Ayacucho. Take 2.

Finally, here is my blog about Ayacucho over Easter. I guess time flies when you’re thinking about having fun but living in Lima?

Well, on April 8th the roommates and I ventured to on an 11 hour bus-ride to Ayacucho. The only plans we made ahead of time were…oh that’s right, the bus ticket. Not knowing what we were going to be doing or where we were staying, we arrived in Ayacucho. There we met 3 Peruvians from the PUCP who offered to put us up in an elementary school for free only 5 minutes from the plaza. Maybe the three nicest guys we’ve met in Peru thus far.

Now for the highlights since this could get lengthy otherwise….

Intro to Ayacucho:
--There are 33 main churches in this town, one for each year of Jesus's life.
--It is the second biggest celebration in the world only after the one in Spain.

So a big deal, right? Yeah, it is. Come along with me and I’ll tell you more.

To start our adventure, we went to two different ferias. These are basically like fairs in the US with lots of food, games, selling of hand-made crafts, and animal slaughtering. The usual. Actually, this was the first time I’ve seen a live animal slaughtered with such indifference only feet from a Ferris wheel. Thanks Peru for that image.

Next, we move on to the procession. To start this joyous occasion they make “carpets” out of ground-up flower petals on the road surrounding the sidewalk. See beautiful image below.


Then, from a church just blocks from the plaza starts the procession of a porcelain Jesus in a glass box. Everyone brings candles, it’s special.Next day, we find ourselves at the Pascuatoro which is Ayacucho’s version of running of the bulls in which a large crowd (wearing matching red t-shirts) chases a series a bulls to the plaza. In the plaza you will find the streets crowded with people just looking to have a good time. They’re building human pyramids, drinking Heineken (I know, I like their style too!) and chanting for people in the balconies above to throw water or beer on them. Note they did. The initial entrance to the plaza area resembles that of Camp Randall and the dancing, singing, drunks wearing red made me feel at home. Pure magic.

Now because we‘re rock stars, we remained in the plaza all day and night to wait for the last procession in the wee hours of the morning. While we waited until 6am in the freezing cold rain, there were fireworks on towers of bamboo. While I’m sure this would not be all fine and dandy in the States, people crowded around the exploding towers and danced and chanted merrily like any good Christian waiting for Jesus to rise again should. After the amazing show of fireworks, the towers are taken down in record time and bonfires are made in the streets. Around daybreak in the pouring rain, we huddled together to watch 300 men carrying the biggest pyramid of candles you have ever seen. With Jesus on top, they proceed around the plaza and back to the church. So worth every moment of hypothermia.

Attempt to update my blog after Ayacucho, take one

Here we go. I’m still working on the blog about the events in Ayacucho but I thought I’d break it up and start you with some foods I’ve tried. I’ll hopefully post the second addition of this bad boy this following week once I catch up on some readings for school. Enjoy!

Foods tried:

Alpaca - Um, it's meat. Not sure what to say..it was really good?

Ceviche: Raw fish with lime juice and onions. Basically amazing.

Puca picante - noodles, rice, chicken with aji, red potatoes. Actually really good. It took me until after I finished eating to realize the red potatoes weren’t TOmatoes. I have learned not to question what I eat anymore.
Pachamanca - they dig a hole in the ground and use hot stones to create a huatia - a type of oven. Then they throw in marinated chicken, green lima beans, sweet potatoes, and corn. VERY GOOD!

Cuy - Yes, I finally tried guinea pig. Now don’t go running out to your local pet shop to try one. Not worth it. Tastes like chicken, kind of dry. Note: it is served with the head and feet. I played with them. It was funny…and kind of morbid. You see, I was playing with live ones the day before.

Ponche - hot drink made of milk with a variety of spices. Add a little alcohol (as one man Katie and I met on our last night did) and you have yourself a nice nightcap. It also comes in the form of ice cream which is also amazing. The last day the town was empty but there was a line of women selling this hand-made ice cream and it was almost gone before Katie and I got there. It could’ve been a sad day.

Mazamorra lipta - well you can find just about any kind of mazamorra (made from purple corn) around here. Steer clear from the mazamorra morada. Seems like a harmless purple jelly (served hot) but it is basically potpourri in disguise. Served from a bag, the lipta form is brown and is meant to be eaten for breakfast. I would equate it to creamed wheat…but from corn. Interesting at room temp, probably won’t eat it again.

Pollo a la brasa - just really good chicken served with French fries and a salad.

Algodon dulce - of course you can’t get excited for Semana Santa without some cotton candy!

Candy apples - red, caramel, green, white yogurt. There are carts of candy apples in the streets and young and old alike enjoy them.

Palomitas dulce - I equate these to sweet popcorn with the texture of Smacks (the cereal) they are addicting and oh so hard to find in Lima but there are big bags of the stuff in Ayacucho. Heaven!

Foods yet to try:

Mondongo - intestines. Yum.
Anticucho - heart of chicken, cow….basically anything.
Pan de Sangre - a bread, evidently black, that is made with blood.

