…en Perú - Travel Culture History News

This video by CoZzMiX shows the dangerous way in which building work is done in Peru. No safety equipment, no enforced health and safety laws and no-one to care.

There are thousands of building sites across this economically booming country and sites like this are often seen. I’ll try to attach some of my photos to this blog as and when I take them. You’ll see some scary stuff.

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Fine architecture, grand buildings, horse drawn carriages ferrying around the rich. This affluent area is adjacent to the city centre laid out by the conquistador Pizarro and dates back to not long after he founded it.

The Spanish destroyed the indigenous communities in the area, notably the Limay, forced them into Catholicism and built the Santa Ana church over their settlement. The Spanish built around the church and the area became known as the District of Santa Ana. Further east new towns were built for the indigenous so that the Spanish would be better able to control and convert them. Around Lima and Santa Ana walls were built to defend against hostile other locals and pirates. Santa Ana had an entrance where Cinco Esquinas, a junction of 5 streets, is located in the centre of what will soon be called the Barrios Altos.

When the city expanded in the 1800s, Santa Ana and all the towns to the east of it were encompassed into the city. The suburbs were replaced by denser colonial streets with fine colonial buildings. The area was given the general name of the Barrios Altos, the high neighbourhoods, as the area slowly slopes up towards the mountains. In these years, Lima really was the City of the Kings as it was known at the time. Lima had no problems with crime or poverty, it’s population consisted almost entirely of rich Spaniards and Spanish descendants. The Barrios Altos were the pride of the city.

Since the 1900s the rich have moved out to the new suburbs and the poor have moved in to the old. The best examples of colonial architecture in Lima are now in a decomposing state, many barely standing. With little money to spend on restoration these buildings are likely to remain like this until they collapse.

The photos attached to this blog show the current state of the Barrios Altos, now one of the poorest areas of the city. It’s now a place of decay and poverty but also one of strong community. It’s not as dangerous as people say it is, I wasn’t robbed or hassled in my many hours walking through the old streets, on the contrary, people waved, smiled and wished me a good day. If more tourists would visit this area, perhaps some of the money that the Government does have for restoration will be spent here, to save the buildings and also improve the quality of life for the residents.

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The Quinta Heeren is a residential housing development that was built between 1888 and 1930. The first such large scale development of its kind in Peru, it was the brainchild of Oscar Heeren, a German businessman and diplomat. On the 30,000 square metres of land on the edge of the city (now a good few kilometres inside it!), in grand style, Heeren built a self-contained community, with the open space of a main square, a public garden and even a small petting zoo. It was very suburban.

The Quinta and the surrounding is part of the UNESCO World Heritage City of Lima, but it
has not fared well in the decades since its construction. Many of its houses were abandoned in the 1930s when much of the city’s affluent population vacated the area. Over time, earthquakes, exposure to the elements, and inadequate plumbing and drainage have taken their toll. Although the Quinta is privately owned, it is rented in large part by low-income tenants who can not afford maintenance, which has only sped up the decay.

In 2003 two of the Quinta’s blocks collapsed and their tenants had to be relocated to temporary housing erected in the garden. The owner is apparently seeking to demolish the Quinta to make way for new development.

The Quinta Heeren appeared on WMF’s 1998 list of 100 Most Endangered Sites, after which a trust was created by a local tenants’ association to reverse the tide. Their aim was to encourage Lima’s Ministry of Housing to take control of the Quinta so that its water system, a major cause of damage, will become a municipal responsibility and the tenants’ association is able to obtain ownership of the residential blocks and embark on their rehabilitation.

Some areas of historic Lima are now being restored, but these efforts are primarily being focused on the areas tourists most visit, Los Barrios Altos are not one of them. There were plans to restore historic buildings in which people were also living in squalor, but such efforts have not yet got under way.

Adapted in part from World Monuments Fund’s information.

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The buildings in the plaza seem to have been cleaned or repainted as part of the restoration of central Lima.
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The muslim Moors who conquered much of Spain left their mark there - for hundreds of years after the Christian reconquering many Islamic traditions continued to be followed in the south. The Moors impact on Spanish culture is visible in the language, the architecture and typical dress.
In South America these Islamic influences were brought from Spain by Spanish immigrants in the times of the various vice royalties - during Spain’s colonial height.

In the Vice royalty of Peru which consisted of almost all non-Portuguese South America, Lima was the seat of power and home of the Spanish. This was a time of great wealth. Colonial Lima was a city, known at the time as the City of Kings, with the most beautiful and exquisite colonial buildings. Each building was dominated by its grand wooden balconies, perfectly carved, some pieces even shipped from Spain. The Moorish style of the patterns on some of these buildings is not the Islamic influence I want to draw your attention too, it’s how the balconies were used and who by.

