Machu Picchu Post is a short 3D film made at Supinfocom Arles in 2008 by Clement Crocq, Margaux Durand-Rival and Nicolas Novali.
This is the story of the unexpected meeting between a young Peruvian boy living with his llama and a pilot from the airmail flying above the boy’s house.
I wrote a short time ago about the Shipibo people, an indigenous Amazonian tribe, some of whom now live on the polluted river Rímac in Lima’s desert. (Alejandro also introduced us to the River Rimac Project)
Here, Alejandro tells us more about the Shipibo people living in Rimac, and their fascinating artwork.
It was not as important or majestic as the other huacas that once stood nearby, specifically those of the grand Limatambo not far away, but at least it breaks the mould of the modern district of San Borja, a district only a little more than 30 years old, built over the farm land that once surrounded this, the Huaca San Borja.
When the Incas arrived in the Cañete valley they found it fiercely defended by the Guarco (Huarco) people who lived there. It took future emperor Túpac Yupanqui years to subdue them, even going as far as to temporarily recreate the imperial capital of Cusco nearby as a base to attack from, moving the empire’s army there in the process. There were Huarco fortresses dotted across the fertile valley, and these fiercely defensive people had 20,000 warriors at their disposal, reading to die for their freedom – but life for the Huarco wasn’t always like this.
The Fortaleza del Real Felipe is the most prominent landmark in Callao. Built during colonial times, it was used to defend Spain’s most important port in the Americas against pirates and corsairs who would otherwise raid Callao or nearby Lima as they did up and down the Pacific coast. Today it is a tourist attraction and museum run by Peru’s army.
Between the two neighbouring administrative areas of Maranga and Sulcovilca was Limatambo. Once a busy town surrounded by fields, only two structures still exist on the edge of San Isidro and in La Victoria.
Señor de los Temblores is celebrated in Cusco during Holy Week, or Semana Santa. On Easter Monday the image of Señor de los Temblores is carried through the city in a procession that ends in front of the Cusco Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas, or main square, of Cusco. Tens of thousands gather on the Plaza de Armas and surrounding streets to see the procession.
I wrote some time ago about the stunning archaeological find at a dig led by Canadian Steve Bourget of the University of Texas. Here is the follow-up by National Geographic News:
The BBC’s Dan Collyns sums up the trial of President-come-Dictator Alberto Fujimori. He has been found guilty on human-rights abuse charges stemming from Peru’s so-called “dirty war” of the early 1990s, in which 70,000 people died as Maoist guerillas ravished the country.
Fujimori served as Peru’s president from 1990 to 2000, at the height of the country’s war with the radical Maoist Shining Path guerrillas and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. He is accused of authorizing slayings and kidnappings that were carried out by paramilitary death squads in 1991 and 1992 during what is often referred to as Peru’s “dirty war.”
The Huaca Huantille was one of countless archaeological sites lost among the urban sprawl of Lima, forgotten and neglected. That was until Francis Allison, mayor of the district of Magdalena del Mar where the pyramidal structure is located, decided to try to restore it along with the run down neighbourhood it is located in.
Parque de las Leyendas, a zoo built among the ruins of a pre-Inca city, somehow manages to mix ecology and archaeology, attracting hundreds of Peruvian families each day. Off the usual tourist trail for foreigners, it could make a good half-day trip and is a great chance to learn about Peru’s rich biodiversity and about Lima’s ancient past.
February is over, it is finally safe to come out of hiding and explain how carnival is celebrated in Peru. While Brazilians are building floats and flailing around, most Peruvians have to look over their shoulders. I have to mention Brazil because to most foreigners, the word carnival is synonymous with Peru’s largest neighbour. It may come as a surprise to many though that carnival is a big deal in Peru too – in fact, the next biggest and best carnival experience in the Americas is hosted in the north of the Andean country, in beautiful Cajamarca. Here the hugely anticipated event is the local population’s reason for being – and you can’t blame them, read about it here.
