April in La Paz, Bolivia

Whatever I was expecting from LaPaz, it wasn’t the brilliant blue sky capping the overflowing natural bowl that encompasses the city. From our window in the Hotel Stannum we see the snow-covered peak of Illimani southwest of the city center and the houses under construction farther and farther from the center, rising like the foam on a pot about to boil over.

Our trip started with two goals, as archaeologists we must visit Tiwanaku, and after that we wanted visit the last place where red-fronted macaws can be seen in the wild. We have a pet red-fronted macaw currently living with our very generous daughter Amanda. Simon was bred in Florida from birds probably exported from Bolivia in the 1970s. Once we found he was from a critically endangered species, we decided that if the opportunity ever came up, we’d go see his extended family. This is another of the many reasons that no one should have these birds as pets. Too much work, too much guilt. Simon may live to be forty and he’s only about fifteen now.

We found we could round out our visit to Bolivia by stopping in at the Uyuni salt flats. It’s possible to take a tour that lasts four to ten days around the Uyuni area but we are just going to have a look.

I’ll confess to a lapse in planning in that I didn’t realize we needed visas to visit Bolivia until the day before we were leaving. In a panic I called the consulate and found that if you have your paperwork in order and crisp bills to pay the fee of $160 per person fee, you are able to get a visa upon entry, especially at larger crossings like the El Alto airport in La Paz. I hustled around and printed the online-only form, copies of our passports, itinerary, hotel reservations and yellow fever vaccination just for good luck. When we arrived with all this information neatly clipped together, we were rapidly given our visas. The line was short at 12:30 am. Legally in the country, we headed for the hotel, where the full extent of the next cruel lesson hit me. Eat lightly if you are going from sea level to 12,000 feet in two hours. We had dinner in the Lima airport before our 10 pm flight and I did also eat a morsel on the plane. It was a big mistake because my salad in the Lima airport gave me food poisoning. The worst didn’t start until we were at the hotel, so perhaps I have something to be grateful for. Sparing you the details, I spent the next day lying around waiting to feel better. This is why we booked four nights in La Paz at the start of the trip, to acclimatize. I really needed it.

The Stannum Hotel occupies the upper floors of a multiplex/mall/office building. The staff are helpful and their English is very clear, which we appreciate even though we speak Spanish. The kitchen staff even sorted through their cutlery to find the travel teaspoon they inadvertently collected with other dishes. It was easy to find, it’s stamped SWISSAIR.  The decor is contemporary and a bit nightclubby, though I enjoy trying out all the unusual shaped chairs. There is a comfortable couch and chair in a small “library” of coffee table books about Bolivia. There’s also a small internet pod on our floor where I can slide the doors shut and make a skype call without awakening my napping husband. Room service was handy when all I could get down was chicken soup. It’s the perfect starting point for us.

 

The Other Side of Travel in Peru

As we drove north, we saw the side of Peru away from the beaches and national treasures. This part is a desert without water, except when the rivers flood. It’s where last year’s El Nino peeled off miles of pavement still awaiting repairs, and the problem no one can escape–waste. Along the highways from Lima to the far north garbage along the roadside is proportional to population. Most roads are lined with garbage ranging from scraps of plastic bag clinging to plant stems, pale flags waving in the wind. Moguls of construction debris border the dunes.

It is frustrating to visit world renowned archaeological sites and gorgeous beaches that feel like oases in a countryside splotched everywhere with trash. How can we convince people to visit us when one neighbor says she now finds it depressing to drive from Lima to Barranca because of the miles of shacks and garbage? And she lives here.Peruvians may produce less garbage per capita than other countries, yet for lack of systems to dispose of waste, much of it ends up along the highway. There is not much investment in landfills or equipment to keep them sanitary. Local officials appear to prefer dumping waste behind a sand dune to organizing garbage disposal. There’s no glamor in cleanup. What happened to “cleanliness is next to godliness?” We all lost our faith. Driving north, the car in front of us opened a window and threw out a whole coconut that they’d finished drinking. They didn’t even slow down. We followed a trucker peeling a tangerine as every few seconds another piece of peel flew out the window.

How can we ask people to keep their trash in their car if the roadside is covered with garbage bags, water bottles and diapers?  There are lots of people who need better sanitation, and the evidence is along the roadside.

