Leaving Huanta
It was a long dark road to Huanta but leaving was much nicer than arriving. The local cycling club had heard there was some gringos in town. They were going out for a ride and came to find us before we set off. They made great pace setters and it was quite a relief when they waved us goodbye at the top of the hill. 
One of the few roads we´ve travelled on that has been tarmac. It´s difficult to descibe how nice it feels to ride on a smooth road especially when it´s downhill.
This was only a couple of hours outside Ayacucho, which turned out to be a beautiful old town. It made it´s money from gold and mercury and was the scene of one of the most decisive battles in SA history. The Spanish were defeated and Ayacucho became the centre of much political unrest right up until the 1990 when it was home to the Sandero Luminoso, the shining path.
