Over a year ago I illustrated the dangers of travel in the Andes with a series of roadsigns that would scare even the most experienced driver. Today I can illustrate it with photos of the recked remains of a taxi that drove off the road into a ravine. This is a daily occurance in Peru – though only bus-fulls of dead are enough to make the news, albeit briefly.
Category: "Life"
Caral: Ruth Shady Solís
She was a girl who belonged to the Archaeology Club in her school and found it a great influence in her life, so much so that she is now a Doctor in Archaeology and the woman in charge at the special Caral-Supe project. It took 13 years to demonstrate to the world that the city of Caral, located on the Peruvian coast, developed in line with the civilisations as old as those of Egypt or India.
The Streets of Cusco [Featured]
Alan Malarkey is currently in the city of Cusco studying Spanish, and writes about his time there on his blog Malarkey en Perú. Below he gives us an idea of day to day life on the streets of the city.
Quest for the lost city of Paititi
The legend of Paititi refers to a lost city in the Amazon rainforest, said to be founded as a refuge from the Spanish by surviving Incas. During colonial times it was sought out by dozens of explorers eager to conquer it’s people to retrieve it’s gold.
Petroglyphs of Pusharo
In his article for the Athena Review, Deyermenjian tells us, “I first encountered petroglyphs in 1984 while my party of highland campesinos and Peruvian adventurers was traversing the Cordillera de Paucartambo, the easternmost range of the high Andes to the northeast of Cusco. We were at an altitude of 13,500 feet when we found ourselves astride a rockhang covered with bas- relief images of llamas and walking humans. All the human figures on the rock were heading in one direction, northeast, toward the tropical forests This site is named Demarcación, whose meaning would doubtless have been understood by Incan peoples of old passing this way”.
Suffering of uncontacted Amazon tribes
The Amazon Rainforest is full of isolated indigenous peoples. They exist in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brasil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru. For President of PetroPeru Daniel Saba speaking of this is like speaking of the Loch Ness monster. Faced with protests from organized native groups, who point out the dangers for uncontacted and isolated tribes of selling off huge areas of Peru’s Amazon, he declared in April of this year “no one has seen them, so what uncontacted people are they talking about?” Surely Saba is not so unbelieving now, after the publication of photos taken from the air on the 18th of September by a group of belonging to the Zoological Society of Frankfurt and the National Institute of National Recourses of Peru, showing some 20 isolated and previously unknown villages along the Los Piedras River.
Say goodbye to Eden
The following article has been translated by me from an insert of the newspaper El Comercio, regarding the sale to oil companies of a large part of the most biodiverse place on earth, the Amazon rainforest of Madre de Dios in southern Peru.
The Dead Walk!
Well they didn’t really. They mostly stayed at home with their families waiting for Government volunteers to arrive and ask them a few questions. The streets were quiet – there were no cars and police were stationed at major junctions. Although it looked like a scene out of the movie 28 Days Later, fortunately there were no zombies to be found.
Lockdown
“On Sunday, October 21st, the whole of Peru is under house arrest. Nobody may leave their home; no business may open; even the homeless will be rounded up and confined to sports stadiums. Police and military will patrol the streets to enforce the “immobility order”.
Potato Goldmine, T’ikapapa project
Now in it’s third year, World Challenge 2007, in association with Shell, is a global competition that seeks out projects and businesses that not only make a profit, but also put something back into the community. Brought to you by BBC World and Newsweek, it is all about rewarding individuals or groups that truly make a difference through enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level. The winner will receive a US$20,000 award from Shell to benefit their project, while two runners-up will each receive $10,000.
Touching the Void
The story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates was turned into a book and a film both entitled Touching the Void. Although previously attempted, Yates and Simpson were the first people to ascend to the summit of Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash via the almost vertical west face. Disaster struck, however, on the descent…
Celebrity visits continue at Machu Picchu
Superman is the latest in a line of celebrities to visit the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu this year, as he takes time out to contemplate saving the world in his latest comic book adventure.
