Rest Day - Ayacucho

I found out last night, that our little group has been given the nickname "Team Tourist". Not too sure who came up with it and I am not sure whether it was intended to be a derogatory title or not but either way it's a name we've accepted with a typical Aussie Larrikin attitude of indifference..... No actually I take that back, we're actually reveling in it!

As a consequence, Carmen, Julia and myself took to the streets of Ayacucho this morning to see what baggage friendly trinkets we could acquire, as well as to see all the sights that the town had to offer... Whilst I was busy locating some wonderful fabric, which I'll use on the back of my couch or potentially have made into a doona cover, Carmen was busy....

Finding out about a women's collective, who spun Alpaca wool and then knitted it up in all manner of designs, for sale to a large organisation for distribution / resale overseas. Now whilst I'm not too sure how, she managed to obtain the collective's address and then to subsequently talk management into allowing us to visit. Definitely not something they did frequently or otherwise.

Now whilst both my mother and grandmother were very capable & prodigious with a pair of knitting needles, they had nothing on the speed of these ladies! Then again when you are paid by the garment and you are knitting for a living then I suppose that does influence the pace at which you work.... These wonderful women were very friendly & happy to show these gringos what they could do, and I can think of worse places to work. 

Leaving them, we then stumbled across a memorial / museum dedicated to the people of the area who had lost their lives at the hands of the military or The Shining Light, a Communist orientated political party that turned to guerrilla army like behaviour. 

It would seem that throughout the 1980s, as The Shining Light grew in influence, particularly in many of the impoverished and neglected Andean regions near Ayacucho, the government responded by granting the military the power to arbitrarily detain any suspicious person, something which they subsequently abused, arresting scores of innocent people, at times subjecting them to torture during interrogation & rape. 

It was a very sobering experience and left the three of us feeling very grateful for our upbringings!

Needing to see / enjoy something a bit uplifting we all decided to headed back to the hotel, wherein I offloaded my purchase, as did Julia who'd found a couple of ornamental clay statues... and then headed out to Plaza de Armas (Main City Square) figuring that we'd probably find some restaurants nearby where we could grab a bite to eat and decide, where to from there....

Sure enough we came across a wonderful, but somewhat tourist oriented restaurant which dished up some wonderful meals, provided Jules & I an opportunity to imbibe in a Scottish Coffee (IE: a coffee with a shot of Baileys) whilst watching the hustle and bustle occuring all around the main square.... 

Having spied an interesting facade from our vantage spot, once finished we decided to wander over to Catedral Basílica Santa María, something the Spanish Catholic Church had purportedly constructed between 1632 and 1672.

It is seemingly considered to be one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Peru, with it's interior decorated in a fashion called "Churrigueresque". It was apparently declared a Peruvian Historic Cultural Heritage in 1972 and is definitely different, and worthy of a visit if you are in the area.