In the times of the vice royalties and even up until some decades after independence it remained custom for Limean women to wear a form of dress very similar to that of Muslim women - the Muslim women of old Spain. The dress consisted of a puffy European exaggerating-hips style skirt that covered all the the legs and draped onto the floor, but not such as it would stop their perfectly embroided shoes being seen. On top women would wear a shroud, that was incorporated into the top part of the outfit, that was wrapped around the front of the body hiding its shape and continued up until and was wrapped around the face and head. This allowed the woman visibility from only one eye and shielding her from the eyes of others. It wasn’t all modesty and preventing unwanted attention from men who would not even know if the woman were even he sister at first glance, sometimes the dress was used flirtatiously - so it seems the Islamic custom had been diluted quite a bit.
It wasn’t considered appropriate in this time for women to go out on the street. If going outside was necessary the women would wear the dress described. To allow the women to observe the goings on in the street while not actually having to leave the home, buildings were constructed with grand balconies from which they could look out below.

The women of this time were known as the limeñas tapadas, the covered limean women, and although the vice royals tried to discourage the use of the dress the old Muslim habits died hard.

Lima’s balconies - Read the rest of this entry »

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Hugo Chavez’s revolution continues as the Venezuelan embassy is painted bright socialist red

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It’s among the most notable railways of the world and is unequalled in the technical difficulties overcome and the high elevation reached in its construction, climbing over the divide of the Andes from Callao to Huancayo in the department of Junín. It’s the only railway in South America that tops the tremendous altitude of 4820m. In fact the highest point at La Cima is 4,835m above sea level. To reach this altitude, the train crosses 41 bridges, 60 tunnels and around 13 zig zags, taking approximately 8 hours up-hill to reach the Galera tunnel. From there it descends on the opposite side of the Andes, following the Yauli River which is on the Atlantic slope, to La Oroya. Then it follows the course of the Mantaro River, crossing it to reach Tambo station, passing through the centre of the valley and beautiful towns such as Jauja, Apata, Matahuasi, Concepcion and finally, Huancayo.

Proposals
In 1851 the Polish engineer Ernesto Malinowski proposed to extend the Lima - Callao railway opened that year, to the Jauja Valley. The Government put together a commission to investigate the idea who then put forward a proposal for the work. Once their proposal had been approved, the Commission turned the project over to Malinowski.

In 1866 war broke out with a Spain desperate to reconquer its lost empire and work was suspended for 2 years, after which Henry Meiggs, a North American contractor in New Jersey and Chile was requested to oversee construction. His services didn’t come cheaply, and he wasn’t interested in the previous studies conducted. It is said that Meiggs made the statement that “I will locate the rails wherever the llamas go”. After approving Meiggs’ own studies, the Government accepted Meiggs’ proposal and Meiggs agreed to construct the railway between Lima and Jauja in 1869 within 6 years. Work began on the first of January, 1870 with a lavish ceremony in which the first stone was placed at the present-day Monserrate station in Lima under the direction of Malinowski, engineer and head of the Technical Committee.

Construction
To facilitate construction, the main line was divided into sections, which were:

• Lima - Callao - Cocachacra
• Cocachacra - San Bartolome - Surco
• Surco - Matucana
• Matucana - Parac
• Para - San Mateo - Rio Blanco
• Rio Blanco - Galera
• Galera - La Oroya

Meiggs was only able to immediately construct the line as far a Chicla, 141km from Callao, due to the Governments inability to provide all of the 27 million soles. Mieggs died a year before the war with Chile waiting for the Government to come up with the money. The line was only completed as far as La Oraya, after a suspension until 1890, by turning over all
of the State railways to the bond holders of the Peruvian national debt
after the war with Chile. The line reached Casapalca on 12 July 1892 and La Oroya on the 10 January 1893. In 1907 construction began of the section between La Oroya and Huancayo. When finished, it had taken more than 38 years to complete the Central Railway.

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Phil from Bolivia Blog explains the concept of the Gringo Tax.
“Although living in La Paz as a gringo is great it can have its problems not least of which is the constant battle against the “gringo tax” that the locals constantly try applying. Whilst not every single local increases the price it is certainly common place as they assume all gringos are rich and they assume all gringos are tourists that don’t know the price of things. A sure sign they are going to ‘up a price’ is when there is a pause after you ask how much something is whilst they weigh up how much they are going to ask for. Don’t be fooled into thinking they are trying to remember how much something is, they are trying to decide how much it is for YOU. “

When out in Lima, I will avoid asking a taxi driver how much his fare will be because it’s always about 2 or 3 soles more than if Annett asks. When I am in Miraflores I often hear tourists being quoted S./8 to S./12 for a journey to back to their nearby hotel or to nearby Barranco, when in fact such a fare would take you 20 minutes along the Via Expresa to the center of the city.

