Huancavelica - June 19th

Huancavelica is suppossedly the poorest town in Peru, so we were bracing ourselves to meet a rather tough atmosphere.

In actuality, we found it to be a quite pleasant mountain town, albeit freeeeezing.

I´m sure it is a poor town, after all it is a mining town and no one has it worse than the miners around here. My guess is that most of the visible poverty lays in the outskirts of town which we didn´t have time to explore.

And just to prove this point, we encounter a protest of campesino miners marching toward the plaza.

We´ve seen a total of 5 or 6 protest/processions already in our short time here. This leads us to inquire a bit. We find out that the regional elections are fast approaching. Each region has its own president- seemingly more important a role than a Governor, but not exactly sure how. That said, people are a lot more mobilized in terms of local politics here than back home.

Not knowing enough Spanish to really understand the issues, I can´t help but side with the campesinos anyway. No one can really argue that they don´t have something to complain about. The main mine is jointly owned and operated by the Peruvian gov´t and the EU. Somehow, thinking the EU gets a better deal than the campesinos. Besides, love those hats.

These appear to be the only gringos in town.

I venture off to document the arrival of the Tren Macho at Estación Huancavelica.

People think I´m pretty weird. They keep telling me where I can buy tickets and don´t seem to understand why anyone would want to photograph these gritty beasts.

The inside of Tren Macho.

There´s a nice trail up above the tracks full of old rail cars and debris where the campesinos seem to like to spend their time.

I like it up there too.