Not more than ten hours drive from Lima and I was in a different world to the busy and grimy city I had left behind me. With the thin mountain air demanding deep breaths and the 1am cold working its way through several layers of clothing I stepped out of our hired combi and onto the cobbled streets of Huancaya.

Still within the Lima region, Huancaya is a tiny settlement tucked away in the central Andes. A land of puna grasslands, stark valleys and, its most famous attraction, stunning cascades of thundering water as the Río Cañete pours its way from the snowcapped mountains towards the Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometres downstream.

Photograph: Your Peru Guide 2010

The falls outside of Huancaya are particularly impressive. The river broadens out and forms a series of steps, ordered almost as though they’d been deliberately carved by the forces of erosion over the millennia. A long and ancient stone bridge crosses the falls and leads towards an ancient trail that follows the valley upstream and into the mountains.

Photograph: Your Peru Guide 2010

As the valley levels off the river begins to flow more calmly, occasionally welling up to form lagoons and lakes of various sizes. Some no more than small pools, others as large as vast man-made reservoirs.

Photograph: Your Peru Guide 2010

The river picks up pace again as the trail leads to another small settlement that dates to pre-Inca times, Vilca.

Photograph: Your Peru Guide 2010

Even up in the mountains, the upcoming elections are never far from sight. This young campaigner uses her horse to reach voters living away from paved roads.

Photograph: Your Peru Guide 2010

The falls at Vilca are as impressive as those at Huancaya, drawing crowds of bathers from the surrounding communities and travellers come to spend a weekend away from Lima. This local woman in traditional headwear watches day trippers enjoying the ice cold waters on a sun-baked day.

Photograph: Your Peru Guide 2010

Locals compare election fliers. It’s not yet clear who the horses are voting for.

Photograph: Your Peru Guide 2010

Following the trail back down to Huancaya, the river is peppered with occasional falls hidden by the steep valley. The falls are spectacular enough to warrant clambering down the hillsides to get a closer look.

Photograph: Your Peru Guide 2010

In Huancaya, the village’s sole evening entertainment is the nightly community bonfire. Youngsters strum old Andean songs on modern guitars and their sisters sing along. The crowd passes around bottles of a warm cocktail, Calientito; a potent mix of pisco, syrup and honey.

Photograph: Your Peru Guide 2010

The people of Tupe speak a unique language, distantly connected to Aymara, and no relation to either Quechua or Spanish. The existence of this foreign language (mostly spoken in Bolivia) is an ancient throwback to the Inca system of moving populations around their empire to prevent any ethnic group becoming settled and powerful.

Getting to Huancaya requires a 10 hour drive from Lima, either booked with a local tour operator or on public transport. Buses leave every Saturday from the San Juan de Yauyos terminal in San Luis (4pm) or the Bus Reyes terminal in La Victoria (6:30pm).

There are plenty of basic hostels and hospedajes in Huancaya, cold water and large shared rooms are the norm, but all will serve good, hot food and are guaranteed to offer friendly, local service.