“For some items , like bottled water for example, if they quote me a price that is alot more than it should be (it is common to be quoted double around tourist areas) I just walk away and buy somewhere else as I dont want to deal people trying to blatently rip me off- there are plenty of honest people to buy from.
ALWAYS agree the price with a taxi driver first and if possible ask a local how much the fare should be as taxi drivers will try to over charge you 90% of the time.“

In places like Cusco, tourists are always cheated. We once left the tourist center of the city to find something we could afford to eat without a 500% mark-up and found a restaurant with S./3 set meals.
When sitting down we were handed the menu to make our choice for each course. There were also several set meals to consider, some costing S./5 with more food. Asking what she would recommend, the helpful waitress suggested the “tourist menu”. Interesting, we thought, what does it come with? “The same as the basic [S./3] menu“, she said, “but its for tourists “, she said, making my choice for me, charging me twice, S./6, the stated price for the same food with no shame. Annett protested at me being charged double for the same - in a restaurant. “Dont worry, you can have it for S./3“, she said, referring only to her.

On bargaining in general, Phil says:-

“People have different opinions on bargaining and if they mind paying more for items than the locals. Europeans and N. Americans usually earn alot more than Bolivians and sometimes dont care they are being overcharged or even feel like they are helping the locals by paying a little more. This attitude however isnt seen with gratitude by the locals but that gringos are stupid and easy to ripoff making it more difficult for tourists that dont have much money or foreigners that live here in Bolivia. The one exception where I think tourists should give more is with tipping of guides and restaurant staff (only if the service has been good though) as this is a way of showing appreciation and it is within the control of the customer.“

As a tourist that doesn’t have much money and as a foreigner living here in Lima I have to agree with the above. What’s worse is it encourages people to cheat others… and who can blame them? Anyone would take money from an idiot with seemingly too much of it if given the opportunity.
As well as tipping as a way for a tourist to contribute to local peoples pockets without encouraging people to be dishonest, one can also visit the tourist markets. It’s common the world over to pay silly prices for (mostly)pointless trinkets. So buy that S./15 chullo if you don’t already have one.

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I almost died twice today. Quite a normal day on Peruvian roads.

I am still not quite used to barely avoiding horrific traffic accidents yet, hence me bothering to tell you with this blog, but it is slowing becoming normal. I smile now, rather than go numb with fear. Today’s potential death scenarios, as you might have suspected, both involved public transport. In these instances, taxis.
In the back streets of San Isidro our taxi driver was casually driving on the wrong side of the road, along what was essentially one long blind turn of a curved road full of parked cars and no visibility. This, of course, was at high speed. Suddenly in front of us appeared a large white car, dozens of times stronger that our tiny Tico taxi. In the second it took to notice it, our driver skilfully swerved out of it’s way.
Later that afternoon we were in another taxi coming from Javier Prado onto the Via Expresa. Without looking, at very high speed, we came down the ramp and straight into the flowing traffic. Narrowly swerving out the way, with a more genuine expression of sheer terror than I have seen on a Peruvian driver in a long time, our almost morgue-companion survived.

This video, by a web-programmer from the UK - Ben Powell, shows the rules of the road in Arequipa.

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The new bills signed into law recently may not be the deterrent the government hoped as two foreigners were robbed last night. The separate incidents, likely related, involved kidnapping a Chilean and an Argentine from Lima’s Costa Verde.

The Chilean, Cristian Sulfano (38), was was held at gunpoint for 3 hours while forced to withdraw all that he could from his bank account at various ATM machines over that time. He was released unharmed.

The Argentine woman, who had just arrived in Lima and was being driven to her hotel in a taxi hailed from Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport, had her taxi stopped by armed men who abducted her. Police suspect the taxi driver’s involvement as he couldn’t tell a straight story.

It’s often not a good idea to hail a taxi from the hustle and bustle outside of Lima’s Airport, although cheaper some drivers are involved in robberies and of those who aren’t, many would try to cheat an unsuspecting tourist. Tourist with a pre-booked hotel or hostel have no excuse not to demand they are picked up from the airport, if not already offered that service. Otherwise, take a taxi from the oldest man in the screaming bunch of taxi drivers - It’s likely he was a taxi driver long before the city was swamped with criminals. A taxi full of Catholic paraphernalia such as crosses and pictures of the Virgin Mary does not mean you won’t be robbed by the driver - it just means he’ll have a lot of confessing to do the following day.

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