• Latest
Ayacucho

Ayacucho

1 year ago
Puerto Plata City

Puerto Plata (January 2021)

4 days ago
Punta Cana

Punta Cana

3 weeks ago
San Cristobal

San Cristobal

4 months ago
Baní (Sand dunes) Updated September 2020

Baní (Sand dunes) Updated September 2020

4 months ago
Tarapoto

Tarapoto

12 months ago
Puerto Maldonado

Puerto Maldonado

1 year ago
Puno

Puno

1 year ago
Ica

Ica

1 year ago
Cuenca

Cuenca

1 year ago
Guayaquil

Guayaquil

1 year ago
San Andrés

San Andrés

1 year ago
Medellin

Medellin

1 year ago
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
  • Dominican Republic
  • Peru
  • Colombia
  • Ecuador
My Travel Experiences
No Result
View All Result
My Travel Experiences
No Result
View All Result
Plugin Install : Cart Icon need WooCommerce plugin to be installed.
My Travel Experiences
No Result
View All Result
Home Destinations Peru

Ayacucho

irishdotravel by irishdotravel
01/12/2019
in Destinations, Peru
0 0
0
Ayacucho

Ayacucho has a lot of history and goes back to when the Spanish conquered the Incas in the 15th century. According to the tour guides it was a place of rest between Cusco and Lima, basically a half way point between the two cities. The city is also famous religiously as it has 36 different churches from the colonial age.

The Basilica Cathedral of St. Mary, Plaza de Armas, Ayacucho

St. Mary’s Cathedral was built in the 17th century. Most of the churches have gold in them and some of the alters are made of gold too. The 36 churches used to be open to the public until vandals started stealing very old portraits and gold. So, now only a handful are open to the public as the churches lack security guards. The only day of the year when all 36 are open is in Easter as Ayacucho is packed to high heavens with people. Probably not the best time of the year to visit as everything is more expensive and jammed packed with tourists.

Acuchimay Viewing Platform or Mirador in Spanish

The above picture I took, which is on the outskirts of the city as part of the city tour has a nice view, however, there are better places much higher up. When I went on the city tour, I realized I was the only foreigner there, which I thought was quite strange. So, me being me I asked and then suddenly remembered. In the 1980s, Peru went through a period of terrorism and the group was called the Shining Path, over 66,000 Peruvians well killed as well Ayacucho has left a stench, although they caught the head of the group and he is still in prison now, Ayacucho is super safe, but because of what happened, tourism took a hit and is slowly but surely recovering, but the tourist numbers are nothing like other Peruvian cities.

There are two ways you can get to Ayacucho from Lima, bus or fly. The flight is about 40 mins long and I would recommend it compared to a boring 8 hour bus drive. Plus the flights are really cheap. Check out Sky Airlines and Latam.

Once here, like I always say NEVER BOOK TOURS ONLINE as you will be charged in dollars and be ripped off big time. Go to the main square or the Plaza de Armas, and check out the tour agencies there. You can negotiate prices if you take all the tours with the one agency.

Tours 1: Archaeological complex of Wari

This place goes back to before the Incas even came about. It is considered to be one of the biggest sites of the “old Peru”. It shows how the Wari people used “advanced technology” and flourished 10th and 11th centuries. The area itself is about 2.000 hectars and is divided into sections with constructions made of rock and mud with its own aguaducts and underground sewage system. The only thing about this place is that the majority of their constructions are still buried. However, they got a grand from Belgium, which gives them enough money to continue digging and finding artifacts. There is also a museum beside it, which has things they had previously founf. The negative thing about most of these sites is that the Peruvian government will not invest and foreign countries such as Belgium and Japan who do, take about 80% of the objects they find out of the country. The picture below are these guys who dress up as Wari soldiers and you give them a “propina” or tip and you can take some cool, funny photos.

Wari soldiers using very old weapons of the 10th century.

Pampas de Ayacucho Historic Sanctuary

This is one of the highlights of the tour. Basically after the Wari complex, about 15 minutes up the road we arrive to the place where Peru won their independence from the Spanish crown.

The battle for independence took place on this field.

Here you pay about $2USD to get in. Remember that the tours do not include entrance fees to most complexes, but they are pennies to the pound, so no worries there. Breakfast and lunch are neither included. But again, they are really cheap all the same.

