Its Bell towers kiss the sky and its streets, climbing melancholically lead to beautiful colonial churches, lasting symbols of the unbreakable faith of the children of Ayacucho. It is a city of gossip and of nostalgia, which brings tears to the eyes in holy week or at the sound of the voices of its mythical singers, drunk on love and loneliness.

Surrounded by prickly pears and blessed with a temperate and healthy climate, the city of Ayacucho, capital of the state of the same name, is one of the most important tourist destinations in the Peuvian Andes because it combines the remains of primitive cultures with the majesty of its colonial buildings.

Known as the city of 37 churches, Ayacucho was founded on April 25, 1540 by the name of Huamanga but vestiges of human settlements more than 15,000 years old have been found in the cave of Pikimachay. Furthermore between the VI and XII centuries the first structured nation of the Andean world emerged in these lands, that of the Wari Culture.

And it was in the Pampa de la Quinua 32 kms. away from Ayacucho that Simon Bolivar's troops sealed the independence of a continent, by defeating the Spanish army in the glorious battle of Ayacucho which took place on December 9, 1824.

The past and the present are found in an Andean city 570 kms. from Lima, and 2,761 metres above sea level. Ayacucho - land of churches and ancient mansions, of singers and famous artisans- will leave its mark of liberty and melancholy on the heart of all those who walk its streets or contemplate the bell towers that kiss the sky.