…en Perú - Travel Culture History News

As more and more of Peru’s glacial peaks find themselves without their snowy white caps, one more can now be added to that growing list.

End of Andean winter, April 2008

Life on the barren Peruvian coast and dry ocean-facing Andean slopes is predicted to become just that much drier in the coming years. As the world heats up and the tropical glaciers of Peru’s Andes mountains disappear, the narrow green fertile valleys that are fed by their melt waters will also disappear. The rivers that run down to the Pacific ocean provide fresh water to the vast majority of the Peruvian population, those in the cities and those in the fields alike.

The Nevado Chachani, a volcano found in Arequipa, this November finally ran out of snow according to local authorities. Engineer Zacarías Madariaga of the region’s Environmental Health Agency, explains that the final decline in the amount of ice at the volcano’s peak started in September, picked up pace by October and the ice was completely gone by November. And just like that, in such a short period of time, the peak was without snow for the first time in its history.

Water crisis

Arequipa is this year facing a water crisis, with two of its four reservoirs empty. The other two hold a combined 73 million cubic metres, while the White City uses one million per day.

Sebastián Zúñiga Medina, regional director of SENAMHI, Peru’s meteorological and hydrological authority, explains that the period encompassing the last few months of 2007 were the hottest and driest recorded. This led to more water evaporation - an incredible 7 litres per any square metre of exposed water [per time period was not given by the source].

He goes on to explain that the Chilina river, on which the city of Arequipa sits, is likely to be affected as Chachani fuels the Chili river that is the Chilina’s source.

Both Madariaga and Zúñiga blame global warming for the loss of ice and impending droughts, but also blame local authorities who ignored several years of warnings. City authorities did nothing to reduce air pollution and ignored recommendations to re-forest surrounding hills to increase the humidity of the air.

For those who have been to Arequipa, Chachani is located to the left of the famous El Misti, and was always covered in snow even why El Misti wasn’t.

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Time to update those maps of Peru’s Andean Pasco region, because the regional capital Cerro de Pasco is set to move 35km down the road. High levels of pollution are blamed.

Cerro de Pasco city, 1993, Photo: Cyberjuan

After intense and at times colourful debate, the population of Cerro del Pasco and its authorities have approved the immediate relocation of their city. Although not all entirely happy, residents have accepted the decision.

The new location, in accordance with the proposition made by authorities, will be 35 kilometres to the south of its actual position, between the towns of Shelby and Tambo del Sol.

Regional president of Pasco, Félix Rivera Serrano, described the agreement as historic, and from today work will begin to move the entire city.

Pollution

The decision, according to Rivera Serrano, was taken because of the high levels of pollution that have seriously affected the health of the 80,000 strong population.

Cerro de Pasco mine, 1993, Photo: Cyberjuan

“The problem of pollution around the city of Cerro de Pasco has a long history and is linked to mining, which affects not only the city’s territory and urban infrastructure, but also the environment, economy, social and cultural structures”, he said.

In the agreement reached by the public assembly, it was emphasised that the relocation was a vital necessity. The assembly was convened by Peru’s Peoples Committee of Andean, Amazon and Afro, Environment and Ecology of Congress, a group created to protect the rights of Peru’s rural citizens.

Among those present were a number of congresspeople including Roger Nájar, Gloria Ramos, Carlos Cánepa, Oswaldo de la Cruz, Tomas Cenzano, Hilaria Supa and María Sumire. They were joined by the chairman of the regional government, Felix Rivera, the provincial mayor, William Tito Valle, and public relations officer for the company Volcan, Luis Pariona Arana. Also, by representatives of social organizations, unions, human settlements, towns, traders and the general public.

Peru has long had serious problems with pollution. Mining and oil operations were at one time poorly controlled and regulated, poisoning the local environment and making local populations ill. Despite new laws, many of these foriegn owned operations still have little in the way of an environmental or social conscience.

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Descended from the older Paracas civilisation, the Nazca are of course most famous for their countless mysterious lines drawn in the rocky desert plains in which they lived. They were also great water engineers, creating a series of complex aqueducts.

When you think of the Nazca, you think of their mysterious geometric shapes and lines in the desert, which were seemingly important enough to dedicate such huge amounts of time and resources to create.

