Last week I spent 5 days in the city of Huancayo, which feels like a different world. Between stuffing my face with chocolate cake and empanadas and pollo a la brasa, I went out to a disco with my co-worker, spent a day at a regional gastronomic festival, climbed the nearby mountain Huaytapallana, planted olluca and mashua in a community field outside the city, and somehow ended up on a date with a pro soccer player.

The whole trip really made me realize how different each part of Peru is. I met a group of guys from Lima on my tour up Huaytapallana. They had no idea that there was such a thing as purple corn - a crop that is very common around Huancayo. Compared to them, I know way more about life in the rural highlands. This also made me realize what a small subset of Americans I really know. My knowledge of agricultural towns in the U.S. stops at what I learned in the Jane Smiley book A Thousand Acres.

Near the top of Huataypallana

Lechon, relaxing in style at the gastronomic festival as they wait to be eaten