LIMA 4

Day 76 24.09.15

Before we headed out, I dropped my clothes at a laundry, surprised that it would take longer to wash them than in smaller towns, but then jumped onto the bus ready to drive to a true Incan ruin; Pachacamac.

This site is a large vast area of desert land that has been the home to four different cultures along time. It is strange to believe that people chose to live here in the utmost desert. Yes, the sea is close and so there is food, and in some parts water from the ground produces oasis and life, but still, this dry and arid land is less than welcoming.

The vast land was split up into several different pieces of land covered by grand palaces and temples. During the last period of civilisations, the Incas, there was a special temple honouring the moon. This temple was very secluded and elite, and was enclosed by large walls, built all around the temple. Here you can see a piece that is left of it.

The temple was rebuilt by archaeologists some years ago, but was in danger of being once again destroyed by an earthquake. Since then it is no longer possible to visit the temple, and measures have been taken to protect the walls from tumbling down.

The temple was used to worship the moon. In its walls lived the most beautiful women of the civilisation. They were handpicked at very young ages to be dedicating their lives at this temple. They were that pure and elite that they would live their whole lives in this temple. They had their own servants who would cultivate food, dress them and look after them, but at the end of the road their lives did seem a little grim. Either they would be sacrificed at the temple of the sun, opposite the temple of the moon on the top of the hill, or they would continuously proceed in worshipping the moon and fulfil their own rituals.

At the bottom of the hilltop we visited some of the palaces of the other civilisations. These were very large buildings, with ramps instead of stairs leading away from a central courtyard to their actual living quarters on top, right next to where they would keep materials, and food supplies. Their extensive buildings also held animals, gave room to different handicraft workshops, for pottery and weaving and were places of worship or agriculture.

On the whole premise, there are two large roads that cross from north to south and from east to west. It is believed that the poor people would walk on the actual walkway, and that the elite would walk along the walls to wherever they had to be going. There is evidence of bridges all along the walkways, joining one wall with the other side.

When you turn around and look into the distance you can see how the human settlements are crawling closer and closer to the archaeological site, taking up already parts of it. I don’t know whether the Government isn’t doing its job here to increase controls and regulate this area, but the houses are coming closer and closer.

Moving on I got to see on of the larger gathering plazas, where the people used to meet up before attending religious ceremonies or other rituals.

After a walk up the hill we got to the temple of the sun. Like the Mayas the pyramid was built with large terraces, onto which the Incas built houses or other temples. On the very top the shamans and highest priests lived, being the highest point and closest connection to the sun god.

The actual temple or pyramid used to be covered entirely in red paint. Parts of this can still be seen along the walls.

From the top of the hill the view is just striking, and proves why the Incans chose this position. From here you can see the whole valley, see when enemies arrive, observe the working people, see the ocean, concluding the high and low tides, be safe from tidal waves and be able to see them earlier than others.

Now the ruins are in danger of being caved in by the surrounding settlements as well as a private sports club right below it. Here there is a large polo club as well as a medium sized bull-fighting arena.

The temple up here is very intricate; you can see the different terraces, the different structures, where on top of stone structures additional ones are built using clay bricks. As it never rains here in this part of the desert, using bricks made out of clay is not a problem and is the reason why we still can see these ruins as they are.

Of course as the Spanish arrived and conquered this civilisation, they burnt down and destroyed the highest part of this pyramid in order to retrieve any valuable metals (gold, silver etc.) and show their dominance over the Incas.

Here is a little image of what the pyramid is supposed to have looked like.

On my way back down I saw a little sea gull. If you didn’t know where this ruin was situated, this image would be very confusing – seeing a seagull in the middle of a desert.

Lower down the hill you can see one of the temples from a non-Incan civilisation. As you can see when the Incans took over this civilisation, they did this peacefully, leaving the people their own temples to worship in. That is why this pre-Incan temple is still in such good shape. The walls of this temple were coloured just like in this representation, decorated with little figurines and these bright colours.

After the ruins we headed back into Lima to a little side branch of a distillery. Here they sold the famous pisco, as well as other wines; red, wine and sparkling. We even got little insight into how the pisco is produced and I got to enjoy a little tasting.

