Headed for Ayacucho - home of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) - a no go area for Tourists through the 80's & 90's - something to do with the 30,000 people killed by this Peruvian terrorist group!! Safe zone now - according to Lonely Planet - and untainted by modern global tourism. Certainly is! No Gringos in this town, and the craziest traffic so far in SA!! No hotels either - so we head for Rancho Bruno on a hilltop a mile to the north west.
Toughest Centro drive ever - makes La Paz look like a country outing! Abandoned Maps.me Sat Nav after the fifth one-way street she sent me down in the wrong direction. Drove through a hillside shanty town on a dirt track barely wider than our Pablo - had to ask sleeping locals to get off the track, move countless old tyres and swerve dozing dogs - some of which turned out to be canine shaped boulders!!
Finally - a Dallas sized gate - Rancho Don Bruno - in we go - hilltop fort - eucalyptus forest dotted with thousands of cacti!! And a lovely friendly face - Mrs Bruno - she no Ingles - we no Espanol. Not sure how it happened - but somehow we ended up sleeping in Mr & Mrs Bruno's family house - in fact in their bedroom!
Wonderful place - stone built - with a bamboo & teracotta tiled roof - basic for sure - but a palace compared to all the other homes in town!
Mr Bruno pops in to say "Hola", and they're gone - taking their pack of seven dogs with them!
Only then do we take a closer look at our surroundings and from the framed photos on the walls realise that Bruno (now about 65) was a professional footballer and played for Peru's National Team. Photo of him in 1972 looking handsome in his local team's strip and lots of others following his career.
Wait - there's more - another photo shows Mr & Mrs Bruno appointed Mayor and Mayoress of Ayacucho in 2011, not long after the Peruvian Government reached a Peace Agreement with Sendero Luminoso!
And there in the corner of the room hangs a holstered vintage .38 Calibre Revolver together with around 50 spent cartridges. Don Bruno is born and bred Ayacucho - the photos tell his story - he's there in 1974 for the opening of the town's first Football Stadium - and there again at the opening of the new Football Stadium in 2008. We asked him next morning about his career as a Professional Footballer - he glows with pride - asked him about his four sons and he smiles and glows some more - asked him about the Revolver and his expression saddened as he said "yes that is my gun, those times are over now".