From their capital city of Cahuachi, archaeologists have gleamed far more information about this pre-Incan people. This city was of immense, memorising proportions. Most estimates put the terrain it covered at as much as 24km2, that’s, dare I mention it, bigger than Chan Chan, built centuries later. It stretches along the sandy slopes overlooking the fertile valley, in a line that is, by my estimate, about 12km. Here you’ll find dozens of pyramids, broken pottery scattered across the desert and textiles just beneath the surface.

What was found here told us that the Nazca were descendants of the older Paracas culture, continuing their production of some of the most complex and creative textile patterns in the Andean world, and continuing and improving upon their ceramic production techniques, creating new methods to produce colourful and more realistic decoration.

From their ancient burial ground of Chauchilla, we learn that far from being small, the average Nazcan was 1.7m or 5.57ft tall. They also sported long thing dreadlocks that reach the floor.

Other than the fascinating lines, or the huge ceremonial city of Cahuachi, the Nazca are also famous for their complex underground aqueducts, bringing water to the more arid parts of their world. Wells leading down into them are found at Cantalloc, near the much later Inca ruins of Paredones, eventual rulers of this land.

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The amazing shapes and lines drawn on the plains of Nasca have led to a growth in passenger numbers at the Maria Reiche aerodrome of some 110% in the past 10 years. This however has not gone hand in hand with proper renovation of the terminal’s aircraft.

A recent finding by the El Comercio newspaper has shown that 90% of the 38 planes operating at the aerodrome are between 35 and 40 years old. One aircraft, with registration OB-1202, is a staggering 52 years old! Thankfully the operator, Nasca Air Lines, formally Aero Ica, has recently been shut down.

In a similar situation is the company Nasca Connection, who operate three light aircraft manufactured in the 60’s and two in 1976. They have however bought three new planes of the Caravan brand made in 1998, 1999 and 2004 - this meaning that on average they have Nazca’s most modern fleet.

Carlos Palacín Fernández EIRL, another of the operators that recently changed its name to Travel Air, offers its services with six light aircraft built between 1961 and 1980, while Aero Paracas owns five aircraft built between 1960 and 1963. These are joined by Alas Peruanas who operate four planes with ages between 28 and 45 years, Expreso Moche has one plane from 1983, Aero Santos with one from 1966, Alas de América with one from 1973, Taxi Aereo Ejecutivo with two from 1963 and 1972, and finally Aero Palcazú with planes between 26 and 32 years old.

Without Peru’s Ministry of Transport (MTC) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) pushing for and legislating for renovation, little if anything is likely to be done.

A source at the aerodrome explains that on these old planes, navigation is carried out visually and by radio, whereas in other countries it is done by satellite. “In other countries this assistance from air traffic is through satellite equipment to minimize risks”.

The source goes on the explain that the 38 light aircraft that operate from the aerodrome have the exact same control panels, instruments, equipment, cabs, seats, doors, fuselage and wings from the year they were built. Nothing has been renewed.

Another issue is the limited passenger capacity. Of the 38 aircraft, 17 have space for three passengers, 12 for six passengers and only 4 for twelve passengers. This means, due to saturated skies over the lines, their is little capacity for further grown in tourism.

Accidents

In March of this year, five French citizens were killed after mechanical failures caused their plane to crash. The aeroplane was operated by Aeroica (Aero Ica) which has now had its operations shut down.

Last December a light aircraft belonging to Aerocondor carrying four French tourists had to make an emergency landing on the Panamerican highway due to a mechanical fault. Just days before, also due to a mechanical fault in their ageing fleet, 12 Japanese tourists and one North American were also involved in an emergency landing. The company’s licence to operate was revoked.

In March of 2007, another five French tourists almost lost their lives when their plane ran out of fuel mid-air. The operating company Aero-Palcazú had not given the group enough fuel to complete the trip. Luckily the pilot was able to land on the Panamerican highway without hitting cars.

Ten years ago, one of the worst accidents occurred. Two aircraft hit each other over Nazca killing ten Italian and German tourists.

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Maria Reiche

Born in Dresden, Germany, the young mathematics and geography student left her country with no real wish to come back - in 1932 a man named Adolf was rising to power but was not her kind of future leader. Looking for a way out, she applied for a job as a nanny for the children of a German consul in Cusco, Peru. She was hired, sailed to Peru and never returned.

She fell in love with the country, and the Inca capital. She also took an interest in Peru’s ancient cultures, as everyone who spends time in their country does, and enjoyed visiting the sites around Cusco such as the famed Machu Picchu.

