Ayacucho is one of the great colonial cities of the Andes, a town of about 140,000 people in a high, dry valley at around 2,750 metres, and it has a reputation for churches, crafts and Holy Week processions. The Quechua name is often translated as corner of the dead, and the history of the region is, in some respects, rooted in conflict. In 1824, the Battle of Ayacucho, fought on a high plain nearby, ended Spanish rule in South America, and the region later suffered badly during the internal conflict of the 1980s and 1990s. Today, the city has recovered its calm, and the old centre is a pleasure to walk around.
For a rider, Ayacucho is a major stop on the road between Cusco and Lima. It has fuel, workshops, supermarkets, banks, restaurants and a wide range of hotels, and it is a good place to rest, fill up and repair. The plaza, with its arcades and cathedral, is lively in the evening, and the many small churches, said to number in the dozens, are beautiful. Traffic can be heavy and the streets steep, so ride carefully. Try the puca picante, a stew of potatoes and pork in a peanut and chilli sauce, and a sweet pastry from the market.
The surrounding country is a land of high valleys and steep roads. The road toward Huancavelica climbs out of the Ayacucho basin and across high, cold plateaus, with views over a patchwork of fields and dark ridges. The surface is mostly paved, with occasional damage, and bends are frequent. Fog, hail and rain can come at any time, especially from December to March, and nights are cold. From May to October, the weather is drier and the light is brilliant.
Nearby, the ruins of Wari, the capital of an empire that preceded the Incas by centuries, spread across a dry hillside, and the village of Quinua, famous for its ceramics, stands close to the battlefield. Easter is the great time in Ayacucho, with processions, flower carpets and a week of music and food that draws visitors from all over Peru. If you pass through at other times, the quiet streets and the smell of woodsmoke and baking bread still give a sense of a city that is proud of its past.