Despite my
atrocious Spanish we were able to negotiate a reasonable fare for drive to the
ruins of Pachacamac and have the driver wait for us. The 30 km trip took us along the coast and gave us a
different view of the area around Lima.
The city itself is dotted with parks and pleasant looking
residences. But the surrounding
area is one of the driest places on earth and the people often live in hillside
shantytowns, the kind that slide down the hill whenever it rains.
Pachacamac’s
history can be traced back to 200 AD and it was still and important site when
the Spanish arrived. The Wari
civilization was followed by the Chimu, which was conquered by the Incas around
1400 AD. Each group left its mark;
temples, pyramids and dwellings.
We arrived just at opening and had the entire place to ourselves for
most of the morning. Excavation
and restoration are still going on and some of the areas were off limits. In addition to the ceramics that have
been found, archeologists discovered actual textiles that have been preserved
by the dry climate.
Since
we returned earlier than we had expected we had no trouble convincing Frederico
to drop us at El Museo de la Nacion, where we wanted to learn about the early
history of Peru. All but two
floors were closed for renovation so we learned more about the period from 1960
to present than we needed to know; about the Shining Path guerrillas and the MRTA
(Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru, the former communist and the later a
Marxist-Leninist group and their battles with government forces. As near as I can tell there were no
good guys. Peruvian politics still
seems to be a dirty business.
