Ayacucho

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May 11th

I woke early to catch a long bus ride. I wasn´t feeling so great, probably due to not a great night´s sleep and maybe the two really weird ¨Pisco Sours¨, the national alcoholic drink I had last night with the Stanford people. We drove down along the coast, very desert-like, and then over into the mountains. I found a very decent hotel and went to get dinner as I was exhausted and hungry!

I asked for water, but for some reason the waiter insisted on bringing me what all the locals drink (chi chi) - corn beer. It looks like red wine, served warm. It was pretty nasty, but I felt bad that the waiter had brought it to me for free so I drank at least half of it anyways. Near the end of my meal, I looked up the chi chi in my lonely planet which says ¨the brewing process, unchanged since pre-Columbian times, is begun by chewing and spitting corn into a vat.....Pack the Pepto'Bismol for this one¨ Do you really think my ¨corn beer¨was made with SPIT? and if so, how much? YUCK.

I did pay for that one, actually, with digestive problems the entire next day...my first in Peru, by the evening I just ate some crackers and fig newtons from the US for dinner so that my stomach could recover. Luckily I was basically better the next morning, so it was a 24 hour bacterial thing.

Ayacucho was a great city! Tons of activity, lots of history of rebels trying to overthrow the government in the 1980s, etc. Tons of great churches from the 15-17th century. I will post pictures but I need to find a computer with a USB plug first. This one only has a floppy disk drive. The weirdest part of the day was when a truck hauling tigers and lions in a flimsy cage drove by. The streets are so small, I could have stuck my hand into the cage. Really weird, I don´t know what that was about but there definitely aren´t any zoos around here.

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Photos

Church
One of the MANY old catholic churches in Ayacucho. Mom you would love it! This one dates back to the 15th century.

Comments

[Jocelyn]

Chi Chi
Since you enjoyed the Chi Chi so much, next time when you come home, I promise to make you some myself. Chew up so corn spit it in a blender and stir.... YUMMY:)