The (Near) Marriage of Señor Hans

Two mountain towns were visited by Señor Hans and if it wasn´t for my highly tuned sense of survival, I would have been married in both of them !

Ayacucho was a both a very friendly and very historical place, always an interesting combination. On my first day I was wandering a bit outside of the center when out of nowhere I was attacked by a horde of knee-high little girls in school uniforms, shouting "Gringo! Gringo! Vuelta! Vuelta!". They grabbed both my arms and wouldn´t let go until I had swung them around ... a bit later I walked into one of the many churches. In the darkness inside I was spotted by a musty old crone who asked if I had a coin for her. I gave her 1 sol and before I could run away she gave me dusty hug and a slobbering kiss ...

In the afternoon I was sitting on a bench in the plaza when a middle-aged woman and her father joined me. We had a conversation about Peru and Holland, very friendly and all. After they asked me my age, they went into a frantic conversation between themselves, in which, if my Spanish didn´t betray me, they discussed marrying me off to some family member. The problem was that she was 37 and the old man said that it was not correct, the woman being older than the man. But his daughter replied that that didn´t matter these days, especially not with Europeans. Anyway, I escaped unharmed again.

Like I said, Ayacucho is more than a ´marry a gringo´ trap. Between the 6th and 10th centuries AD it was the center of the Huari (or Wari) civilisation, which dominated much of Peru at the same time as the Tiwanaku from Lake Titicaca. I went to see the remains of their capital, but it still needs a lot of excavation work for which the funds are missing (like many other sites in Peru).
In 1824, the Battle of Ayacucho was fought outside of the city, in which Spain was finally defeated by an army lead by the Antonio José de Sucre (remember him?). It paved the way to the independence of all Spanish colonies in South America.
And more recently, Ayacucho was the birthplace of the Sendero Luminoso movement, probably familiar to most of you under the name of "Shining Path" or "Lichtend Pad". In the 80s, the civil war between the movement and the Peruvian army, extremely brutal from both sides, lead to almost 70000 deaths or disappearances.
(See the links on the right panel for more info).

So, on to Huancayo then. Bigger than Ayacucho, but not as attractive. I went to visit an interesting, almost Gaudi-like park in the outskirts of town. A girl there asked me if I wanted to be on a picture with her (I am going to miss this kind of attention when I get back ...). Sure. She then asked if she could guide me through the park. Why not. And walk back with me to the city center. Better than walking alone. Then she asked me to go out with her tonight. I had to end it there, I´m afraid. My wary old bones were aching for a nice and early 9.30 sleep, but I didn´t bring it like that, or she would have wanted to tuck me in herself ! No, she has to find another gringo to marry.

Anyway, Señor Hans married ... it´s preposterous, not ? Inconceivable, right ?