Tuesday was a very quiet day for us.

Although there were some evening activities on the Semana Santa program we chose to have a quiet day in order to be fully prepared for today – Wednesday.
From what we have been told and what we have read this is one of the big days, and nights.

I did get a day time photo of the Templo de Buena Muerte, this was the starting point for the procession on Monday evening. The church was built around 1720 and we did manage to get a look inside after the procession moved off. The Sacristan had turned off the lights and was about to lock the door when we asked if we could have a quick look inside, he very kindly turned the lights back on for us and patiently waited until we had completed our visit. Although it looks rather old from the outside I can assure you it is nothing like that inside, a beautiful wooden altar fills the front wall, there are many well preserved paintings, a well maintained tiled floor and the walls and ceiling are a dazzling white. The entire effect was rather amazing.

As I wrote about ‘locking doors’ it reminded of the attached photo I took a few weeks ago while wandering the streets. To say that the people of Ayacucho are security conscious would be an understatement! However, this door does not hold the record; I have seen one with five huge bolts and padlocks combining with two serious Yale key locks! Your key ring alone would weigh you down.

One very pleasant event for us yesterday was having lunch with Juana, her husband and family and three young Koreans. Juana was one of our students in the English class and she had invited us to her home and had prepared a beautiful three course meal, this was followed by a typical Australian desert - apple crumble, courtesy of Marion. They are a lovely family and we had a wonderful time sharing many stories and much laughter. The photo shows Juana, her mother and one of her daughters.