Ayacucho, Peru

Our stay in Ayacucho has been wonderful. We came to Ayacucho not knowing too much about the city except its strong connection with the violence in the 80s and 90s and that it would put us one step closer to Cusco. We were lucky enough to notice a poster for a Choclo festival. Choclo is a type of corn that we have grown to love here. When we saw this poster we knew that we had to go to the festival. So yesterday (Sunday 22nd), we hopped on a packed combi and headed to a small town about an hour away from Ayacucho. Combis are small bus-vans. They have about four rows of seats (including the driver´s row) and they seem to fit about sixteen to twenty people inside. There is no legroom, you are lucky to get a window seat and even luckier if the window actually opens. SOMEHOW we have grown to love this way of transportation for small side trips and we use them more and more often as we travel around Peru. It is helpful that everyone else in the combi is in the exact same position as yourself and friendly.

Anyways, we arrived at the Choclo festival and immediately began our tour of the grounds. Tents were setup by the Choclo growers and judges were inspecting the choclo. We were in heaven when we reached the section of tents where they were selling all sorts of choclo-based goodies. We tried choclo bread, choclo cake, choclo picante (spicy) and a choclo casserole. We also got to try some Chicha - a local drink that is make of seven different types of seeds. We found a great spot on the hillside overlooking the tents a stage where they presented the ´largest humita in the world.´ A Peruvian family (consisting of baby, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother) invited us to sit with them, take a picture with them and even let Heather hold their adorable baby! Our rest on the hillside allowed us to prepare ourselves for a ´patchamanca.´ The patchamanca consits of potatoes, pork, humitas and peas that are all cooked together in an inground earthen stove. We were wise to split the patchamanca between the three of us because it was huge!

Our entire experience of the Choclo festival, the combi rides and the tasty treats was truly the best Peruvian culture experience we have had thus far. While there were a few other gringos at the event, I felt like we were enjoying the festival and appreciating the culture with Peruvians. I hope, and believe we will have many more experiences similar to this one.

Today (Monday 23rd) we visited el Museo de la Memoria. The museum is about the violence that engulfed Peru during the 1980s and 1990 but it particularly focused on the violence launched by both the homegrown terrorist group Sendero Luminoso and the Peruvian military. We learned that twenty six thousand people in the Ayacucho region alone died during the violence (beginning in 1980). We read about families whose loved ones disappeared during the time as well as reading accounts of military and Sendero Luminoso attacks on individuals who they believed were supporting the other side. One picture showed a stadium that we recognized as the same stadium where we attending the Choclo festival the day before. This stadium was basically used by the Peruvian military as a torture camp. Then, our tour guide also told us about how a small mall close to our hostal was the setting for some violent attacks by the Sendero Luminoso. Katie and I (Hallye) visited that mall earlier that morning.

Eerie is a word that has come to my mind several times walking around Ayacucho. We were slightly creeped out when we left the museum and it definitely added to the eeriness of the city but at the same time another word that we have used to describe Ayacucho is ´sassy.´ People are friendly, interested and curious to why we are here. The city is buzzing with activity at both day and night. I think this shows (for us), how this city has overcome, or at least working through, its troubled, recent past.

I miss everyone. Love, Hallye