Wednesday, January 03, 2007
4 December Hairless dogs, mud bricks and ancient civilisations...
Memories fading a bit...time is passing and so much to remember...
I joined a local Englishman for a day's archeological exploration. Michael has lived in Peru for 20+ years and is married to a local lady. He still has his accent...There were 5 westerners with him today of which 4 of us were Aussies. A mother and daughter from Byron Bay area and (you're not going to believe it) a teacher from Redlynch primary school! Bloody small world!
We visited ancient city of Chan Chan and the Temple of the Sun, both of which are extensive pre-Inca sites. My strongest memories are of the feeling that without a guide I would have been bored stupid...not such a good thought. These civilisations were built in mud brick, much as all building has been until the present day...unfortunately time and weather have erroded the remnants of the civilisations. The site management and archeologists have tried to protect and restore the remains as best they can but it means much of the sites are 'rebuilt' and very little of the original remains. What does is incredibly interesting if you know what you are looking at. Which luckily Micheal did...As different rulers and cultures took over the area, the same key sights remained the sacred spots. And each successive society built over the top of, or in front of the one before. You can see this, rather like when I visited the English cathederals, when parts of the city are washed away and reveal the early building hidden behind or below. Interestingly the colourful decoration, that is intensly geometric has survived in parts, covered by mud brick curtains of later dynasties.
There was one particularly beautiful relief that was highly original and abstract. It did not follow the 'rules' of the rest of the complex's decoration, was not geometric, repetitive, and contained colours not found elsewhere. This was refreshing and significant to me. These societies did not have written word so their decoration and reliefs were not just for 'looks' but to communicate the important stories of the culture.
Each of the sites was protected by one or two native Peruvian dogs. These are medium sized dogs, completely hairless. At first glance you think they are just mangy mongrels but on closer look, they have healthy pink/black skin and are not malnourished. In fact they are seen as sacred to the protection of the sites. Reminded me of a cross between ET and Yoda...
Driving to and from the sites through the less picturesque parts of Trujillo I gt a good insight into how the locals survive. They grow crops ranging from rice, to wheat, corn, potatoes and sugar cane. Chillis, pawpaw, lucerne/alphalfa, peas and whatever else they can sell. There is an irrigation canal system they draw water from and flood irrigate the crop rows. All the paddocks and houses and yards are at least 1m below canal and road level as each farmer/landholder harvests mud from his land and gradually lowers the land level. The mud is made into bricks for housing, fences, sheds, selling...This has interesting conscequences for water tables, flooding during ElNino years, soil health, etc. They do rotate crops however and seem to finish a five year cycle with a nitrogen rich crop
Consider...to enter a house or shop you step down from the street level into the doorway and ground floor. How to clean the floor?...there are no back doors, plumbing, vacuum cleaners, etc. And often the animals like chooks and pigs are inside too.
Billboards throughout peru are the walls of buildings. It seems only political candidates have the money or permission to paint the walls and you see everywhere painted in white and red, banners and proclaimations for particular candidates wanting votes. The other thing I notice in Lima is that the 'freeways' are below main street level and the raised grass verges are leased to companies who maintain them and use garden beds and creative mowing to advertise their products. Clever way of the government getting someone else to take responsibility for keeping the road sides clean and pretty. This is particularly popular with universities, banks and phone companies.
Memories fading a bit...time is passing and so much to remember...
I joined a local Englishman for a day's archeological exploration. Michael has lived in Peru for 20+ years and is married to a local lady. He still has his accent...There were 5 westerners with him today of which 4 of us were Aussies. A mother and daughter from Byron Bay area and (you're not going to believe it) a teacher from Redlynch primary school! Bloody small world!
We visited ancient city of Chan Chan and the Temple of the Sun, both of which are extensive pre-Inca sites. My strongest memories are of the feeling that without a guide I would have been bored stupid...not such a good thought. These civilisations were built in mud brick, much as all building has been until the present day...unfortunately time and weather have erroded the remnants of the civilisations. The site management and archeologists have tried to protect and restore the remains as best they can but it means much of the sites are 'rebuilt' and very little of the original remains. What does is incredibly interesting if you know what you are looking at. Which luckily Micheal did...As different rulers and cultures took over the area, the same key sights remained the sacred spots. And each successive society built over the top of, or in front of the one before. You can see this, rather like when I visited the English cathederals, when parts of the city are washed away and reveal the early building hidden behind or below. Interestingly the colourful decoration, that is intensly geometric has survived in parts, covered by mud brick curtains of later dynasties.
There was one particularly beautiful relief that was highly original and abstract. It did not follow the 'rules' of the rest of the complex's decoration, was not geometric, repetitive, and contained colours not found elsewhere. This was refreshing and significant to me. These societies did not have written word so their decoration and reliefs were not just for 'looks' but to communicate the important stories of the culture.
Each of the sites was protected by one or two native Peruvian dogs. These are medium sized dogs, completely hairless. At first glance you think they are just mangy mongrels but on closer look, they have healthy pink/black skin and are not malnourished. In fact they are seen as sacred to the protection of the sites. Reminded me of a cross between ET and Yoda...
Driving to and from the sites through the less picturesque parts of Trujillo I gt a good insight into how the locals survive. They grow crops ranging from rice, to wheat, corn, potatoes and sugar cane. Chillis, pawpaw, lucerne/alphalfa, peas and whatever else they can sell. There is an irrigation canal system they draw water from and flood irrigate the crop rows. All the paddocks and houses and yards are at least 1m below canal and road level as each farmer/landholder harvests mud from his land and gradually lowers the land level. The mud is made into bricks for housing, fences, sheds, selling...This has interesting conscequences for water tables, flooding during ElNino years, soil health, etc. They do rotate crops however and seem to finish a five year cycle with a nitrogen rich crop
Consider...to enter a house or shop you step down from the street level into the doorway and ground floor. How to clean the floor?...there are no back doors, plumbing, vacuum cleaners, etc. And often the animals like chooks and pigs are inside too.
Billboards throughout peru are the walls of buildings. It seems only political candidates have the money or permission to paint the walls and you see everywhere painted in white and red, banners and proclaimations for particular candidates wanting votes. The other thing I notice in Lima is that the 'freeways' are below main street level and the raised grass verges are leased to companies who maintain them and use garden beds and creative mowing to advertise their products. Clever way of the government getting someone else to take responsibility for keeping the road sides clean and pretty. This is particularly popular with universities, banks and phone companies.
# posted by The Essence of Good Taste @ 7:43 AM 
