How to get from Huancayo to Huancavelica and Pisco or Paracas

Michael Kluckner, 2017

There are many bus lines in Peru that you can't find on the Internet, and travel agencies and advice (in either Spanish or English) are very difficult to locate in small towns; often, the biggest challenge is just finding a bus depot. Cruz del Sur is the biggest and most luxurious of the companies – we took its bus from Lima to Jauja; its Lima terminus is on Javier Prado Este, quite convenient to Miraflores where we were staying. However, there are a number of alternatives you will need to use if you go off the main Lima – Cusco tourist and commerce route. Similarly, the PeruBus service from the centre of Paracas to Lima had a better schedule for us than Cruz del Sur.

Note this: if you're going to do this kind of travelling, you're best to have only a small bag (carry-on size or less) in order to get it on the collectivo (mini-bus) with you. Otherwise, you're stuck with bigger buses and you travel more "in the bubble" than with the local people, plus having security concerns about your luggage stowed below etc. etc. It's hard to mistake the destinations of the collectivos, even the ones that have a jumble of signs attached – the driver or assistant calls out, say, "Huancayo! Huancayo!" while going slowly through a town. They will stop anywhere and try to fill up with passengers before setting off.

Also note: this is a cash economy – don't expect to use the credit tarjeta. Both collectivo and bus transportation are very cheap by North American standards.

From Huancayo: we were staying on the other side of the river from Centro and got advice to take a taxi to Av. Ferrocarrill y Av. Huanuco, where the collectivos congregated and where our collectivo had dropped us off when we arrived in Huancayo from Concepcion. But, en route, the taxi driver asked whether we wanted el bus (the real bus) and then took us about two blocks further south, which turned out to be the terminus for the Ticllas bus company near the corner of Ferrocarrill and Angaraes. Probably safer, we thought ....

Buses go about every hour and are cheap, about 15 soles ($US 5) for the 4 hour journey.

It is a very vertiginous road with numerous hairpin turns to Huancavelica (Chew coca leaves! Drink maté coca tea!). Ticllas's terminus is at the east end of Huancavelica; we cabbed it for about 10 soles into the centre and stayed at the Hotel Illariy, which was spare but convenient, and wandered around the various plazas.

There were buses (2 companies, I recall) that had a regularly scheduled departure at about 7 each evening from Huancavelica for the coast at Pisco, which we rejected for two reasons – we didn't want to travel after dark and miss the scenery, and we would be dumped in reputedly dangerous Pisco at 3 a.m.!

Early the following morning we found a collectivo company on the south side of the main street just east of the Plaza Santa Ana that seemed about as legit as anything there, and bought tickets for 65 soles each ($US 18 or so) for the run that left at 10 o'clock.

(On the sign: San Clemente is the highway junction at the coast; Paracas turned out to be an easy taxi ride from there.)

Waiting for departure...

There were five of us in a Kia with a very sensible, middle-aged driver on the 4 hour run to Castrovirrenya.

Results of the previous night's rainstorm washing across the road...

At Castrovirrenya, we waited a half hour for a different vehicle, which turned out to be a Toyota Hi-Ace packed with seats; it ran all the way back to Lago Chocloco before heading west to the coast. About 6 in the evening we finally arrived at the junction at San Clemente and found a taxi for about 20 soles that took us into Paracas.

So, ultimately, it was no sweat. The roads were pretty dangerous, with snow on some stretches, plus rockfalls and minor washouts, but the drivers were sensible and didn't take crazy chances. Obviously, it makes a lot of sense to stay fairly dehydrated for the day.

My artwork is in the main article linked above. Christine's photos are on her blog.