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Tarma - 2005-07-Tarma
This is our trip from the coast of Lima to the Andes town of Tarma. The route more or less passes through the towns of Chosica, San Meteo, La Oroya, and then arrives in Tarma. Obviously the Andes landscape is much different than the coastal desert of Lima. Using this route, we drove from sea level to about 15,806 feet (4818 meters) in about three hours. In comparison, the highest mountain in the continental United States (Mt. Whitney, CA) is at 14,495 ft. This mountain pass (Anticona) is where the highest railroad point in the world is located. There's pictures of glaciers, spectacular mountains, terraced slopes, very winding roads, and many other things. In a little town outside of Tarma, we were able to catch farmed trout and eat them about 20 minutes later, fresh! Tarma is known as the "Pearl of the Andes" and is well known for producing many varieties of flowers and for having blue skies and plenty of sunshine. Tarma was founded in 1538 and itself is at an altitude of 10,006 feet. Tarma is about 5 or 6 hours from Lima.