As you can see I have an issue with eating the insides of things. I realize this is a weakness that someday I should get over but not today. Probably not this month.


Fun fact: While most after-dinner mints are wintergreen or spearmint or even different candy flavors, Peru has a whole different idea of how to freshen your breath. Introducing: HALLS MINTS, the new fresh maker. Although it doesn’t appear that anybody has a cough due to cold, that doesn’t mean you don’t need a menthol from time to time. We were lucky enough to try a Halls with the flavor of morada…so a purple mint that not only has the first hint of potpourri but also an aftertaste of a lozenge. Delish!

Great day to be forever remembered in our minds...

So last night my roommates and I went to el Parque de la Reserva which is a park that holds the Guinness World Record for the most fountains in one area. Every size, every shape of fountain you could imagine and they were all illuminated in beautiful lights with music playing every few feet. Very romantic, lots of public display of affection.

Afterwards, we went to a small cafe for another exchange student's birthday and had a great time. Nothing like sipping on some cheap red wine in a laid-back gringo cafe.

Today, Katie and I decided to venture to Chilca to bath in the mudbaths (barro) with so-called healing powers. We had a great date...I mean time just wandering through the cities trying to find these baths. One moto-taxi ride later, we found them and it only costs 1 sole to enter. Love Peru! In the middle of a tiny town is a sulfur/salt lake that is the most brilliant green color (Winnebago has nothing on this lake) and it was surrounded by whirlpool-sized pits of mud. After lathering up, we dried in the hot sun before dipping in the lake to clean ourselves. We smelled awful after we returned to Lima and our skin was covered in salt but one hot shower later and our skin is quite smooth.


NOW, LISTEN UP ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT CAMERAS. I took pictures of all the aforementioned events and they were pretty spectacular. Sometime during our mud-monster adventure my camera either deleted all my pictures on accident or had some fatal error. If anybody can tell me how to get these pictures back, if there is any hope PLEASE let me know as soon as possible. I realize this is not the end of the world and we all have the memories in our minds to keep forever but I would still love to have those pictures back. If push comes to shove we'll have to have another spa day...not a big deal.

Weekend trip

Notice the gap between posts? Yup, I told you school would start to get in the way of the important things on this trip...

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Luckily we managed to find time for a little fun between the mass readings and our very first paper (done, yay!). This past weekend we hopped on a non air-conditioned bus through the desert to Ica, Peru. From there we jumped over to Pisco to spend the night thinking that this town would have more to offer us than Ica Not....so...much. Two years ago Pisco was devastated by an earthquake and even with the help of volunteers the town has yet to recover. Something tells me it would be quite different in the United States.

After spending the night in a very basic hostel we went to the Islas Ballestas. I can sum this up in 5 words: boat, island, seals, biiiirds, guano. There, now you know what they were like. I also attached pictures from facebook so you can get the FULL effect.

Afterwards, we traveled to Huacachina where we dominated at sandboarding. Tearing through the desert in a dunebuggy is basically the most fun you can have. Again, see pictures. Even when I look back I'm jealous, of myself.

The next day we went to back to Ica for wine and pisco tasting at a couple of the local bodegas. We went around to the various stages of the pisco and wine process and eventually arrived to the tasting part - least complicated part for me. The wine made in Peru is very sweet and not completely my style but wine nonetheless. Then there is pisco. How can I explain pisco effectively? Oh, ok. Go into the garage. Find the lighter fluid. Now, don't chug it all at once or you'll burn your mouth. Put it on the tip of your tongue first just so all your taste buds DIE. Then chug it. Unlike the other girls, I actually tried every sample I was offered. Like a champ.


Food section: Today....oh today. After class Laura, Katie, and I went to a restaurant only a few blocks from our house. Free chicha morada (purple drank made from corn), endless hospitality, very cheap. All is well. So for 7.5 soles I got a free drink, soup, and a large plate of noodles with chicken. The soup was chicken soup. More specifically, chicken noodle soup. However, not the parts of the chicken you normally would expect. As I sifted through the contents I found the liver, heart, and lungs of the chicken. Mmhmm. Num num. Note: I DID NOT eat those parts, I just found every noodle and moved on. However, I will have to overcome this fear of eating organs if I ever want to try to local dish called anticucho. Cow heart. I guess when in Peru...if I get drunk enough.

While that wasn't exactly what I am into, dinner at the house yielded a very pleasant surprise. Our host mom made ice cream from lúcuma. SHE MADE IT POR MANO! Lúcuma is a type of fruit that is hard to explain but it is very dry and doesn't taste that great but add some sugar and milk and it tastes just like butterscotch. Come to think of it, I don't know what butterscotch is made of so maybe it is lúcuma...and if it isn't, it should be.


Coming up: This Saturday we're going to the mud baths in Chilca which is kind of amazing. I hear the aliens made them and they have some kind of healing power, so there's that. Then next week is Semana Santa so we're traveling 8 hours in a bus to Ayacucho which has the second biggest Catholic procession in the world. SO excited.