She later moved to Lima where she took a teaching job, and worked as a translator for scientific papers. Hearing from an American scientist in Lima about some newly discovered lines and figures in the Nazcan desert, she was fascinated, and as soon as the opportunity arose she headed south. On seeing the figures from the air, she was so struck by them that she decided to dedicate herself to understanding them, what they meant and where they came from.

For the next 40 years of her life, Maria Reiche lived alone in a small house in the Ingenio valley, just to the side of the vast desert plains. She studied and published, studied and published, just able to fund what was long and tiring work. With the little money she made, this foreigner was able organise aerial photographs and campaign to the Peruvian Government to persuade them to protect their heritage. Eventually, the government agreed to restrict access to the plains so that people couldn’t walk and drive over the lines.

The tower Maria Reiche had built

She was able to hire couple of guards to protect the area, and spent time herself staring out over the plains from the visitor’s tower she had built looking for intruders.

Tirelessly, she spent day after day of her life under the hot sun cleaning rocks from lines, and working on her theories as to what they were for. She for one came to the conclusion that the lines were some kind of calendar, marking solstices and the passage of stars and constellations.

When her health deteriorated, and she was confined to a wheelchair, this remarkable woman still continued giving lectures on her beloved lines. She lived in a room in Nazca’s fancy Hotel Nazca Lines, which thanks to the military dictatorship of Velasco, was granted to her for the rest of her life without cost. She was given a host of honours including being declared an honorary citizen of Peru.

She grew very ill and died in 1998 at the age of 95, her work having given the town of Nazca the prosperity it has today from a booming tourist industry, as well as recognition and protection of the ancient mysterious lines that during her lifetime were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Despite not being able to definitively prove her theory, anyone and everyone who studies these lines and does prove something will owe her their success.

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One of the stranger tales told about the Nazca Lines and the work done on finding their meaning by the great Maria Reiche begins not long after the German first arrived in Peru.

She had, when leaving her native Germany for Peru in the early 1930s, sensed she might not return. A feeling compounded by the fact that on arriving on the Peruvian coast something strange happened.

Count the fingers

“It was a kind of destiny. When I first came to Peru by sea the ship went passing through the centre of four consecutive rainbows - four arcs, one inside the other! It was a marvellous spectacle. It must have been some kind of prediction or something. Imagine a boat, a boat driving through the open sea, passing through arching rainbows that touched the waves”, she once commented.

It was not long after she had arrived that an accident occurred. While enjoying the Andean scenery she pricked her finger quite badly on the needle of a cactus. After a few days, and heavily swelling of her hand, the doctor attending her had no choice but to amputate the finger due to gangrene.

She had now only 9 fingers.

Skipping forward in time, Maria Reiche had been made aware of a new and amazing archaeological discovery in the desert outside Nazca. She said several times she felt drawn to the site, compelled to study it. And she did until they day she died.

What’s fascinating though, something she noticed immediately when studying the huge drawing of the monkey, is that it only had 9 fingers. Five on one hand and 4 on the other. Just like Maria Reiche.

Count the fingers

It’s an amazing coincidence, made all the more so by the feeling Maria had when walking around the lines. She felt at home, she seemed to know where others were located, like she had been there before. Other figures, both on pottery and also in the desert, also so animals with one finger less on one hand.

Was Maria Reiche destined to be here? Was she a reincarnated Nazcan? Did the Nazcans know that a thousand years down the line a devoted woman with nine fingers would bring their creations to the attention of the world and lovingly restore them?

Impossible to prove, but a wonderful story nonetheless.

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Thousand year old discovery reveals new information about social organization and ideology of the Sicán.

Site of discovery

The Bosque de Pomac historical sanctuary is still turning up surprises and astonishing archaeologists. This incredible place, a vast forest of of algarrobo trees on the old grounds of the Batán Grande suger-cane hacienda, is dotted with dozens of ancient pyramids belonging to the Sicán culture, descendants of the Moche.

35km north of Chiclayo, the site was first excavated in 1978 by Japanese archaeologist and anthropologist Izumi Shimada, but it wasn’t until 1992 that his team discovered a tomb of an elite member of Sicán society. From this grave, 1.2 tonnes of precious metals in the form of jewellery and religious artefacts were removed, now stored in the National Sicán Museum. It made international news.