When you arrive to this part of the tour, the guide will explain exactly what happened and so on. Then you have about an hour to take photos and buy some food or souvenirs just down the hill. I had a drone, so I took full advantage of it. I completed a video taking from my drone for you guys to have a gander:

View this post on Instagram

The Battle of Ayacucho, the place where Peru finally won their independence from the Royalists (Spain) on December 9, 1824. This sealed the Spanish faith in South America. Defo a place to visit if in Peru. Inwould highly recommend a friend who is a tour guide but apart from that he is an archaeologist and know the place better than most, the guy is full of information and facts. Get in touch if you want a more detailed tour about Ayacucho (Huamanga) @yimmynieto_ayacucho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #peru #peruvian #peruana #perú #peruanos #huamanga #ayacucho #drone #igersayacucho #igersperu #travel #ayacuchoperu #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #instatravel #travelling #travelblogger #traveling #traveler #traveller #photography #viajar #viajarfazbem #amoviajar #viagem #trip #viajarépreciso #viajarepreciso #wanderlust

A post shared by Damien ??☘️ (@irishdotravel) on Nov 22, 2019 at 5:03am PST

The Wari complex, I did not see as being spectacular but the statue of the Peruvian independence was quite nice, especially with a drone.

The views from above of the surrounding are next to none!!

Tours 2: Millpu – Natural Turquoise Pool

For most people, this is why they come to Ayacucho. I visited Ayacucho about 8 years ago and this place was not even discovered, but today it is a gem. So, when they first opened it to the public, since they are like mini natural “swimming pools” you could swim there but not anymore, due to the damage it was causing, so they decided to not let people use the pool for swimming purposes and just for taking photos.

Tiny swimming pools

So, for about S/.65 soles o just under $20USD you can visit this magical place. Again, as mentioned above buy the tour in an agency in Ayacucho, do not worry about maybe there are not tickets left, this place is never full and daily trip are available. The tour includes the guide and transport. Breakfast and lunch is covered by you. Again, super cheap to eat and quite healthy too. At the pools they offer fried fish, it is so fried that you can eat the whole thing, head, skin, teeth, eyes the lot. So, I went for the chicken soup, not a fan of fish, but most people opted for the fish. The trip is about 3 and a half hours there and about 3 hours going back, you leave quite early in the morning and it is quite tiring, but a must if you are there.

There are over 20 pools and only a few are accessible for taking photos

Tours 3: Intiwatana & Vilcashuaman

The route to this place is similar to that of Millpu, and breakfast is in the same place as well. After breakfast they take you to this place which is owned by a community, and has native plants which are 100 years old and can only be seen literally every century as being fully flourished. The name is Puyas de Raimondi. It is just a little bit of history which dates back centuries. So from here we went to Inti Watana or the archaeological site of Pumuaccocha. Here you can see Incan ruins, carvings on the walls, Inca baths…

A lot of these ruins are still hidden beneath.

The Inca’s left a few carvings on the walls to, which are quite spectacular for the era

a pair of llamas
A flamengo

Vilcashuaman

Vilcashuamán in a nutshell

This place is quite stunning to visit and the views from above are even better. The surrounding mountains and the Inca pryamid in the background. For those who are not great with high altitudes, this place is 3,500m above sea level and according to the tour guides, this “city” was considered to the an Inca administrative centre.

This pryamid was used only for ceremonies

Tags: AyacuchodroneHistoryIncaIncasIndependencePeruPeruviantravel
ShareTweetSend
irishdotravel

irishdotravel

Just a normal Irish guy travelling and a lover of drone photography.

Next Post
Cartagena

Cartagena

Discussion about this post

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Medellin

Medellin

24/12/2019
Cartagena

Cartagena

17/12/2019
San Andrés

San Andrés

21/12/2019
Boca Chica

Boca Chica

12/11/2019
La Romana

La Romana

0
Puerto Plata City

Puerto Plata (January 2021)

0
Cayo Arena

Cayo Arena

0
Lima

Lima

0
Puerto Plata City

Puerto Plata (January 2021)

26/01/2021
Punta Cana

Punta Cana

06/01/2021
San Cristobal

San Cristobal

21/09/2020
Baní (Sand dunes) Updated September 2020

Baní (Sand dunes) Updated September 2020

20/09/2020

Categories

Tags

amazing beaches Backpacker beaches Beauty caribbean caribe Colombia Conquistador Cusco Cuzco dominican republic drone Ecuador Food Gear happy History Inca Incas island islands Jungle Lima Machu Picchu monte cristi Ollantay Tambo pablo escobar Peru puerto plata republica dominicana Resources sacred valley sand dunes Solo Travel Spain Spanish Tips tourism Tourist touristic attraction Tours travel travel plans trekking Trip Plan

© 2020 Irishdotravel - All rights reserved .

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
    • Home – Layout 1
  • Contact Us

© 2020 Irishdotravel - All rights reserved .

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
Sign In with Google
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Sign Up with Facebook
Sign Up with Google
OR

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In