is really a cute little town. But shit, there is nothing to do. We inquired at the tourism office and we were provided with an $80 itinerary to visit a lake. We admitted to ourselves that we would just be doing it to pass the time and so we declined the offer. Waiting around for the only departing bus which was sometime in the evening, we wondered what the hell we were thinking going so far out of our way to visit a very typical Peruvian town. We could tell that quality of life was great for the people living there which is wonderful, but perhaps it's not the place for a couple of vegan Australians. 

At least the museum was fascinating...