Since that discovery, many dozens more have been made, but the most recent has occurred in the past months.

New excavations have uncovered two burials of Sicán elite. The co-director of the archaeological project, Carlos Elera Arévalo, explains that the remains of both bodies were found with gold, silver and copper ornaments that demonstrate their position in their society, and the period during which they lived - around 900-1100 BC.

Tomb

Work is still under way on the eastern side of the Huaca Loro pyramid, but hopefully within the coming weeks we will find out more about the two elite Sicán.

Carlos Elera Arévalo says however that their work goes beyond discovering fabulous ancient tombs with precious jewellery - the aim of their research is to find out more about the social organisation and religious ideology of the Sicán, also known as the Lambayeque, who developed in this area.

He added that between 1990 and 1996 alone, they have excavated and analysed some 50 burials of individuals of both sexes, various ages and social positions, including, among these, the Lord of Sicán (Not to be confused with the Lord of Sipán).

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A team from Peru’s National Institute of Culture (INC) working on the ruins of Torontoy in the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, have discovered the tomb of an Inca with full funerary regalia. The gender and age of the tomb’s owner has not yet been determined, but found with the body were a number of decorated ceramics and two pins.

Burial site in Torontoy

The dig was taking place as part of the budgeted work for 2008 and was led by archaeologist Homar Gallegos Guitierrez. It is thought that the burial dates from the time of the founding of Torontoy, when the Incas first built the citadel in the kancha design of enclosed rectangular walls.

The remains and the objects discovered will be taken to Cusco for detailed analysis.

Photos of Torontoy - Read the rest of this entry »

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Thousands of archaeological sites dating from hundreds to thousands of years old sit abandoned and forgotten across Peru. Year after year they decay further through lack of care or are intentionally destroyed. In the past century untold amounts of history has been lost.

Those that are recognised and fall under the protection of Peru’s National Institute of Culture (INC) don’t fair much better, but at least the INC must grant permission for any work to be carried out around the ruins, preventing their destruction in large and/or legal projects.

To this long list of protected national monuments, 80 ancient sites have been added yesterday from the two Peruvian departments of La Libertad in the north and Ica in the south.

INC protection isn't everything

In La Libertad, the archaeological sites now recognised include the Cerro Huarcayoc and Huarcayoc I, located between the towns of Santiago de Challas and Huancaspata, Pataz province.

In Ica, among the archaeological sites declared cultural heritage are Maijo Chico 1, 2 and 3, Maijo Grande, Caracoles 1,2 and 3, Pampa Media Luna 1 and 2, Cerro Tres Pavos 1 and 2, Pampa Media Luna 4, 5, 6 , 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13, Media Luna 1 and 2, San Marcos 2, 3 and 4.

As well as, Santa Catalina 2, Asiento, Chuichipampa 1, 2 and 3, Cucahuischu, Illatoro 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Marcaya 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Media Luna 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, Casa Blanca 1, 2 and 3, Huayurí Bajo 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Huayurí 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Other ancient sites include Pampas de Huayurí, Pampa Las Carretas 1, 2, 3 and 4, Larán, Monte Grande, Pampa Media Luna 7, 12 and 14, San Marcos 1 and Huayurí Bajo 7.

Now falling under protection as “National Cultural Heritage”, any road, agricultural or farming project that could affect the sites in any way must first be approved by the INC.

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ANDINA/Hector Vinces

A cannon dating from Peru’s Spanish colonial period has been found by workers constructing part of Lima’s new Metropolitan transport system and underground central station. Unearthed at the intersection between Camaná and Emancipation, the cannon measures 2.79 metres long and is in good condition.

An archaeologist from the country’s National Institute of Culture (INC), Carmen Gabe Benaki, explains that the cannon was likely to have been reused in the 1800s to protect an old mansion that once occupied the site but no longer stands. During the building’s demolition it would have been left in place and become buried.

It seems this was not the first time this particular item had been rediscovered. The cannon was found just centimetres below tubes in which the cables carrying power to the street lights run. Laid 30 years ago, it is likely that the workers placing these tubes ignored the historic cannon to avoid delays by archaeologists and the responsibility for retrieving it.

ANDINA/Hector Vinces

The INC has now given permission to the company carrying out the construction, Protransporte, to move the object to the museum in the Parque de la Muralla for further study, and so that work can continue on the site.

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