Instead of the offered pisco I preferred the wine that was being offered to us. The pisco instead tasted more like a pear schnaps, but very mild. The pisco is actually made of normal grapes that are fermented and then distilled to achieve an alcohol content of between 41% and 48%. The wine I think I will buy when I get back to Germany, they offer an online service.

After the pisco bodega (winery), I proclaimed hunger and so we ventured to a nearby market, where in the midst of the active market we found a little dining room, a place of great food thanks to our driver who knew this place.

The little restaurant had many popular Peruvian dishes, such as tongue, or stomach, marinated, and accompanied by corn, potatoes or other starchy foods.

The dish with the stomach had a very interesting tasting potato as a side. It actually tasted of beetroot! Here it is.

We had some Chicha Mora, which is a drink made from the dark corn, which is sweet, but has a very peculiar taste, unlike any drink we have in Europe.

I myself tried the lomo saltado. This means the jumped beef. It is called this way as it is prepared in a stir-fry way, with a lot of onions and soy sauce.

After the delicious meal and watching a little bit of Peruvian news, where they worry about the upcoming El Niño phenomenon, we headed to Lima’s anthropology museum.

Here I got to stroll around to learn about the different civilisations, such as the Paracas people, depicting special columns with their god on it. Funnily the descriptions on this part of the museum were in German! [endif]

Moving along in the museum I got to see how in some of the cultures and with different intent, either to show status or to show the belonging to a special ethnic group, the craniums of young children were altered to change the form of their skulls. This was achieved by wrapping textiles and ropes around the heads, adding different plates etc. to either produce a dome shape, a shape with two little mounds, or some other form that was fashionable during this time. It reminds me a little of the Mayans, who did similarly, only did they also consider jaded teeth and cross-eyedness as a sign of beauty.

I moved on to a different section, where they displayed the way in which they buried their dead. They mummified them and positioned them in a fetal position, wrapping them with rich textiles, preparing them to be reborn in the afterlife.

At a different part of the museum the metal work of the different cultures was displayed, and intricate plates, earrings, headpieces, necklaces and crowns were displayed in all different kinds of metals.

Here is a little collection of the different pottery that was displayed in the whole museum. Bright colours, and elaborate designs, as well as very skilful imagery on the actual jars, jugs or for whatever else they were used for.

These civilisations were very detailed when it came to their textiles in terms of colour, weaving and actual details on the cloths. Here are just two examples.

Here an example of what agricultural Peru and day-to-day Peru could have looked like.

Here an example of what leaders would have worn.

Here a colourful fortress.

This table was very interesting as it showed which other cultures were growing and succeeding during the time the Incas were flourishing.

Here an image of an Incan agriculture and a ceremony.

A model of Machu Picchu.

This necklace shows an accounting system of the Incas. Each knot represents a different unit, quantity, or material, and the positioning of the knot along the string indicates how much, how long, how many was spent, required etc. Nobody knows for sure.

Here a model of the town that provided the agricultural support for Machu Picchu.

Here a hypothetical reproduction of Qoricancha.

In another room the history of the Amazon was illustrated. Here is a photo of the huts the indigenous used to live in in the jungle.

Moving on I could get a little glimpse of the conquering of the Spanish.

Here is a very interesting portrayal of the names the Spanish would give people of different skin colour and their offspring back in the days. They would call a mix between Spanish and indigenous Mestiza for example.

A black woman and a Spanish man would produce a Mulato.

After the museum we headed back to the hotel and I spent some time enjoying the internet when hunger got to me again – damn! These primal necessities :). I wasn’t feeling to well, and so I was really contemplating leaving the hotel room or just to surrender myself to self pity, but I was glad I chose to leave and head to a restaurant.

So I researched a little and found a great Asian place I was going to go to, and also researched a second option nearby if this Asian restaurant didn’t have a seat for me. I took a taxi there, and unfortunately that was the case, so I went with option two; a little Italian restaurant.

I ordered a caprese buffalo mozzarella salad, which was actually quite nice, apart from the fact that I had to add my own dressing.