Huancavelica to Ayacucho

This was one of the most problematic parts of our journey. It doesn't look so far on the map, but there is no direct connection between Huancavelica and Ayacucho during the day (buses all travel in the middle of night). We almost decided to skip Huancavelica because of the poor connection. After much research online and on the ground, we decided on the Huancavelica-Rumichaca-Ayacucho route, for potential scenery and fewest connections.  Are we glad we did!

There is a daily 4am Huancavelica-Rumichaca bus, which we ruled out.  The day before our departure we stopped by one of the transport companies and left our names, but no money, for a 9am shared taxi.  The whole time I was worried about what if they don't find two more people to share.  When we showed up the office at 8:45am, they were still looking for a 4th person.  Miraculously at 9am we were told to load.  As we were loading, a man showed up to ask about going to Ayacucho.  He was told our car was full.  We had our 4th person already!

The road between Huancavelica-Rumichaca, though unpaved, is a very fine road.  The scenery is best ever.  For most of the three-hour ride, there was snow capped mountains, lakes, camalids.  If I could redo, I'd have hired the whole car for 5 hours to make stops along the way.  Until this point in the trip, we had seen mostly sheep, but along this drive, we passed camalids by the thousands.  Along Lake Choclococha (4605 masl) there were hundreds of pink flamingos?!  I later learned they are a subspecies.  Alas, the ride ended too soon.

We got to Rumichaca around noon.  There was no town, only a crossroad, on the way between Lima and Ayacucho.  The morning buses from Lima to Ayacucho don't normally reach Rumichaca until after 2.  We caught a taxi with another lady after around 45 minutes.  This part of the ride, going over yet another pass, paled in comparison to the first part.

I was very glad to finally reach Ayacucho.  The rest of our trip should be easy sailing.

Heading up and out of the Huancavelica valley.




The dirt unpaved road is muddy after the overnight rains, but that doesn't stop this cyclist.


We wait just few minutes for the road crew to finish some repairs.


The driver was capable and the car sturdy.


Some video of the drive.


Or click this link.



In this section of the road we saw many grazing animals. You can spot a stone corral and some buildings in left-center of this photo.


And there's a dusting of snow as we approach the top of the pass.




More grazing animals.










The driver stopped near the top of the pass so I could take a few pics. There's a lake is the distance.




And Sun-Ling took this panorama of me.


Sheep.


High altitude wetlands. Very cool.


Lake.


There are flamingos on the near shoreline.


We changed cars at Rumichaca and it's up over another pass.




And we see Ayacucho spread out below. The airport runway is at center, pointing to the left.