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Destination Peru:
"Ayacucho: Not just for Semana Santa"

Semana Santa is approaching, and every self-respecting expatriate in Peru either has reservations to go to Ayacucho for Semana Santa or is remembering a past or planning a future trip there during this famous week-long party in the streets of one of Peru's most delightful cities.

Ayacucho is well-known for its remarkable colonial architecture. It was a vital rest stop and trading center half-way between Cuzco and Lima during the Spanish colonial period, when many of the wealthiest traders built a church in hopes of improving their prospects in the afterlife.

Ayacucho, also known by the name of Huamanga, also is the origin of much of Peru's best artisan handcrafts. Best-known is the earthen-tone pottery from Quinua, a small town an hour outside of town, but other fine handcrafts include weaving, retablos, and sculptures carved from the soft, white piedra de huamanga. The city has recently converted it's infamous former prison into a gallery where these handcrafted delights can be viewed and purchased.

Ayacucho's historical heritage extends to the nearby Pampa de Quinua, where the battle was fought in 1824 that finally brought an end to Spanish colonial rule in South America, and on the same road north of town, to the archaeological ruins of Wari, which was the center of one of Peru's earliest known civilizations.

Ayacucho's recent history, of course, has been marred by the violence that was born at the local Universidad Nacional San Cristóbal de Huamanga, where Abimael Guzmán taught in the Department of Education. You will have to look for evidence of this grim recent past, however. The hospitality of the people of Ayacucho will make it difficult to believe that this grim recent past could ever have taken place here. Should you stay at the delightful Hostal Santa Rosa, you will see a monument to the eight journalists of Uchurracay who were tragically massacred in 1982.

Getting there: Ayacucho is 8 hours via the Libertadores highway, which rises from Pisco up trough a spectacular altiplano before descending into Ayacucho at 2,500-meters. If you prefer to fly, check out the occasional flights of the small Peruvian carrier, LC Busre. - JR.

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