Huancayo

Thursday (May 22) morning we made our way back to Huancayo, and then that day we split into teams of two. Chelsea and I stayed in Huancayo while Cam and Carly headed out to Tarma, about two hours north. And the work continued. Things went really well for us in Huancayo, and we got a good deal done very quickly. Also, our professor Roger Dixon arrived Thursday and was with us for about two days. He accompanied us while we surveyed and interviewed people on Friday afternoon, and was able to make it to a focus group the next morning as well.

We nearly finished by Saturday around noon, so we took the rest of the day to rest and went and did some shopping in a nearby artisan market. I got a beanie and gloves with llamas on them! Also, a nice colorful scarf. Monday we coordinated with the PRISMA director of the Huancayo area, and were able to finish everyone we needed that evening. Probably the most interesting experience we had here was eating guinea pig on Sunday... One of the women that we interviewed asked us to come eat dinner at her house, so we did. She had a small farm and raised, among other things, cuy (guinea pigs). It tasted a bit like rabbit, which I had occasionally in Spain in paellas.

Also, we made good friends with a taxi driver, because we used him 4 days in a row, and some of the trips were several hours. I told him he was officially a PRISMA expert, or at least an expert at looking for people that are difficult to find! We did a few more interviews on Monday evening, after we had spent the afternoon in the next city, Jauja, getting a jump start there. Overall, things went fairly smoothly and we learned a good deal. Here's a photo of some landscape of the Valle de Mantaro, where Huancayo is situated.