It was a real pleasure to arrive in Ayacucho after a tough few days on the road. It's at a mere 2,700m, so to us the air felt thick and it was beautifully warm and bright. For most of the eighties and early nineties, the city and surrounding highlands were off-limits to tourists because of the activities of the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), though the horrors are now almost impossible to imagine as you wander around in the sunshine admiring all the colonial architecture, enjoying local hospitality and the excellent ice-cream.
This post is specifically for the benefit of everyone who knows Hazel, a friend of mine who spent three months as a volunteer with an American organisation called Cross-Cultural Solutions (CSS), working at a primary school, a nursery and an orphanage. Hazel arranged for us to meet the co-ordinator of CSS, Marisol, and as a result, we had a very sociable couple of days. We arrived in the city just as the Todos los Santos (All Saints' Day) festival was getting underway - Ayacucho is famous for its festivals throughout the year and so it was good to witness what seemed to be the whole town turn out for a massive street party.
The following day we were supposed to be resting our weary legs but it turned out that Marisol's husband is also a cyclist and he was going out for a ride with a small group so we couldn't resist joining in the fun - especially as it meant the joy of a ride without panniers! It ended up being quite a long 70km day, with a hot but really beautiful pedal up to a village for lunch. Took a while and several litres of Inca Kola to cool off after all that (see photo)!
Then before we parted company with Marisol and her family, she took us to see the results of one of the projects Hazel worked on - the building of a wall and a toilet block at a primary school in a really poor area on the outskirts of Ayacucho. It was great to see what a difference the addition of the most basic facilities can make and Marisol was obviously very proud of all the work that Hazel and the other volunteers had done to make this happen.
Despite its inaccessibility, Ayacucho is clearly growing in importance as a tourist destination - we saw more gringos than any other town since Quito (good preparation for Cuzco, where we will be in a few days' time) but it is still totally unspoilt and is definitely on my list of places to revisit one day.
3 comments:
Brilliant to get your e-mail and to see the entry about Ayacucho! I'm so glad you made it there and managed to meet Marisol and see the wall! If you thought Ayacucho was touristy then brace yourselves for Cuzco!! Hazel xx
Have really enjoyed catching up on your news and adventures! How fantastic to be amongst all those mountains. Sounds like a lot of fun (and a lot of pedalling!!). OUP must feel like a different world ...! Will look forward to reading the next installment on the road south! Take care. Mary x
Ciao Liz, finalmente sono riuscita a entrare nel blog. I posti che vedi mi fanno sognare mentre Loredana piange. Abbiamo sempre appuntamento a Buenos Aires?
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