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Our journey took us through three provinces of southern Ayacucho: Lucanas, Parinacochas and Paucar del Sara Sara. We were guided by Elizabet Rojas, an enthusiastic Ayacucho-born woman who spent her infancy there and, honouring Rilke's belief that "a man's true homeland is his infancy", has been working for a long time now to promote tourism to the region. These three provinces cannot be said to lack the natural resources to attract travellers and Elizabet has every reason to promote them.
Text: Gabriel Aller
Photos: Luis Yupanqui
 The vicuņas appeared suddenly and we were woken in an instant from our lethargy after the long journey from Nasca. We were in the province Lucanas, a great plateau densely populated by beautiful and elusive vicuņa. This is Pampas Galeras, over 60,000 hectares of rough grassland of which 6,700 hectares have been protected by the state since 1967. In the eighties the vicuņa population was decimated after intense hunting by the military and Sendero Luminoso, who made the pampa their battlefield and the meat of the vicuņa their daily diet. Those days are over, and today an estimated 13,000 animals roam wild again, from solitary males expelled from a family group to troops of as many as 200 hundred individuals.
The Pampa Galeras ecosystem functions perfectly, with the death of a vicuņa providing sustenance for foxes or the numerous condors and eagles that fly over the area. Each year from June 22nd to June 24th the human inhabitants of Lucanas take part in the traditional "chaccu": the season for rounding up and shearing the vicuņa for their valuable wool. The custom provides work, as well as paying for public works and the salaries of the park rangers. As you can see, the circle is completed perfectly.
The town of Lucanas stands next to Route 26 yet remains a peaceful place that enjoys modest progress thanks to the income from vicuņa wool. We arrived in the cold early hours and soon afterwards the intense dawn sun allowed us to take off our coats and shake off our tiredness as young members of the community keen to promote tourism guided us to the archaeological site of
 Pullapucco: 300 hundred circular constructions comprising walls and ruined buildings. The site is mostly covered with vegetation, but we were able to locate three funerary chambers built from large carved stones and in a good state of
preservation.
We left Lucanas with a better understanding of the hard work involved in the wool industry, having visited an interesting archaeological site and learned that chicory is good for the liver and kidneys; the local herb "tantarca" is the best thing there is for the tonsils; that "chanchanco" and "muņa" alleviate stomach ailments and that "puca gitana" and "latacc" are good for colds and bronchial complaints. The countryside of Lucanas had begun to resemble a huge laboratory and our guide a great pharmacist.
Stairway to Heaven
After a brief and disagreeable night in Puquio, the capital of the province of Lucanas, we left for Andamarca, the capital of the district of Carmen Salcedo and one of the most beautiful places on our journey. The route took us nine kilometres along Route 26 and then along a dirt track after turning left off the highway.
The road was three hours long, with something to surprise us at every curve. We came first upon the Pachaya dam, currently filled with water thanks to last year's rains. Some thirty minutes later we reached the thermal waters of Jeronta. Alarmed, vizcachas (Lagidium viscacia) ran across the road to disappear among the rocks. Further along the road we passed more lakes and saw more fauna, before reaching Andamarca.
Our first sight of the valley was accompanied by a warm breeze that brushed over the soon be harvested corn fields. The Negromayo River shimmered in the sun at the bottom of the valley and our gazes were drawn from the top to the bottom of that incredible geography tattooed by agricultural terraces climbing heavenwards.
The main square, in common with most of those we saw during our trip, was austere and lovely, with very little cement, plenty of local flowers and small fountains. Andamarca's small church was built in 1913 and its clock is frozen at six thirty. We could see the moon in the middle of the day. The silence was interrupted from time to time by the local announcer's megaphone, calling Mister Inca, Mister Tito and later Mrs. Flores to answer the community telephone.
Elizabet introduced us to Alberto Palomino, the executive director of the Cusichaca Andean Association, an NGO that for some years now has been working to recover and reuse the ancient agricultural terraces and irrigation canals built by the Wari and Inca cultures. This NGO is also working with a group of local inhabitants and the local mayor to promote tourism to the region and together they have established hiking routes that include high waterfalls, fishing opportunities, forests of native trees, Inca highways and thermal baths.
A few metres from the town is Caniche, the largest archaeological site in southern Ayacucho and perhaps the least-studied and best-preserved Wari ruin known. Almost intact, its imposing circular constructions still stand along the high part of a ridge that separates the lands of Andamarca from those of neighbouring Chiricre. It was an unforgettable experience to walk through these ruins and see the colours of the crops and feel the warm breeze from the valley breath peaceful life into Andamarca.
