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Published: October 23rd 2005
Church Tour
San Augustin (1637)Hi all,
Above title is very deceptive. Relaxing is not how I would describe my day, but it was great!!
Had a fabulous hot shower in the morning. Was so hot I had to turn on the cold tap - absolute luxury!! After that I headed into town to explore some of the Churches which were holding masses.
The first Church was St Agustin (1637), the second was the Cathedral in the main square. Next was Campania de Jesus (1605), followed by Santa Clara (not sure when it was built). The last one on out tour was San Franciso de Asis (1552). The majority of the Churches in Ayacucho were built by the Spanish.
Again, all of the Churches were very lavish inside. Lots of gold evident and lots of statues. They are wonderful to see, but I can´t equate the welath of the Churches with the poverty evident in Ayacucho, and no doubt across the rest of Peru. The majority of the Churches had no music - mainly just a cantor. As we approched the cathedral on the main square, I could hear organ music and lovely singing. They did indeed have an organ. Once inside,
Church Tour
Ayacucho Cathedral I was very disappointed both by the lavishness of the cathedral and the fact that they had a stall set up (just inside the door as mass was being conducted) selling postcards and rosaries etc. Totally contradicts Jesus view of the purpose of the Church in the New Testament when he turned over all the tables in the temple!! I ignored the stall and slipped in to stand at the back and listen for a moment. I was immediately approached by a poor peasant woman begging - pretty much says it all, doesn´t it!! Have attached photos of the exteriors of the Churches. Some of them were so big I couldn´t get the full Church in the photo.
After seeing the Churches the girls went for a coffee in gringo plaza, and then went to watch the parade in the main plaza. They have a parade here every Sunday. Not fully sure what it´s about, but certainly something to do with Peruvian nationalism, as they have the military bands there and various military officials. The band was a brass band - my only comment is that the tuning left a lot to be desired, but they were doing their
Church Tour
Compania de Jesus (1605) best!! Different groups take it in turns to participate each week. This week it appeared to be the turn of the private schools in Ayacucho. Last week, the special school that Vicki (one of our group volunteers there) was involved. The kids there have special needs (mental and physical) and mainly come from families who live in poverty. The parade was ok - not really my thing though. How can they celebrate how wonderful their country is when there are so many problems??
After the parade, we headed home for lunch, and after that, Vicki, Wendy and I climbed up the hill at the back of the city to the cross that overlooks Ayacucho. Ayacucho is 9,000 feet above sea level and I reckon we climbed another 1,500 feet up, suffering slightly from altitude (mainly lack of breath and sore legs), but nowhere near as bad as the climb in the high Andes. Have attached some photos for you. It was beautiful up there - very peaceful. Felt better up there than I had in some of the Churches in the morning!! The city was very loud below. There was a football game being played and just lots of
Church Tour
Cmpania de Jesus (1605)- side of Church general city noise. There is also a regional election coming up soon, so the city is full of guys in cars with loudspeakers persuading people to give them their vote. On the way back down I saw my first Peruvian cat and snapped a photo.
Plan to relax tonight and do some reading. Back to Wawa Wasi tomorrow - start of my third week there.
Hope all is well with all of you at home.
Take care and keep in touch - it´s great getting all your e-mails with your news.
Buenos Noches!
Lesley x
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