2001 tagged posts

In America, Peru 2001 On  17/06/2001  No comments

This time I decided to do a tour to the archeological sites in the Sacred Valley. The distances were longer and there were no buses straight to the sights. We left Cuzco already late, about 9:30am. In the way to Pisaq we stopped in a handcraft market in a small village. It was a very touristy, the typical place made for the “gringos” spend their money.

In Pisaq, every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday there is a open market. It is divided in two parts; one of handcraft, to the tourists; and the other of food, more towards the local people. We walked a little in the market and went to the archeological site.

The site is a few kilometers up the hill. It is surrounded by agricultural terraces, theses were used specially to cultivate corn. It was also used to the production of Chicha (typical drink with hallucinogen power drank in rituals). The terraces have a good irrigation system to be able to cultivate corn at high altitudes and cold...

In America, Peru 2001 On  16/06/2001  One comment

Perto de Cusco existe um grande número de sítios arqueológicos, não tão famosos internacionalmente como Machu Pichu, mas de grande importância histórica. Resolvi pegar um ônibus local até o sítio chamado Tambomachay e de lá voltar caminhando, passando por outros sítios da redondeza. Os peruanos não gostam que chamem de ruínas, dizem que ruína soa como coisa velha, acabada, destruída e todos preferem que se chame de sítio arqueológico. Acham que este nome é mais justo para os locais. No ônibus, conheci uma americana que também queria fazer a caminhada de volta. Resolvemos, então, caminhar juntas. Por sorte, ela também era fotógrafa e, assim, parávamos para fotografar.

Tambomachay é conhecida como El Baño del Inca. Acredita-se que suas fontes de água não eram utilizadas somente para beber ou banhar-se, mas também em purificações e outros rituais. O lugar é pequeno, possui algumas paredes com portas e fontes de água.

Poucos quilômetros dali, está Puca Pu...

In America, Peru 2001 On  14/06/2001  2 comments

I planed to arrive in Cuzco a day before the Corpus Christi holiday. The city already was a party and there were commemorations at Plaza de Armas. I met some English friends for lunch and in the evening stayed reading in the hotel. I was tired.

Next day I woke up early to see the festivities. I sat down on the stairs by the cathedral. There was a great number of Peruvians and almost no foreigner tourists. I was looking at the people passing by: jelly, soda and chocolate sellers. They were also spreading out folders explaining each saint story.

Saints from neighbor churches come the day before to “sleep” in the cathedral from where they leave to the parade. After the commemorations they are returned to their original church...

In America, Peru 2001 On  13/06/2001  No comments

In Lima I visited the “Museo Nacional de Antropologia y Arqueologia”, located in Plaza Bolívar, a typical square of small city surrounded by colored colonial building. The museum shows the different phases of the indigenous cultures in Peru. Each culture is represented with the map of its region, time they had lived, its ceramics, clothing, mummies, skeletons… One of the attractions of the museum is the maquette of Machu Pichu where it shows how civilization worked. It has bulbs that light up showing what was each place in the construction.

The same day I visited the “Museo del Oro del Peru y Armas del Mundo”. The first floor you get in is a room full of rifles, knives, swords, digging, uniforms, armors, all possible warlike material, all in great amounts. I think I had never seen so many weapons together in my life. I did not like it at all, I felt suffocated and I left. I went to a handcraft store.

After some time, I came back and went to the basement to see the golden obje...

In America, Peru 2001 On  09/06/2001  No comments

I arrived in Ica by the end of the afternoon. I got off the bus and got a cab straight to Huacachina, the local oasis. The place reminded me the oasis from movies in the Sahara desert. There are enormous sand dunes around a small lake with palms tree, restaurants and hotels. There are just a few houses and a small number of inhabitants. Huacachina is known by the tourists for the practice of sandboard (a sport similar to snowboard). The difference is that here there is no cable car to take you to the top of  the dune. The tourists go up and practice in a higher part, without going all the way down, only in the end they go down the big dune. Some have the breath to go up and go down again. Here the climate in hot. After feeling cold in so many places, it was great to be in the hot weather, reading a book by the pool.

From Ica I went to Pisco, I wanted to visit the Ballestas Island. The boat tour usually leaves in the mornings...

In America, Peru 2001 On  04/06/2001  One comment

Flying over Nazca Lines is a good excuse to come to Peru. These famous drawings, believed to be made by Nazca and Paracas cultures centuries ago, can only be see from the of air. The figures were only discovered in the beginning of the 20th century when airplanes flew over the area and pilots saw something on the ground. Up to today we don’t known who did the drawings, neither why they were done. There are some theories, one of the most accepted one is that they have been drawn to be as a calendar showing when to plant and the season of the year… Another theory is that the drawings were done by astronauts, or that the indigenous could make air balloons and would fly over to see the figures.

I arrived in town late in the evening; I came by bus from Lima and I had already reserved a flight to the next morning. I woke up a little anxious; therefore I can get motion sickness in bus, boat, car. I imagined in a small airplane for three people who turn 90 degrees sidewise...

In America, Peru 2001 On  04/06/2001  One comment

In America, Peru 2001 On  01/06/2001  One comment

I arrived in Trujillo at 4am. As I was the only person to get off the bus that was going to Lima, once again, I suffered the fight of taxi drivers for my backpack. This time I got a little scared because I was not in a bus terminal, I was alone in a dark street. I decided not to argue and let them fight to decide who was going to take me. Well, the louder one earned.

To visit the ruins I didn’t want to get a tour, I decided to go by myself. In the morning I visited the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna. It is not known if they really were temples of the sun and moon. The name was given by the Spaniard when they arrived in the place and they thought these were Inca constructions. They did not know these were constructions from the Moche period, from hundreds of years before Incas.

Only one of the temples is opened to visits. I could see the different rooms, the sacrifice place and where they had found ceramic, skeletons and objects in gold, silver and copper...

In America, Ecuador 2001 On  29/05/2001  No comments

Crossing the border between Ecuador and Peru is not a pleasant thing. When I got off the bus in Huaquilla (Ecuador) about 20 men came around me trying to sell transport to Peru and offering to exchange dollars. One caught my backpack while the others fought for deciding who was going to take me. The place was horrible. It looked like with some parts of Ciudad del Leste (in Paraguay). I walked about 400m to the bridge on the border. I was carrying my backpack and always begging them to leave me alone. They continued walking with me, they were all talking at the same time and trying to sell me something.

On the bridge, I ran into a policeman and asked him there was a place to stamp the passport. I also wanted to know if there was public transport to Tumbes, I didn’t want to go to Peru with any of those guys that were harassing me. He was not precise in any of the answers. Moreover, “my friends” were talking the whole time, it made even harder to understand him...

In America, Ecuador 2001, Hiking/Trekking On  27/05/2001  One comment