Tumbes to the north, Cabo Blanco to the south

We went to Tumbes because it was there. We said we were going to northern Peru and that’s as north as it gets. The Plaza de Armas has two elaborate monuments facing each other, a condor and llama on one side and a giant band shell filled with faces and figures on the other.  

I’m not sure I’ve seen another civic monument quite like it. We had lunch in Tumbes at Eduardo El Brujo, ceviche and fried calamari. The restaurant is upstairs around the corner from the Plaza de Armas. To make sure that clients get there, several people stand in the street indicating parking spaces and showing visitors where the door is located. We were interested to see that on the day we visited, most of the diners were locals having business lunches. No one drank alcohol with their meal, though having a beer or two with a seafood lunch is normal for vacationers.We stopped at Puerto Pizarro, the supposed site of Francisco Pizarro’s entry into Peru, the first step in a chain of events that devastated the Inca Empire. Lowlife Pizarro and his brothers melted down Inca treasures to make ingots. They had no sense of history, and no recognition of other cultures. We’ll never know for sure what they melted down, rumored to include an entire garden made of gold and silver.

Puerto Pizarro is the launching spot for tours of the Tumbes mangroves. We preferred to do our birdwatching from the shore and saw enough to keep us looking.

The next day we went south along the coast on an unpaved road that runs from Playa El Nuro past Cabo Blanco. We had been to lunch at the excellent Cabo Blanco restaurant with neighbors from Playa Los Organos, Darryl and Arla. They invited us over to chat on our first day in the area. They built a house about ten years ago and it now is surrounded by a lovely garden area. We decided to go to lunch together and they introduced us to the Cabo Blanco area. Our return trip was a chance to walk on the beaches. Some of the coast is very rugged, with natural terraces of rock extending up the hillsides. For now the shore is still largely empty and untamed, though that may change as new houses and hotels are being built all along the coast among the folds in the hills.

Our hats are now so big that there is hardly any room in a selfie for anything else. This week has been much hotter around Playa Los Organos than in Barranca. Hats keep the sun off and that’s what’s important. We could have continued down the beach indefinitely, collecting driftwood and seashells, cooling off now and then in the ocean.

 

 

 

Mancora

Best known of the northern beaches is Mancora, where surfing competitions are held. The center of town is a bustle of hostels, restaurants and shops. We found a few things we’d forgotten to bring along, like peanut butter, and new flip-flops. Mancora is 100% tourist.

The beach in Mancora had everything we’d heard about, jet skis, horseback riding, and people spending a day in the sun.In town, what looks like a grocery store is an overgrown convenience store, as no one is expected to stay for long. Supplies for cooking include beer, energy drinks and chips. Prices are high compared to elsewhere in Peru. I passed on a crocheted bag to carry my keys and beachcombing. We didn’t need shell souvenirs or bikinis. We strolled the downtown area and then had sushi at Buda with its irresistable wall painting. We have friends who’ve bought art in Mancora. Another recommends the Sirena dress shop.

 

In contrast to the hostels that are cheek by jowl in town we drove south along the shore road on our way home. This is where you find mile after mile of large houses and comfortable hotels with pools overlooking the beach. This is the Mancora that people dream about.

 

 

 

Playa Los Organos

Our home stretch into the north took us from Piura to Playa Los Organos. We saw more of the damage from El Nino as we left Piura on bumpy roads, the asphalt having washed off last year. Road construction detoured us every few kilometers for the first hour of our drive. After that, the road was merely bad, partly peeled away in places, one lane each way in others, and full of potholes along the rest of the route. The landscape changed as we drove, getting dryer and dryer, sandy hills covered with tan fields of grass that sprouted after the El Nino and died as the water dried up. We stopped for a breathtaking view of this brown scenery at the top of a hill, sandstone and scrub reaching to the horizon. We only misinterpreted our Airbnb directions once, and a quick call to our hostess got us to our rental house facing the beach near El Ñuro. It was a pleasure to stop driving. Our house is perfect, lots of outdoor terrace and chairs, a tiny pool, and a view of the Pacific.

Why stay here when we already live opposite the beach in Barranca? The water is warm. We went for a swim the afternoon we arrived once the blazing sun drifted into the late afternoon mist. It was blissfully cool and not straight from a melted glacier. Divine. Just down the beach at the pier is a colony of sea turtles and we saw the carapace of four former turtles in the sand.

