Population Peru: 32 million. Average number of people per square km – 25 (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand – 15).
Lima, the capital of Peru, like many other major cities in South America, is crowded and hectic traffic, however, it is a good place to get essentials done. One such task was to have our vehicle serviced, and fortunately this experience was a welcome change to the terrible service had in Santiago, Chile. Practically all the Toyota service stations we have visited around the world, have a decent and respectable waiting area. The Toyota service station in Lima tops them all. The customer waiting area had all the usual, however also included complementary bottomless cups of coffee and soda drinks, a massage lounge chair and, believe it or not, complementary nail care for the ladies. This entrepreneur is smart. These extras would only cost a few cents, which he more than recovers from the vehicle maintenance charges.
Lima has a population of 9 million and land is at a premium giving rise to high density living. Streets are narrow and in poorer areas, there are mostly only walkways between the buildings. There is also very little space for the dead, unless the family can afford a grand and spacious tomb. The final resting place for most loved ones is within a rectangular chamber in a large multi-level post box-like arrangement.
Self-employment and self-reliance is most people’s solution to earning a basic living in a country that has limited job opportunities. Producing and selling fruit and vegetables is widespread, which makes it easy for us to find something to eat. The village markets are always interesting places to visit, great people watching and to stock up on fruit. Guinea pig is on the menu throughout Peru and you will find these on the spit along the road or at some markets.
The majority of the people, especially women in the rural areas, still wear traditional clothes. Hats are an important part of the outfit and you will see every shape, form and colour as you travel cross country from Bolivia to Ecuador. The hat preference relates to the particular region and population group. Bowler hats feature in Bolivia, an interesting “upside down” hat north of Cusco, and a gigantic hat was the preference in the Andes north east of Lima.
As usual for us, getting from A to B would mostly mean choosing back roads rather than the main roads. This significantly increases our chances of finding small remote villages, interesting markets, local people and spectacular scenery. In the Andes, this has meant driving across high mountain passes and along narrow mountain roads. The narrow single car width mountain roads can be challenging when one needs to pass on-coming vehicles. Some of these roads have been promoted, mainly by tour companies, as being the “most dangerous” and this of course is good for business attracting thrill seekers always eager to find challenging situations. The key is to keep a close lookout for oncoming vehicles and to drive with caution. We found these roads to be less of a hazard than the busy main roads with crazy drivers.
The area near Huayllay, north east of Lima, had particularly interesting landscapes. This area has intriguing geology including numerous balancing rocks. The track through this area seems little used and there were very few people.
Further north, in the high Andes, we chanced upon a peculiar plant, Puya. This plant is native to the high mountains in Bolivia and Peru and the vertical stem on which the flowers and seeds grow, can grow to a staggering 15m high. The plants we saw had stems of about 7m – 8m high. The leaves had turned gold and were shining brightly in the sun.
Small scale agriculture seems to be the mainstay of the country and a big percentage of the population is engaged in this activity. The remote rural areas are the most interesting because old traditional methods are still being used.
Rice is an important crop produced in Peru, especially in the north west of the country. It seems that the climate is such that rice can be produced any time of the year. During our travels, some farmers were preparing the paddies for planting, other farmers were busy planting the rice, whilst yet other farmers were busy harvesting their crop. We stopped at one of the farms to have a closer look at harvesting. The workers were as interested in our right-hand drive vehicle as we were interested in the harvester.
Fishing along the coastal waters is a major industry and employs and feeds a large number of people. At this time of year, there were literally hundreds of large fishing vessels moored offshore, or brought ashore, awaiting the new fishing season. There were however a large number of family owned small fishing boats out on the water. Judging by what we saw ashore, if you were a stingray or eel, then you would be in grave danger. The eel are apparently exported to Asia.
Not many years ago, there were fishermen north of Trujillo that used reed boats to paddle offshore and set their nets. This practice has now been replaced with the more effective wooden boat with outboard motor. Some entrepreneurs are now renting reed boats to holiday makers on Pimentel beach. Further north in the vicinity of Piura, fishermen used balsa wood rafts to paddle offshore and set their nets. Here too, wooden boats are now mostly used by the fishermen, however we did see one fisherman setting his nets from a balsa wood raft. The balsa wood rafts are however very much in daily use as a means of rowing from shore to the fishing boat, which is mostly moored offshore. Some youngsters were having fun with the rafts surfing the waves.
