Cusco to Ayacucho

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The road from Cusco to Ayacucho through the Andies is unpaved and during the wet season it often washes away. Unfortunately this is what happened when I wanted to travel along it, so I ended up taking the much longer and more expensive, although possibly safer and more comfortable route back from Cusco to Abancay, down to Nazca on the Panamericana and then up north to Lima, where I had an eight hour wait and a change of bus to go back down the Panamericana to Pisco and then north to Ayacucho. The whole journey took me two days, and I was glad for my nights out beforehand as I was able to sleep for much of it.

Some of the scenes along the way were really quite impressive. I had already travelled much of the route but at night, so had missed seeing the simple desert houses which consist pretty much of four posts and a piece of material stretched over the top as a shelter from the sun. I can´t imagine what people here live off, there is nothing at all for miles around, not even cacti, and certainly no water. Its a very different world to the lush valleys around Cusco.

What I can´t understand is how quite regularly I see bus stops along the Panamericana for the local buses which appear to be in the middle of nowhere. Who gets off at these stops, and for that matter, who gets on? Sometimes you see a couple of people walking off into the distance and I wonder where they are headed. To me there doesn´t look to be anything within walking distance in this huge flat dry landscape.

Anyway, on to Ayacucho, ready for arrival at 7am on the morning I begin the project at the orphanage. I still have no idea of where to go when I get there, hopefully some information will arrive in my email inbox at some point!

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