Talk about beachcombing! I did not bring a turtle skeleton home, but I’m thinking about it. I have to see whether it is illegal to possess marine turtle shell. We did find a few other things along the beach.

From here we will explore the beach, other beaches and towns from Mancora to Tumbes.

 

Heading North

We decided to visit northern Peru, and headed for Playa Los Organos, on the coast between Piura and Tumbes, stopping for two nights on the way. The first day was familiar territory where we passed familiar archaeological sites. Just north of our home in Barranca is the Fortaleza de Paramonga, southernmost outpost of the Chimu empire. The Chimu are not as well known as the Inca, because in the great battle between opposing empires in 1470, the Chimu lost, and as we all know, the victors write history.

Just outside the Casma Valley is Chankillo, a fortress and ancient observatory built around the 4th c. BC where 13 small towers align with the annual movement of the rising and setting sun. Cerro Sechin is nearby, its main structure lined with carvings of warriors and victims. More sites line each valley until you arrive in the Moche Valley home to two of the great ancient societies of ancient Peru, the Moche and the Chimu. The Huaca de la Luna is the iconic capital of the Moche, who controlled this region from about 100-700 AD. They built vast adobe brick pyramids with brightly colored figures painted on each tier. Its twin, the Huaca del Sol, was mined for the gold in tombs by the first Spanish explorers, by diverting the Moche river to wash away the adobe. Fortunately for us, they left a portion for us. The site museum, completed just a few years ago, displays the trappings of Moche power. Burials found within the pyramid were dressed in wide beaded collars, gold crowns and masks, surrounded by pottery molded into plants, animals, and people, or painted with detailed scenes of ceremony and battle. It is fantastic.

Before leaving town you have to visit the other great empire of the Chimu at one of the royal enclosures of Chan Chan. Each ruler built a new palace, a huge enclosure of adobe with walls more than 15 feet high, sculpted with figures of fish, pelicans and other creatures. Within each royal enclosure was everything the ruler needed, meeting rooms, living space, even a reservoir dug into the water table to provide water. Chimu elite were buried with masks of gold and elaborate pottery. The scale of these buildings is what’s most impressive, and the range of shapes sculpted into the adobe. The Chimu empire developed around 900 AD and died out after the defeat by the Inca in 1470.

When we stop in this area we always stay at the Hotel Bracamonte in Huanchaco. It is on the beach outside Trujillo and a relaxing stop after a day of visiting archaeological sites. It has a lovely garden by the dining area that you can enjoy while having breakfast. The fruit, yogurt and granola combo is always my choice. Our only mistake this trip was failing to enjoy one of the excellent restaurants in Huanchao for seafood at lunch time. When we went out in the evening for dinner, most places were closed and we ended up eating cake and ice cream for dinner. We won’t let that happen again.

The next morning we headed into new territory. We’ve driven as far north as Chiclayo to see the Museo Tumbes Reales de Sipan, where the golden burial of the “Senor de Sipan” is displayed. This is one of the most elaborate tombs we’ve ever seen. The tomb was found by grave-robbers, taken over by archaeologists who had to camp at the mouth of the tomb and patrol 24/7 until the Peruvian government acted to protect the treasure. The hero of the story is Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva, who spearheaded the site protection and stuck with the site until the museum was built about ten years later. There are fantastic objects in the museum including  beads on a burial necklace shaped like peanuts made of gold and silver. The site where the tomb was discovered, Huaca Rajada, is also worth a visit. Late Moche tombs like Sipan though not quite as large are still being uncovered periodically. A site museum is usually built for each one, like the Senora de Cao. Once you’ve seen the Sipan museum, though, you’re spoiled by the amazing wealth on display and none of the others is quite as rich.

Beyond Chiclayo was new territory for us. There are many other sites along the way, though for us it was a case of so many sites/so little time. We passed Pampa Grande, where Jonathan excavated for part of his dissertation research, Bataan Grande, Tucume, and many others as we drove toward Piura. It took all day to get there with only a stop for gas. The landscape turned dry, and we saw more of the damage done by the 2016/2017 El Nino. Sections of road are washed out and rebuilding is underway but not completed. River basins are scoured out and though you cannot tell from the road, thousands of people still need new housing.

