Huanta is a town just over an hour from Ayacucho. I went there last week having recently read about it and the devastating effects that the Sendero Luminoso (the "Shining Path" - a communist terrorist organisation that was founded in Ayacucho. Between 1980 and 2000, 69,280 people died or disappeared as a result of the armed conflict between the Shining Path and the government) had on the town. Apart from the effects of the Shining Path, I found many things in Huanta that are similar to things in Ayacucho:
A nice central plaza;
A mirador overlooking the town;
Breastfeeding is so openly prevalent there is even a statue;
Several churches, big and small;
Adobe houses (I find the process by which a Hannah Montana poster ends up in the window of a house in a mountain town in Peru mindboggling);
Street art - the phrase translates as "The majority of people waste a lot of time talking about the problems that confront them" - I didn't realise that smurfs were such great sages!; 
Educational and instructive wall paintings;
Moto taxis - these three-wheelers are everywhere and for €0.30 will take you anywhere in the city. Many are pimped, though manily with religious quotes and pictures. Most Peruvians I know are shocked when I tell them that I walk the 25 minutes walk (at my fast pace) between my house and my work - the concept of enjoying walking doesn't seem to have caught on here.
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