Finally doing away with Niemeyer's never never land (Brasilia), we flew into Lima, Peru. With a population between 8 and 9 million, we have now visited 5 of the 6 most populated cities in South America. An architect in town told us that Lima has the longest wave in the world. At first this seemed like just another we have the best, biggest, only true, ect., in South America/the world comment that we seem to hear often, but this one may just be true. The city lines coastal beaches (many of them rocky or polluted from on-going construction) and transitions between the two with green spaces.
Class day 1 in Lima began with taxiing to an active archeological dig. The pyramid (classmates...please feel welcome to add pictures) being painstakingly uncovered was in the heart of the city and claimed a city block.
Later we visited two museums chronicling the ancient cultures and societies of Peru. There is a lot of history here so I'll spare you the details. There are a couple of important things to think about though. We've all heard of the Inca's. They forcefully gained control over the largest empire in pre-Columbian America and, of course, built Macchu Pichu (which we are going to...tomorrow!). The empire achieved much, however, the reign of the Inca's only lasted a little under 100 years from 1438-1533. After that they were wiped out by disease and Spanish conquistadors.
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| This storeroom contained at least dozens of these clay pots (referred to as spouts) resembling various animals, people, spirits, and...pots. |
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| Possibly one of Jeremy's South American ancestors. |
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| I'll explain later. |
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