from: Dilwyn Jenkins: The
rough guide to Peru; Rough Guides, New York London, Delhi;
6th edition September 2006; www.roughguides.com
Arrival at Ayacucho
[Telephone dialing code for Ayacucho is 066, international
0051-66].
 Map
of
the center of Ayacucho with some tourist information
|
Airport or bus
terminals
Most visitors arrive in Ayacucho from Lima or Cusco, either
on the thirty-minute
flight,
which lands at the airport 4km from town (p.340) (airport,
Avenida del Ejercito 950, T. 066-312418, daily 6am-6pm
(p.343) - a taxi into town costs $3-4, buses cost 50 cents
and leave from just outside the terminal - or overland by
bus.
[The flight connections are not so often, about every second
day, and they cost more than a flight to Cusco because the
flights are so rare. This was the situation in 2007].
If you're arriving from Huancayo, Huancavelica, Cusco or
Lima the bus companies mostly have their depots along Jirón
3 Mascaras or Avenida Mariscal Caceres, both within a few
blocks of the Plaza de Armas (p.340).
Bus companies in Ayacucho
Cruz del Sur
9 de Diciembre, Ayacucho, block 4, for Lima
Ormeño
Jirón Libertad 257, Ayacucho, T. 066-812495, for Lima
Empresa Libertadores
Jirón Mascaras 496, Ayacucho, for Lima, Abancay and Cusco
Emporesa Molina
Jirón Mascaras 551, Ayacucho, for Huancayo
Transmar
Avenida Mariscal Caceres 896, for Lima, Abancay and Cusco
Transportes Chankas
3 blocks north of the Plaza Mayor on Jirón Mariscal Caceres,
for Andahuaylas
other bus companies
at Pasaje Caceres, block 1
or Avenida Mariscal Caceres, blocks 7-17
or Avenida Manco Capac, blocks 2-4 (p. 343).
Airlines in Ayacucho
Star Up Airline
Jirón Lima 261, T. 066-816690
Accommodation in Ayacucho
Finding a room in Ayacucho is easy enough outside of the
Easter period when, because of the colourful religious
festivals, the town is bursting at the seams with visitors
from Lima and elsewhere. Most of the
hotels are located in
interesting old properties, but service is generally good
and many places have been tastefully modernized (p.340).
Hotels in Ayacucho
[Cheap hotels
Cheap hotels in Ayacucho are really cheap and only the
business card is well made. People are so poor that they run
hotels for the money of their own house or for computer
kits. Renovations in the hotels are rarely or not made, the
beds are absolutely bad in cheap hotels in Ayacucho, or when
you take a hotel on Jirón 9 de diciembre there will be noise
from the discotheque through the basement of the whole
street until 2 o'clock and from Tu-Su until 4 o'clock (this
was the decision of tha mayor in 2007). Cheap hotels in
Ayacucho don't have warm water, don't have shower curtain
and all the bath is full of water after the shower, don't
have window curtains and so on. So there is no other
solution you have to spend more money for a good hotel in
Ayacucho than in Lima, that means not 30 Soles but 40 Soles
per day at least...].
Ayacucho Hotel Plaza
Jirón 9 de Diciembre 184, T. 066-812202, Fax 812314
Easily the most luxurious hotel in town, set in a fine,
stylish colonial mansion, it has TVs in every room, private
baths and a reasonable restaurant, though service can be
slow. Centrally located on the Plaza de Armas.
La Colmena
Jirón Cusco 140, T. 066-811318
Clean and good value with the added luxury of a beautiful,
flowered courtyard.
Hostal San Blas
Jirón Chorro 167, T. 066-81418
A great budget option with friendly service and pleasant,
quite spacious, comfortable rooms; private bathrooms,
laundry, cooking facilities and a reliable hot-water system.
Hotel Crillonesa
Calle El Nazareno 165, T. 066-812350
Hostel with great views of the city and valley from its
rooftop terrace; there's hot water and a laundry service,
and rooms are clean and very good value.
