Quinua Village

Quinua makes the iglesias de Quinua, small red-clay churches placed on the ridge of roofs across the Peruvian Andes for protection and good fortune - the northern counterpart to the Pucará bulls - along with musicians, bulls, nativity figures and a wide range of modelled clay work sold from workshops along the main street. The clay here is a strong red and the pieces are usually left unglazed or lightly finished. Above the village is the Pampa de Ayacucho, where the battle of 9 December 1824 was fought: Sucre's army defeated the royalist force and the viceroy was captured, ending Spanish rule in South America, and a white obelisk forty-four metres high stands on the plain to mark it, one metre for each year of the independence struggle. The site is a historic sanctuary with a museum, and the anniversary is marked every December.

What you actually see

• The ceramic churches - the red-clay roof pieces made and sold along the street.
• The workshops - families modelling bulls, musicians and nativity figures.
• The Pampa de Ayacucho - the 1824 battlefield that ended Spanish rule.
• The obelisk - forty-four metres, one for each year of the independence war.

When to go

May to September. Half a day from Ayacucho. 9 December brings the battle anniversary and large official events.

Honest expectations

The village is small and the workshops are homes with irregular hours. The battlefield monument is a walk uphill at 3,300 metres. Much of what is sold is repetitive tourist ware; the better modellers are worth asking for by name.

Nearby

Wari, the pre-Inca capital, is on the road back; Ayacucho is west.