Around the Horn

Day 36: Lima, Peru

Feeling slightly better after the antibiotics started to kick in, I joined Dave for a ship's tour of Lima, Peru called the Pre-Columbian Oracle Centre excursion.
 
After boarding our tour bus with our guide Hernando, we were given a brief tour and history of the city on our way to the first archeological site, the Huaca Huallamarca centre, which operated between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. We met Anita, a very well-spoken Peruvian archeologist, who accompanied us around the museum and led us through the various eras of Peruvian history. The museum is the home of a perfectly preserved mummy, a woman dated to 900 A.D. , whose hair circles her to a length of at least 4 feet. She sits cross-legged in  her display case and her delicate hands are intact to her fingernails.

 Our second site was the Huaca Pucllana in Miraflores. This huge site ,functional for 1200 years until the Spanish conquest, was only discovered and restored 20 years ago. We had as our guide around the site a young man who is an actual worker in the restoration process of this important site, which was an educational/religious centre. He gave us an interesting narrative of the findings of this temple, including the many discoveries of human sacrifices to the gods. Only woman and children were offered as sacrifices, and their many mutilated bodies were found lying face-down in the various layers of the temple. In contrast, the men are buried face-up in tradional funereal positions.

An earthquake in Chile last year has set the restorative process back, as the restored sections of the  huge temple are not as strong as the original brick sections, and the archeologists have had to rethink their restoration processes. The ancient ways are sometimes the best.

After an informative drive back to the ship, we thanked Hernando and left the bus to shop at the portside booths set up by local entepreneurs. I purchased a number of Peruvian items, including silver jewelry in the form of the Tome, the symbol of Peru, a backpack of woven wool cloth, and an Alpaca wool scarf. Prices in Peru are very reasonable and most merchants will deal in U.S. dollars.

We spent another lazy afternoon in the sun and the pool after an excellent morning in Lima.

Tomorrow : At Sea