Las Líneas de Nazca
August 19th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
As mentioned, the reason for the visit to Nazca was the Nazca Lines, huge drawings in the desert made thousands of years ago by the people of the Nazca civilization. Or by aliens, if you believe Indiana Jones. Here’s how we saw the lines:
And here’s what we saw (among many others, over a dozen in all):
From the air, this was equally impressive:
Nazca
August 12th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Nazca is a fascinating outpost that is supported primarily by the tourist money that comes in because of the Nazca Lines. Fifty dollars for a half-hour ride surely makes some of the locals good money (hundreds of tourists take the flights every day), although the wealth clearly doesn’t reach most of the residents. The town’s main street, frequented by passing tourists, looks as much like Disneyland as Peru.
Just a block off the main street, however, Nazca resembles the rest of the country. And from there the surrounding mountains are also obviously visible.
Another few blocks from the town center is a dry river that separates the main part of town, no rich enclave itself, from poorer areas that become shanties farther out.
Paracas
August 12th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
To illustrate the trip as I should have done at the time, I’ll post a couple pictures from each destination, in the order I traveled. Here’s Paracas:
My travels
August 12th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Where I went in Peru and Ecuador (click the tabs or the View Larger Map link below to see destinations and dates):
View Larger Map
Notes from (Ecuador and) Peru: #6–The End
August 11th, 2008 § 1 Comment
Weeks ago, when I wrote last, I was in Quito, Ecuador, suffering through one of the worst four-day periods of my life. I was sick and lonely, stuck in a hotel room in a foreign country, with no prospects for improvement each day. I got better after a couple days, then I moved on and continued my trip, moving south to Guayaquil. The trip got much better again, but not until I got back to Peru. « Read the rest of this entry »
Quite a show
August 11th, 2008 § 1 Comment
Having grown up in a city, fireworks were not a part of my childhood celebrations. I saw them regularly, but always from afar. Somewhere in New York Harbor or the East River the rockets go up, and over the city they explode. I can see them, but I can’t feel them.
One year during elementary school my family went down to visit my uncle in North Carolina for the Fourth of July. I remember kids holding sparklers and maybe someone lit real fireworks, but it wasn’t a big show, and most of it is gone from my memory. So I jumped at the opportunity to light fireworks myself and see them go off only feet away from me, for the first time I could remember.
July 28th is the Peruvian Independence Day, el día patria, and I spent the day with a dozen other Americans. But we wanted to get into the spirit of the day, so we decided to buy fireworks, or efectivos explosivos, to give ourselves and some residents of Ayacucho a show for Independence Day.
[Unfortunately in uploading the photos to the website they've lost some of their color. The original photos are more colorful than they appear here, and the full color can be seen by clicking on the photos.]
We bought a castillo–a castle– with five stories. We didn’t know what to expect, but the stack of bamboo and the diagram gave hints.
After some searching, a member of our party found a lot where we could light the fireworks. It turned out to be a hardtop, and when we got there we found a group of people playing music and dancing. Nothing unusual.
We watched the men set up the castillo.
Then we watched the show.
As you can see, it was a beautiful evening.
A war in the past
August 11th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Since arriving home, many have asked me about my time in Peru. I’ve fielded general questions about my personal experiences, as well as several about Peruvian culture, history, and politics. I can give my take on Peruvian culture, since traveling and living for a couple months allows one to at least taste local flavor. But since I had no job with a distinguished academic or professional organization–and therefore no boss or colleagues to regularly direct questions to–and since I found my Spanish wasn’t good enough to maintain sophisticated conversations, I wasn’t able to educate myself well on serious or complex topics, including many from the national history. So when I’ve been asked about Peruvians’ attitudes toward Fujimori or the Shining Path (who are, apparently, the most-well known Peruvians in my circles back home), I haven’t had thorough answers. The best I can offer is that I heard little about Peru’s deadly war that ended only fifteen years ago, so it seems that chapter is tucked into the country’s memory. Maybe the war still comes up, just not with foreigners. I’m sure it is remembered. But the country bears no remaining physical scars. And images that would indicate recent pain and not-yet-healed wounds in another time or place seemed innocuous here.
I’ve begun working my way through the 6,000 photos I took in Peru (which is not so many when seen as only 100 photos a day). I’ll have small albums posted this week.
Notes from Peru (and Ecuador): #5
July 11th, 2008 § 3 Comments
[Note: I've heard the call for more photos, and I'll begin posting more. But because I'm adding this from an internet shop where I can't upload photos, this post unfortunately has none.]
I last wrote on the fourth, in the afternoon. I forgot to mention how much I missed the festivities at home that day, as I did more and more as the day progressed. By the evening, I just wanted to be home, anywhere in the country of my birth, to watch fireworks and eat barbecue. But this year I knew I’d have to do without. Instead, I had a joke of an Independence Day celebration with a friend of a friend I met that night. My new friend [sorry for the awkwardness; I’ve decided to keep names out of all my posts here, in case people I discuss prefer not to be written about online] had arrived in Lima only about a week earlier, and she’s spending the next two months here. Missing home together, we had dinner, talked about traveling and living abroad, and enjoyed enough Peruvian beer with enough American spirit to feel we had done something minimal, and all we could do, to celebrate the holiday. It wasn’t very patriotic, but it was a fun evening. I was very happily surprised to meet someone who wanted to talk about the impending FISA disgrace as much as I did. « Read the rest of this entry »
Wasn’t expecting that
July 8th, 2008 § 1 Comment
Yesterday I was introduced as “un estudiante de enfermeria de la universidad de Johns Hopkins en Filadelfia.” I also learned all about cysticercosis and saw my first CT scanner. In Tumbes, Peru.
Tonight I’m going to Ecuador.
Paint the town independent
July 6th, 2008 § 2 Comments
July 28th is the Peruvian Independence Day, and I’m looking forward to the celebrations later this month According to Jose Rivas, my guide from a few days ago, preparations for the festivities begin at the start of the month. In a show of patriotism or national can-do or something, the government gives some of the country’s poorest money to repaint their homes, he said, explaining why some of Lima’s slums are very colorful this time of year.
