— Nivedita Kashyap

I spent Easter Weekend in Ayacucho last year. Ayacucho is off the gringo trail (Lonely planet’s must-see tourist trail) and around the year very few travelers (compared to Cusco or Arequipa) visit Ayacucho. That, however, changes come Easter weekend. The town’s easter celebration is said to be one of the grandest in Peru. Plus, the days between crucifixion and resurrection are supposed to be a period when sins do not exist and hence an excuse to party like crazy (at least, thats what my friends from Lima told me, but it’s not like they need an excuse to party like crazy so I’m not sure if this is actually true).

I had decided to go to Arequipa first, spend a few days trekking the world’s deepest canyon there and then go to Ayacucho in time for the easter weekend. This was not very convenient because

1. There was no direct route from Arequipa to Ayacucho because the cities lie in the Andes. Not highway friendly.
2. I needed to double back from Arequipa almost until Lima before getting the exit on the panamericana to Ayacucho.

But I decided to do it anyway.

I left Arequipa on a Wednesday night bus and I reached Pisco Thursday morning after a night long bus journey (including a 3 hour stop to unsuccessfully repair the AC on the bus and a snoring co-passenger which made sleep impossible (Peru and Bolivia’s buses are a blog post in itself)). I caught one of the many colectivos (informal buses) and haggled with the driver until he got the price down to 30 soles for an 8 hour drive (which was what I was told it would cost).

We started around 11 in the morning after the colectivo filled up. The journey was one of the most beautiful road trips I have ever been on. Central Peru (Huancayo, Huancavelica, Ayacucho, Abancay) is an area I would love to go back and explore. This area is relatively untouched by the crazy tourism of south Peru, partly because until early 2000s this area was affected by the worst of the Sendero Luminoso violence.

So after crossing pastures dotted with llamas and alpacas, green mountains and the occasional waterfall (and a lunch of corn and cheese – Andean staple!) I reached Ayacucho city (capital of Ayacucho province) around 5 in the evening. The city seemed too full of people after my morning journey.

Friday morning was spent just walking around Ayacucho’s main square and bumping into friends from Lima. By evening, people were dressed in black and were carrying candles to mourn the crucifixion. The bible was read in Quechua (the language sounds absolutely beautiful) and the body of jesus was carried around the main square by the town’s elite (like how Indian religious processions are conducted by priests, though this one did include women who were carrying an idol of  the Virgin Mary).

Saturday was in complete contrast with Friday. There was a bull run in the morning and after that the entire town joined the visitors in a proper juerga on the main square. We stayed up the entire night for Sunday morning’s spectacular resurrection procession which included a huge pyramid of candles  (any searches for easter weekend in Ayacucho will bring up  this image).

The town treats this is an occasion to welcome outsiders and to celebrate with them. Ayacucho has a lot more to offer – remains of pre-Incan settlements, museums, arts & crafts (like this retablo), old colonial homes and churches, plenty of walks and treks and a very different side of Peru.