Cerro de Pasco – „off the beaten tracks“

Sometimes you read in a Lonely Planet guide book that a destination is „off the beaten tracks“ - Cerro de Pasco in Peru is well off the beaten tracks. It isn't a tourist destination, but is is worth visiting. In fact, some guide books recomment not staying there – always a good reason to see a place. Maybe I should also write about Rio Turbio, or better more than just two sentences [1].

Cerro de Pasco is a mining town. The city lies in a a semi-circle around two large, deep holes. Silver had been discovered as early as 1630 [2] and it still is an active mining town (silver, copper, zinc, lead). It is one of the highest cities in the world with an elevation of 4,330 metres to 4,380 metres. The working conditions must be harsh. And let's not forget environment issues because of lead, cadmium and other heavy metals, much like in La Oroya [3]. The temperature is quite constant all year round of about 3-6° C.

Cerro de Pasco was a stop on the trip from Huaraz to Cuzco (Huaraz – Huanucu – Cerro de Pasco – Huancayo – Ayacucho – Adahualyas – Cuzco), which took a couple of days because of poor road conditions as well as road blocks due to demonstrations (manifestaciones). But we reached Cerro de Pasco only in poor weather conditions, a mixture of rain and snow just above the freezing point. The heating in the small hotel wasn't working, but that wasn't important.

The next day however was blessed by good, sunny weather. You don't have any designated viewing platform for tourists, but looking into the hole in the ground is possible. And to do so you also see the poorer quarters of town. As far as I have seen, both surface (open pit) and underground mining is used.

Just by chance I could watch a funeral march, which reminded me also of funeral marches I had seen in Taiwan. 

 

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2009/04/2006-patagonia-chileargentina.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_de_Pasco
[3] Toxic, more toxic, La Oroya – learning the comparison of pollution https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2013/03/toxic-more-toxic-la-oroya-learning.html – as this blogpost is old as the journey, conditions might or might not have changed both in La oroya and in Cerro de Pasco.

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