As elsewhere, the beaches gave us much pleasure. Beautiful sunsets, not a person for miles and a good place to relax and watch the wildlife. The north coast of Peru is however a lot more developed and it takes extra effort to find a beach that you can have all to yourself. We did briefly stop at one of the “best” beaches listed in one of the guidebooks and the unbelievable mass of people on the beach made us realize how fortunate we were to have the means to get off the beaten track.
Northern Peru has amazing ancient history. One quickly learns that there is more to the South American history than the much publicized Inca. Two especially interesting ancient civilizations are the Moche and the Chachapoya. Fortunately, these civilizations are little known and therefore one can visit the historic sites without having to contend with masses of tourists and hordes of zealous curio vendors.
The Moche inhabited an area on the northwest coast of Peru during the period 100 AD to 700 AD, many hundreds of years before the Inca came into being. The Moche were master builders and constructed huge pyramid ceremonial platforms and extensive irrigation networks. The Moche also excelled at producing gold, silver and pottery artifacts. We visited the Huaca Rajada ceremonial complex in the Lambayeque valley, because it was from this site that the undisturbed tomb of the “Lord of Sipan” was discovered, less than 30 years ago. Many thousands of adobe bricks were used to construct the ceremonial pyramids. Many of the blocks bear the identification mark of the family that would have produced the brick. Wind and weather have eroded the ceremonial pyramids to the extent that they have taken on the appearance of a natural hill.
The Moche, like so many other cultures in South America, routinely performed human sacrifices. The ceremonial pyramids served this purpose. The victims included prisoners captured from battles with other tribes, children and others. The sacrifices were mainly to appease the various gods.
The remains of Lord of Sipan, thought to be the ruler of the Moche in the Lambayeque valley, was found in a wood covered sarcophagus buried deep within the pyramid where it lay undisturbed for more than a thousand years. His body was adorned with headdresses, face mask, necklaces, nose rings, ear rings and other items. Most of the ornaments were made of gold, silver, copper and semi-precious stones. Also found in the tomb were the remains of six other individuals. These included three women, possibly wives or concubines, two warriors and a guard, the latter seated at the head of the tomb with his feet amputated, presumably so that he could not leave his post. One shudders to think how these individuals came to their end. The tomb also contained several hundred artifacts made of gold, silver and other precious metals and stones. Several other royal tombs were also found at the site. The finds from these tombs are on display in two excellent purpose-built museums.
The Chachapoya lived in and controlled a large area on the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains in northern Peru. Very little is known about the Chachapoya, as is the case with all the pre-Spanish cultures of South America, because there was no written word. The Chachapoya as a culture, is believed to have come into being in about 700 AD and were eventually defeated by the Inca and incorporated into their culture in the late 1400s. The Chachapoya took revenge by joining the Spanish in the 1500s to fight and ultimately defeat the Inca. The Chachapoya also excelled at engineering and constructed irrigation works and urban centres, including the massive Kuelap fortress. This fortress settlement was constructed on a mountain ridge in the Andes at an elevation of 3,000m. The walls that form the perimeter of the fortress, were constructed of limestone blocks and the walls have a height ranging between 10m and 20m. There were three entrances to the fortress and had a clever trapezoidal shape which tapered down to a width of a single person, which made it easy to fend off invaders. Kuelap measures roughly 600m by 100m and there were apparently more than 400 structures within this urban settlement, mostly being circular dwellings.
The Chachapoya had an interesting way of burying the dead. Loved ones were placed in inaccessible locations high up on cliffs, either in sarcophagi placed vertically on a cliff ledge, or bodies were placed in groups in mausoleums, which had the shape of tiny houses and were constructed high up on the cliff face. We visited the burial site at Karajia. Loved ones were first mummified and then wrapped in cloth, after which the remains were placed high on a ledge of the cliff in sarcophagi made of reeds and plastered with clay and then painted. The top of the sarcophagus is crowned by a wooden face with extended jaw. The sarcophagi are well protected from wind and weather by the cliff overhang and are in remarkably good condition considering that they have gazed out over the valley for many hundreds of years.
More than two hundred mummy bundles and associated funerary artifacts were recovered from tombs in the Laguna de los Condores (Condor lake) area to prevent grave robbers looting and destroying this archaeological treasure. All the recovered material is displayed in an excellent purpose-built museum in Leymebamba. The mummies were wrapped in cloth, however some have been unwrapped for research and are now displayed in this form in the museum.
Northern Peru, not far from the Ecuador border, seems to have significant oil and gas reserves. Much of it is off-shore and there are literally dozens of oil production platforms out at sea. The beaches north of the oil producing areas, seem relatively clean and the area is a popular seaside holiday destination. Also interesting, is the apparent sharp change from desert along the coast, to almost tropical.
