Feb 19, 2015
An early start as José told us about the tiered farming by pre Inca peoples. The lands are shamrock green and flush with crops, primarily potatoes, corn, alfalfa, fava beans, some mustard and quinoa. Cattle, sheep, lambs, llamas and some alpacas, (on most menus), graze. This land is surrounded by volcanos, some snow-topped and smoking.
It is incredible to imagine how much time and effort went into initial planning, bringing rocks up mountains to make restraining walls, followed by back-breaking efforts to plant, cultivate, harvest and actually get the produce from point A to point B without means of transportation, or machinery, save for burros. We're talking 4,000 years of planning, building, etc., pre Inca. They still walk miles down dusty roads in all kinds of weather with bundles strapped to their backs in brightly woven shawls. In one case we saw a man lugging two large jugs, one in each hand who was miles from the closest village. We asked what he was carrying and were told it was milk.
Years ago, the men used to work in the gold and silver mines and women took over the primary farming and apparently still do. Though most men no longer work the mines, women are the principle farmers, caregivers and educators. And the men have the drinking problem...
The city tour was interesting and included the Santa Catalina Monastery, across from our hotel. A beautiful place where some nuns are still cloistered. It was interesting to see the rooms where a 'rookie' (we taught our guide José that one) nun would stay in her first year, then move on to a larger room where maybe she would have a number of servants and then possibly to her place as Mother Superior. Some real history here and quite pleasant.
Errrrrtt.....rewind...when in Lima we also visited a cloister but couldn't take photos there, and the huge baroque-style Church of San Francisco from the late 1600s. We visited the catacombs, which were actually part of Lima's original cemeteries. Tour guides say an estimated 75,000 bodies are buried under San Francisco alone, and the catacomb tour is not for the squeamish or the claustrophobic.
Worshippers paid money to the church to have the privilege of burying a family member there and to have peace of mind knowing that their loved on was laid to rest in a serene place. The coffin would go directly down under the church into a hole in the floor at the funeral's end, never to be seen again by the family. What they did not know, is that bodies were buried, stacked on top of another, exhumed, bones tossed around, and remains upon remains jammed in until the government finally put a stop to it. The abhorrent manner in which he church carried this out is evident in the bins of bones, not complete bodies but separated into femurs, heads etc. The were 'reorganized' for public viewing in more recent years. Imagine. There's also a deep silo filled with mostly femurs and in another section, a few small coffins believed to be those of children of clergymen or prominent people.
In Lima still, we visited the Plaza San Martín. Funny story here which reinforces the use of proper communication. A Spaniard was comissioned to create a statue in San Martín's honour with a female guardian angel added with llamas on her head - so he added what he thought was requested, the animal llama. Well, turns out the word for flames is also llamas. That must have been embarrassing at the unveiling! It remains today. Stock photos.
Back to the program...
We caught up on some emails and wandered into town to eat and found a vibrant city, even some sort of parade or political procession complete with dancers in local folkloric garb. Early to bed, early to rise!
Started popping high altitude meds today and Coca tea is everywhere!
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