Sunday 29/04
The night was ok except for Jules who still suffers from the altitude sickness (we are now at 3250m). Isabelle gave him half a Panadol during the night and I give him the other half when I wake up, around 7am.
It’s market day today in Huancayo! Huancayo is one of Peru’s most interesting city markets.
We take a good breakfast at the hostel (bread with jam, small fruit salad and even some avocado).
We leave around 9am. We first visit the local market, Mercado Mayorista, which is very active and lively. It’s great; there are no tourist and stallholders are very friendly. Today (Sunday) is the most important day. Ludivine’s feet hurt.
We take a taxi to the Sunday artisanal market (Feria Dominical), a little bit further. It’s a very long market(1km), along Avenida Huancavelica. It offers weavings, textiles, embroidered items, ceramics and wood carvings, among others. There’s a nice atmosphere; it’s not too crowded. Kids like the market. Jules feels much better today.
Around 12:30pm we go and have lunch in ‘Café Coqui’. Nothing special: salads, hamburgers and “wanga” for Isabelle.
We take a taxi (always around 3-4 soles) to go back to the hostel. Isabelle takes a nap while kids play on their devices (although the internet is not great) and I work on our trip in Peru (still a lot to book: return flight Cuzco – Puerto Maldonado, flight Cuzco – Lima, Airbnb in Cuzco for the last 5 days in Cuzco, Airbnb in Lima for the last week in Peru…). We also have to take care of finding a new tenant for our apartment in Brussels (and it’s also nearly time to start investigating about finding a house in Brussels).
I go back to town to try to find something to eat for tonight but I miss inspiration and the only thing that I can think of are instant noodles that I buy in the supermarket of the new central shopping mall. I also walk in the streets of the market but it’s not as animated as this morning.
I come back around 4:30pm and I continue to work on my laptop. I have again 3 weeks of delay in the blog; I haven’t posted for at least 2 weeks…
We eat our instant noodles early (around 7pm).
There’s no water in the hostel since early afternoon. Lucho comes but can’t fix it. I’m happy to see him since I have a few questions for him regarding our programme of the next 2 days. I indeed want to go and visit a few market villages whose weekly market day is either on Monday or on Tuesday but I don’t really know how to reach there. He explained to me.
We need to adapt our rhythm to Peru: sun rises at 6am and sets at 6pm; moreover, the good weather is apparently more often in the morning (the rain usually comes around 4pm). Lights extinction at 8:45pm tonight.
I work till 10pm.
