Huari

The economy of the province is primarily agricultural, with at least half the population engaged in subsistence horticulture. Crops include potatoes, sweet potatoes, other native tubers, quinoa, maize, wheat, barley, tomatoes, peppers and various vegetables. Many households also raise a few animals, including goats, sheep, pigs, occasionally cattle, guinea pigs (cuy), rabbits, chickens and ducks. Much of the trade in this rural area is conducted through barter.

Huari is connected to the electric grid, and in 2005 some of the surrounding villages were just beginning to be connected.

In the mid-1960s electricity in Huari was generated locally by a small hydroelectric plant, which supplied power from dusk to dawn. Electricity and running water were available to fewer than a hundred businesses, government offices, private residences and the public school, as well as the Diocese of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Huari. Several streets, mostly no wider than four metres, were cobbled and maintained for vehicular traffic.

In fair weather the drive from Huari westward to the Pan-American Highway, reached on the Pacific coast near the town of Comas, took six to eight hours on packed-earth and graveled roads. The Cordillera Blanca was crossed by a one-lane tunnel approximately 800 metres in length, a 5-meter cylindrical tube blasted and cut through rock. From Huari, the city of Huaraz was a journey of about four hours by motor vehicle, and the distance to the ancient town of Recuay was somewhat less.