After a wonderful night of silence in Andamarca, Fatima served us a breakfast fit for kings at the Misky Misky restaurant, including small local potatoes, recently harvested corn and a "capchi" and cheese sauce - all of which left us wanting to stay a few more days and unwilling to continue on our journey so soon.
 Waters of Coracora
To reach tranquil Coracora, the capital of the province of Parinacochas, we left Puquio early. It is a one and a half hour drive along Route 26 before the turn-off to the small village of Negromayo. The road is not in good condition and a good all-terrain vehicle is needed to make the journey.
And a good level of fitness is needed to reach the ruins of Huaman Percca ("eagle wall" in Quechua), a small and isolated construction at an altitude of 4,700 metres. This may have been an Inca site and there are unbeatable views of the lakes of this region of livestock herders. On descending from the ruins a good meal of smoked alpaca meat, or "huamancanca", awaited us.
Continuing our journey through this Mars-like geography we came to the thermal baths of Huanaccunsiri, arriving around nightfall when, despite the cold, we slipped into the warm waters. The experience renewed us after our tiring journey and prepared us for the coming days.
Parinacochas: Mirror of Life
We spent a quiet night in Coracora and in the small hours set off for Lake Parinacochas. We witnessed the first rays of the sun fall on Incahuasi, a ruin which stands to the west by the side of a great expanse of water. We found a clear example of the policy of the extirpation of idolatry in an inscription on the doorway of the local church dated 1847: "Here over the ruins of idolatry the true god is worshipped". We were told that until one hundred years ago this was a lively meeting place for mule drivers from Arequipa, Huamanga, Apurimac, Abancay and even faraway Chala, who arrived to trade the products of their regions.
To reach the shores of the lake by vehicle it is necessary to drive to the village of Puyusca Incuyo. The route is confusing and it is best to go with a local, and therefore we got in touch with local alderman Ivan Espinoza, who guided us across the wide plain of rough grassland. We had not imagined that there would be so much life at this altitude, and the landscape was superb: the Sarasara volcano stood over an immense plain across which vicuņas ran, and the lake was packed with Andean waterfowl, giving the whole scene the perfect atmosphere of a Japanese poem.
Pauza with Z
Although on the map it appears as "Pausa" ("pause" in Spanish), local signs spell with a "z" the name of the so-called "Cervantes capital of America". It was here, as those who never cease to be amazed by Peru will be fascinated to learn, that the second ever staging of Don Quijote de la Mancha took place just two years after its publication in 1605. This event occurred as an act of homage on the part of Don Pedro de Salamanca to mark the appointment of the Viceroy Juan Mendoza y Luna, the Marquis of Montesclaros.
We drove for three hours from Lake Parinacocha to Pauza, the capital of Sarasara. The geography was as impressive as anything else we had seen, with the addition this time of finding ourselves on a road that passed along the slopes of the Sarasara volcano and then wound down vertiginously to 2,500 metres above sea level. The road was narrow and steep but any sense of vertigo was banished by our enjoyment of the spectacular mountain scenery. Before reaching Pauza we passed through Quilcata, a small village surrounded by endless Wari culture terracing.
After finally reaching our destination, exhausted by the long journey, we rested at our campsite at the thermal baths of Mirmaca, situated in a peaceful narrow valley through which a small tributary of the Huancahuanca River flows. Here stands a fine example of intuitive architecture and respect for the surrounding geography. It was built by hand by the Nizano brothers and comprises a complex of four pools - three with very hot water and a twenty-five metre swimming pool of warm water. It was wonderful to float on my back on that cold night, looking up at the sky filled with stars dimmed by the intense light cast by the full moon.
The next morning, Juan Santa Cruz, a sociologist who has worked in the area for some years with the Centre for Development and Promotion Studies (DESCO), took us to the Tarayacu waterfall. We drove for an hour through the villages of Mirmac, San Sebastian de Sacraca, Lampa and Marcabamba. The falls can be seen from the road, but nothing can compare with the sound of the water and the feel of the dew from the base of the eighty metre-high falls.
Very close to Pauza but in the opposite direction from the falls is the Uchubamba canyon: known for obvious reasons as the Condor Canyon, this is an impressive landscape, with a thousand metre drop to the Huancahuanca River (a tributary of the Ocoņa) below.
Southern Ayacucho is a breathtaking and still seldom-visited destination. We certainly look forward to returning and if you don't know the region then put it on your itinerary for your next vacation.
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