Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
hearted. Around 200 of those kilometers take you along a narrow, potholed, unpaved road
between Huanta and Mariscal Cáceres through the wild Río Mantaro valley. The road runs
at times high along unguarded cliff faces with nothing but space between your bus win-
dow and the foaming river below. Sit on the right side of the bus if you don't like vertigin-
ous drops.
Change in Huancayo for onward services to Huánuco, Tingo María, Pucallpa and Sa-
tipo.
For Huancavelica, Expreso Molina has nightly departures. For daytime travel, you'll
need to take a minibus to Julcamarca, from where further minibuses can be found to Lir-
cay and then Huancavelica. This will be a colorful but cramped and uncomfortable trip.
The new
terminal terrestre zona sur
has at least brought order to regional south-bound
departures. Buses to Vischongo (S10, four hours) leave from here. Departures are nor-
mally in the morning. There are also buses to Vilcashuamán (S14, five hours) about
hourly from 5am to 9am. A taxi to the terminal costs S4.
Pickup trucks and buses go to many local villages, including Quinua (S3, one hour),
and to the Wari ruins (also S3, 40 minutes), departing from the Paradero Magdalena at the
traffic circle at the east end of Cáceres.
AROUND AYACUCHO
Ayacucho has several interesting excursions in the vicinity: running the gamut of regional history from the pre-
Inca to Peruvian independence. See
Click here
for information on how to reach the below destinations. You can
reach them via day tours with agencies in Ayacucho for about S60 per person.
The extensive
Wari Ruins
(admission incl small museum S3; 8am-5:30pm)
, 20km above Ayacucho on the
road to Quinua, are some of the most significant surviving remains of the Wari culture (see boxed text,
Click here
), scattered among fields of bizarre opuntia cacti: a moody spot to contemplate this once powerful civilization. In-
formation is in Spanish only. Don't leave the site too late to look for return transport - vehicles get hopelessly full
in the afternoon.
A further 17km beyond the Wari ruins is the pretty village of
Quinua
, with a
museum
(admission S5)
with er-
ratic hours displaying various relics from the major independence battle fought in this area. Beside the museum is
the room where the Spanish royalist troops signed their surrender, leading to the end of colonialism in Peru. The
40m-high white
obelisk
(admission S1),
intermittently visible for several kilometers as you approach Quinua, lies
15 minutes' walk above town via Jirón Sucre and commemorates the Battle of Ayacucho, the decisive conflict in
the war of Peruvian independence. From here, you can elect to go
horse-riding
on rather scrawny-looking steeds
to waterfalls where swimming is possible. The whole area is protected as the 300-hectare
Santuario Histórico
Pampas de Ayacucho
.
The ruins of
Vilcashuamán
, a former Inca stronghold (considered the geographical center of the Inca empire),
lie some 115km south of Ayacucho. Little remains of the city's early magnificence but an intact five-tier pyramid
