Roaming South America

Ayacucho, Perú, Perú: A City of Hidden Courtyards and Colonial Echoes

March 31, 2026

Ayacucho, Perú – Behind the Doors of a 400-Year-Old City

Ayacucho, Perú, sits at about 2,761 meters (9,058 feet) elevation in the central Andes. The city lies in a broad valley surrounded by dry mountains and enjoys a mild, sunny climate for most of the year. With roughly 100,000 residents in the city itself and a larger metropolitan area approaching 230,000, Ayacucho feels like a mid-sized Andean city that has managed to preserve much of its colonial character while still being very much a living, working place.
Reference: Wikipedia

Lircay, Perú: The Stairway That Didn’t Exist Yesterday

March 28, 2026

Travel notes from a small town in the Peruvian Andes at 3,278 meters.

Lircay, Perú, sits at 3278 meters (10,754 feet) elevation, and has a population of about 6,800.

I decided to spend a couple of nights here on my way south to Ayacucho. Lircay is in the high Andes, where I am sitting in my hotel; the elevation is 3272 meters (10,735 feet). It's cold. The temp is 12° C (53° F), maybe not so terribly cold right now (about 6 pm), but it will be in the single digits tonight. The average annual high temp is 19.8° C and the annual low temp is 4.1° C.

The History of Lircay: From Ancient Cultures to Modern Peru

The story of Lircay stretches back centuries and reflects the broader history of the region. Long before the Spanish arrived, the area was inhabited by communities linked to the Wari civilization, one of the earliest complex societies in the Andes. Among the earliest known inhabitants were the Anccaras, an Indigenous group that lived in the surrounding valleys and mountains.

Huancavelica, Perú: Life at 3,704 Meters, that's more than 12,000 feet

March 24, 2026

Huancavelica, Perú, sits at 3,704 meters (12,093 feet), on average. If my memory is right, that puts it slightly higher than the summit of Mt. Hood in Oregon. My brain is certainly aware of the difference. The last time I was here, a little over a year ago, the altitude pressed in from all sides: a little dizziness, a mild headache, and that strange foggy feeling that comes when the air refuses to give your lungs quite what they’re asking for. When I lived in Arequipa, Perú (average elevation 2,328 meters / 7,638 feet), I felt like this every single day for the first six months. It was not a pleasant adjustment. Walking up even a modest hill here feels like climbing a staircase that never quite ends. But this time, no mild headache, no dizziness. I think my brain has finally decided to live with the elevation.

Oxapampa - Looking Beyond Tourism: Finding a Real Hometown in Perú

March 21, 2026

I spent a week in each of Villa Rica and Oxapampa. These are my finalists for a new hometown. Both of these towns are in the Selva Central of Perú. In other words, they are on the Amazon side of the Andes in about the middle of the country. Selva refers to the jungle or jungle region. In Perú it refers to the entirety of the Amazon region/tropical rainforest/dense jungle. It can also, in slightly different forms, take on slightly different meanings. For example, silvestre refers to "wild" as the natural wildlife in general. Salvaje refers to "wild" as in untamed/undomesticated wild animals. Anyway, enough Spanish for one blog. So, yes, now into my 4th backpacking journey of South America and I've narrowed my list to those two towns. Keep reading to learn a bit more about each.
References: My Villa Rica blog, July 2, 2025
My Oxapampa blog, April 8, 2024

Juanjuí — A Selva Town That Just Works

March 17, 2026

Juanjuí, Perú - I've been here several times before and I like this town. It has nothing special, no historical architecture, no archeological sites, no anything. It's just a riverside town that is calm, relaxing, full of friendly people. The streets are not congested, the drivers are not laying on their horns, in fact, they use them very sparingly. The main plaza is pleasant, and the linear park is mostly finished with new ponds with fountains and lots of open grass space. I've written other blogs about Juanjuí which include the history, so I won't bother with that in this blog.
References:
Juanjuí, Perú - Feb. 8, 2023
Juanjuí, Perú - Aug. 14, 2023