Hotel Samari
Jirón Callao 329, T. 066-812442
A fine, welcoming place to relax for a few days, just two
blocks east of the Plaza de Armas.
Hotel San Francisco
Jirón Callao 290, T. 066-812353
Every room in this high quality hotel has a TV and private
shower. There's a nice café on the roof with great views
overlooking town. Breakfast is included.
Hotel Santa Rosa
Jirón Lima 166, T. 066-814614
Only half a block from the Plaza de Armas, with a decent
restaurant and friendly service (p.340)
Tourist information
Tourist information
is available from the Municipalidad building on the Plaza
Mayor (Mon-Sat 9am-8pm; T. 066/818308 or 818305,
www.regionayacucho.gob.pe), which has helpful staff who can
arrange trips in the area; there's also a tourist
information kiosk at the airport (Mon-Sat 8am-8pm) (p.340).
Banks and exchange
Travelers' cheques can be changes at the Banco de Credito,
on the Plaza Mayor (Mon-Fri 9.15am-6pm) or sometimes in the
larger hotels. Black market
cambistas gather on on Jirón 9 de
Diciembre, near the corner of the Plaza Mayor, giving good
rates, but will only accept dollars and euros cash (p.343).
Hospital: Avenida Independencia 355, T. 066-312180
Post office: Jirón Asamblea 295, 2 blocks from the plaza.
Mon-Sat 8am-8pm
Telephone office: Jirón Asamblea 293. Daily 8am-10pm
Tourist police: Corner of Dos de Mayo with Jirón Lima, right
on the plaza and close to the Cathedral (p.343).
The town of Ayacucho
Ayacucho is a colonial city with many churches (p.340).
["Christian" terror has not extinguished all native wisdom
about nature as in Europe. The "Christian" terror only lasts
600 years, in Europa 1,600 years. So one can find the old
native wisdom in Ayacucho and in the countryside with
healers (curanderos) or healing angels (angelitos). Spanish
you must speak for that for conversation at least].
Tours around Ayacucho
Take a guided tour, and the tourist information office will
arrange trips in the area for you. There are also half-day
tours to Pikimachay for around $15 and half-day tours to
Huari also for about $15, also full-day trips to Huari and
Quinua for $25. The tour companies are:
-- Quinua Tours, Jirón Asamblea 195, T. 066-912191
-- Urpillay Tours, Portal Independencia 62 and Jirón
Asamblea 145
-- Warpa Picchu Eco-Aventura, Portal Independencia 66, Plaza
de Armas, Syacucho, T. 066-815191, www.warpapicchu.com
(p.343).
[When you speak Spanish you can arrange any tour with the
common bus. Just ask in the tourist office where they start
and you can take very cheap trips within the Peruvian
population who will be very curious, and you will see how
the natives go with their luggage in their blankets (they
have no suitcases) or with a pig on the roof or even with a
lamb on their knees or who they nurse their babys in the bus
at their breast and there is no smell and nothing odd at all
with it].
Museums
Museo Pinacoteca de San
Francisco de Asis
(Mon-Fri 9am-noon & 3-6pm; free), in block 3 of 28 de
Julio, is known for its library of unique historical works
(p.341)
Museo de Arqueología y
Antropología (Museum of Archeology and Anthropology)
also known as Museo INC, on Avenida Independencia (Mon-Sat
9am-noon & 2-6pm; 80 cents, T. 066-912056, about a
thirty-minute walk (taxi, 5 min) from the old center, is
full of local archaeological (p.341) finds, mainly ceramics,
dating from several millennia ago, plus exhibits from the
Chavín, Huarpa, Nasca and Inca eras (p.342).
Art galleries
-- Casona Vivanco, Jirón 28 de Julio 518 (Mon-Sat 10am-1pm
& 3-6pm, 50 cents), with a particularly good collection
of colonial art
-- Galería de Arte Popular (Popular Art Gallery), Jirón
Asamblea 138 (Mon-Sat 9am-6.30pm; free), specializing in
regional art (p.341).