In Piura we stopped at an oasis, the Casa Andina Premium Hotel. Our room had air conditioning, the pool was a great contrast to the heat that was building all day long. We went out for dinner to Tayanti, a restaurant near the hotel with many positive reviews. We had delicious cocktails but found that the menu included only two “fish.” Fish of the day was conger eel, a soft white fish that is the cheapest in the market. Neither of us like it much. The other choice was salmon imported from Chile. We finished our drinks and went to the opposite side of the courtyard to Tao, where we ordered sushi that proved to be delicious with neither conger or salmon involved. We returned to our air conditioned oasis for the night.

 

New jewelry

For a while, I collected broken watches and then took them apart. As I should have known, watches are all electronic and only contain a few tiny gears, most made of plastic, so watches are not a source of gears as they used to be. Most steam punk style jewelry is made from faux watch parts made in China.

As the watches got pried apart, I found interesting reels of copper wire and decided to use them to make something. This is the result. The center pendant is a coil of wire from a broken external hard drive. Techno-Egyptian revival?

 

 

Crafts while the internet is out

We spent a week with almost no internet and I found myself sewing. After dropping my phone in the ocean (!), I needed something to carry my phone and keys when i have no pockets. 

I started with the short sleeve from one of Jonathan’s worn out shirts. I folded the hem together and took the strapping from a water bottle holder that I don’t use and sewed it on to the base and tacked the shoulder strap in place.

The shirt had two pockets, and after I cut both out, I trimmed and folded the edges under and sewed each pocket to one side of the bag. Each one is under the shoulder strap.

The extra fabric above the pocket folds down and forms a protective flap that is held in place under the strap.

I then ran elastic around the edge of the bag to hold the center pocket together. I now have a shoulder bag with three pockets big enough for my phone, keys, hankie, and beachcombing finds. I can keep the sand off my phone by always putting it in the same pocket and always putting my beach finds in the main pocket.

I have another project in mind, but now the internet is back and I have to catch up on writing.

 

Wari, Peru’s First Empire

We couldn’t pass up a visit to the ancient capital of Peru’s oldest empire, Wari. The site is northeast of Ayacucho and not difficult to find. The site is huge, covering 1800 h (about 4,500 acres). As a capital city, Wari was home to rulers, priests, bureaucrats, craftspeople, and farmers. Circular spaces were probably for ritual activities, perhaps with statues in each of the niches.  Lots of stone was used to build high walls and small rooms, and there is a similarity among Wari sites no matter where they are found. They were probably pretty forbidding places.

There are still a lot of questions about Wari. This group of people was considered to have formed an empire. Larger than a state-level society, empires incorporate unrelated groups of people in an extensive territorial political unit. The Wari included settlements from the Moquegua Valley in far southern Peru to the Cusco area, and as far north as Cerro Patapo near Chiclayo in the north. That is almost as large an area as the much later Inca Empire. The Wari built some of the network of roads that the Inca took over and made famous. The Wari also introduced terracing hillsides to expand agricultural land, another innovation that is attributed to the Inca.

Some excavated areas are covered and walking paths connect the excavated areas.

Most of Wari is covered by a thick growth of cactus making it difficult to see areas that have not been excavated or cut down. It keeps people on the path! This huge site would be a great candidate for LIDAR, the technique of mapping with aerial sensors that has been used to map sites in the Maya area covered with heavy plant growth.

The site represents only a small part of the Wari empire, and the small site museum holds only a few items of Wari material culture. Elsewhere there are spectacular weavings, stonework, metalwork, and ceramics. From Feb. 28 – May 28, 2018, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has an exhibit, Golden Kingdoms, that showcases Andean art, including some from Wari. Here’s an example of a four cornered hat. Wari designs are highly stylized though you can make out the bird heads on this hat.  There is elaborately painted Wari pottery and stone tools made from obsidian. During our visit to the site, we found fragments of decorated pottery and of obsidian lying on the path.

Jonathan bought a cap embroidered with the Wari figure of the staff god from one of the vendors outside the site entrance. Most of what was for sale were crates of “tuna” the fruit of the opuntia cactus. They are pretty but neither of us is interested in eating them. Too many seeds, too little flavor. We returned to Ayacucho from the land of cactus.