This past weekend was one of the first weekends since returning from Panama that I had free and that the boys would not be in Ciudad for the weekend due to the presidential elections that took place on the 6th.
(I realize it has been more than a week since returning from Panama, so a quick update on some other happenings is: I ran my first half marathon--big success!, the staff at Ciudad went on a retreat all together which was very fruitful) I´ll be adding an update on daily happenings later this week...at least that´s the plan!
So instead of sitting on my bum for the 4 day weekend, which would have been a welcome change, Rachel (an english volunteer here at Ciudad) and I decided to head up to Ayacucho, which is in the central highlands of Peru.
It was a very quick (2 days), but well worth while trip. Ayacucho was the home of the Sendero Luminoso (Shinining Path), the terrorist group, that basically ruled the country in the 1980s and 90s. It is now alive and well again after the Sendero Luminoso was defeated, and it is an extremely charming city.
Rachel and I left on Friday evening after the boys left for the long weekend (long because they normally are only gone for 24 hours), and arrived in Ayacucho on Saturday AM. We found a nice little hostel that was close to the market, unloaded and then started our sightseeing adventure. The first stop before anything else was breakfast! Ayacucho is famous for it´s breads and cheese. So I had a pan con queso and chocolate for breakfast and the rumors were true. The bread is very delicious.
We then walked around for a while trying to find a museum that was supposedly open, and upon finding that it was still not open, we headed to the Plaza de Armas and found the tourist info center. There we found out that basically all (3) museums would be closed for the weekend....bummer....and that we would only be able to get into the churches during Mass times. Ayacucho has a little over 33 churches; they only claim 33, one for each year of Christ´s life. And guess what....almost all the Mass times were the same, not to mention, that elections being on Sunday meant that morning Mass would not be at 10am as normal or later, it would be earlier so as to avoid having Mass during voting hours. Dios Mio! We were planning on packing in everything we possibly could on Saturday, knowing that on Sunday everything would be shut down because of elections.
The tourist info center did recommend us to go to a neighbooring town called Quinua and walk around there and then walk to the Pampa de Ayacucho were one of the deciding battles for independence against the Spanish was fought, and if there was still time to visit some pre-Incan ruins left by the Wari civilization. The short hike up to the monument of the battle was a tad hard because of the altitude, but it was an even better view of the surrounding area. Once back in Quinua we had some lunch, Puca picante, a traditional ayacuhan meal, a stew of tomatoes, peanuts, spices and potatoes, served with rice and chicharron (fried pig). It was surprisingly sweet and not at all spicy even though the name suggests as much.
The Wari ruins were interesting, there were maybe 4 signs all together throughout the whole complex explaining what everything was, so it was not at all helpful. We didn´t really know what we were looking at, but it was amazing to think that it has been there since somewhere between 500-1000AD. And it was right in the middle of what you could call a cactus forest, and mountains surrounding everything, which made it that much better!
We then headed back to Ayacucho late afternoon, got some (lucuma) ice cream on the walk to buy our return bus tickets and finding one of the 33 churches (specifically either the cathedral or another one with a supposedly awesome altar) for evening Mass. The cathedral was open, and we went into find that Eucharistic Adoration was going on, it was wonderful surprise, found out the time of morning Mass and then continued on to find Iglesia Santa Teresa which was said to have an altar studded in sea shells. After waiting a good long time for Mass to start at 6pm, we went in to find no sea shells on the altar...unless we are blind. We didn´t see any, only another beautiful spanish baroque altar. Dinner was pizza (very peruvian :-P) and then sitting out in the plaza for a while. We woke up early on Sunday, not only to make it to 7am Mass, but also to walk around on the empty streets. If just sitting around the plaza at night was a time machine, walking around basically empty streets before anyone else was up, no taxis out, it was quite magical. Fresh air and still surroundings during the first rays of sun in a mountainous region cannot be beaten.
After Mass and the rest of Sunday was filled with walking around and trying to find something to do other than eat more bread, cheese or ice cream. We headed up a hike to a mirador (look-out), which our tour book said took 1hr, it didn´t take that long, it was about a 20 minute hike up a lot of stairs. The view was nice, but Saturday had a much nicer view. We then wandered around other parts of Ayacucho that we hadn´t explored yet, wasting away election day waiting for our 9pm bus to leave.
Lunch was a menu with Mondongo for the soup, another Ayacuchan specialty with cow intestine in it among other things. It wasn´t too bad, and then I had another go at Puca picante to see if it was any different. This time around it had a slight kick to it, but my lips were not burning from heat. It was a yummy lunch, followed by naps in the plaza de armas, and then some more walking.
Once it started getting dark we decided to have a coffee and wait inside a while to see all that was going on with elections. We made it inside the cafe just in time to see a huge crowd go by shouting cries for Ollanta Humala. And then another group, and then another, and then riot police go by. And then they went by walking the other way, and then the powe went out!
Our waitress brought us a candle for our table and then the celebrations started because it was announced that Ollanta Humala won the elections. He is extremely popular with Ayacuhans, so it was a big celebration and most people seemed very excited. We shall see how the economy does with Humala in the presidency, time will only tell. Rachel and I were thankful that Humala did win at that moment becasue if he hadn´t the riot police might have had to do some real work; that´s how supportive they were/are for Humala. So we finished up our dinner at the cafe and headed back home to Lima, saying good bye to Ayacucho light up again with a good amount of bread in our bags to share with everybody back in Lima.
What I´ve Learned:
- Ayacucho is quaint and pretty without fast food until you need a convenient bathroom location
- They really know how to make bread in Ayacucho...soooo yummy
- It doesn´t matter if I ran a half marathon, being at almost 3000m above sea level, I still struggled to make it up a flight of stairs
- It was a gift to be able to get out of Lima, get some fresh air and be able to come back a little re-energized for the next couple of weeks
- The boys now think that with Ollanta Humala winning the elections (he´s a nationalist) that he´s going to personally come and kick me out of the country because I´m American.
As always, I am grateful for all the thoughts and prayers that are coming my way, I am keeping you all in my thoughts. I miss you all!
Un abrazo,
Jeanette
ps. If you want to read Rachel´s blog post about Ayacucho her blog site is: http://rachelandperu.blogspot.com
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