This weekend was a very interesting one. I think 22 or 23 of us took a trip to Ayacucho, a city southeast of Lima in the mountains. We left at 9:30 at night on Wednesday and got there around 7:30 am Thursday - it was a very bumpy and curvy 10 hour bus ride. (Megan, I can just hear you saying "ohhhh I'm SOOO car sick) Since it was Semana Santa, or Holy Week, everyone had Thursday and Friday off of school, allowing us an extra long traveling weekend. We picked Ayacucho because it's the most famous place in Peru during Semana Santa - they have crazy celebrations and festivities all weekend so we had to see what it was all about!
A friend of a friend, Isaac, used to have a house in Ayacucho with his family but when they moved out into the country they decided to turn it into an elementary school. This means we got to stay all weekend in a little school, free of charge! There were no beds but Kalli and I bought a blow up air mattress to share for the weekend - other people just used sleeping bags on the tile floor.
Our little classroom full of travelers
A few of us in the group!
After relaxing and unpacking a little bit on Thursday, we took an hour van ride to a smaller town called Huanta. We waited out a rain storm before taking a hike to a beautiful waterfall!
Driving to Huanta
Pretty sky :)
Little piggies we found on the walk to the waterfall
Group photo
David and I
A couple of people went "swimming" through the waterfall - not me, though!
Cute Peruvian girls in Huanta
On Thursday night we had a bonfire on top of the school and invited our other international friends that were also staying in Cusco. I was testing out my night settings on my camera to try to take a picture of the bajillion stars but it only kind of worked.
Ayacucho at night (from the rooftop of the school)
Fogata (bonfire)
Moon
My camera died on Friday so I have no pictures to document the crucification of Jesus... Townspeople of Ayacucho acted out the entire scene, including a man playing Jesus who carried his cross up the side of the mountain while everyone followed. It was unlike anything I've seen before! After watching the entire reenactment, we went to a "fair" in Ayacucho. It was kind of similar to fairs in the US because of the games, rides, craft sales, music stage, and beer. Just different because of the alpaca rides, live Andean folkloric music, and different animal body parts being sold. I was having a great time until Keeley realized her wallet had been taken out of her purse while waiting in line to buy food. What a horrible thing to be robbed - I should know! She called her dad right away to cancel her cards and luckily no charges were made... but it still sucks having your money and IDs and all of your wallet contents stolen. We went home after that to rest a little before going to the procession. This was in the central square, or Plaza de Armas, where a ton of people crowded around all four sides of the plaza to watch a fake dead Jesus be carried around in a crystal coffin covered in flowers. People were crying and lighting candles and it seemed as if everyone was on their best Christian behavior - until we realized that Kris and Kalli had both been pick-pocketed in the crowd of people. Kalli just had money taken from her zipped pocket, while Kris had his whole wallet and small video camera taken out of his zipped chest pocket. It's unbelievable - three robberies in one day. I understand it could happen anywhere, but really, Ayacucho? We come to your town to observe your cultural celebrations and all you do is rob us. Ughhh so frustrating! Trying to keep our hopes up, we went out to dinner at a local place where Kalli got to blow out a candle and have a glass of wine for her 21st birthday (yes, she got robbed on her birthday). We were pretty tired after the day's depressing events so we went to bed early on Friday.
Saturday was a veryyy interesting day. There is something every year called "the running of the bulls" where they literally let one bull at a time run around the streets (while everyone is wearing red) and you just have to run from it. I've never literally ran for my life. Andre, Kalli, Rebecca, Kris, Keeley, and I were all waiting for this bull to come out from behind a closed gate. I thought it would be on a leash or SOMETHING because nobody looked panicked and people even had little kids there. Then all of a sudden everyone was screaming and I got pushed into a sunglasses cart. Kris got pushed into a motorcycle. A nun pushed Kalli behind a pole when she was a few feet away from the horns of the bull. Then the bull ran all the way up to the central square, chasing everyone away in it's path! I didn't really understand why everyone has so much fun with this tradition. It was so scary! After the first one we found a safe spot by the food stands and the marching band and watched from a distance as a new bucking bull was released from the gate every five minutes. Crazy!!
Andre, Kalli, Rebecca, Kris, and I - all happy before the first bull release
After relaxing in the sun and having lunch, the bulls were finally all gone. We walked up to the central plaza to find something sort of like the Mifflin Street Block Party, Peruvian style. Crowds of people covered every inch of the plaza, drinking beers, making human pyramids, throwing people up in the air, and getting sprayed with water from a firetruck. It was a very fun afternoon!
Walking up to the central plaza
One of the four streets of the central square - see the human pyramid and the firetruck?
Battle wound after falling from a pyramid
A couple of us enjoying the fiesta!
Cute Peruvian baby that survived the running of the bulls...
Semana Santa
A couple people left early on Sunday morning, but I had a bus ticket for 9 pm so I had another full day in Ayacucho. Some of the remaining people took a van ride to a city called Quinoa, where the battle of Ayacuho was (for Peru's independence). There were a lot of artesian crafts being sold there, as well as horse rides (which I didn't do this time) and hiking paths. I could tell that the town was really poor - every few minutes a little boy would come up to me telling me he could describe the battle of Ayacucho for a couple of soles... or a group of little girls would come offer to sing to me for money. Four of us hiked to another waterfall, just because I love waterfalls so much!
Horses
Monument to the battle of Ayacucho
Kristina, me, and Vera in Quinoa
Vendors
Hiking to the waterfall
Gotta love those mountains :)
Me at the waterfall in Quinoa
Although I liked Ayacucho, it wasn't my favorite place I've visited in Peru. Probably because of the robberies, crowdedness, and the difficulties of traveling with a huge group. Also, the 10 hour bus ride sitting next to a smelly man wasn't the most fun after sleeping on an air mattress all weekend and being so tired! I had never been so happy to see Kusi Wasi. But overall, it was a good experience!
Now that I've done trips to the mountains three weeks in a row, I think I'll start traveling to the north for some beach time. Next week is "midterms" and since I don't have an exams I basically have a week off of school! Currently planning my next adventure... :)
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