Perusing Peru II: The Caral Tour

Pirámide Mayor and Anfiteatro within the Caral Archaeological Site

Caral is older than pyramids in Egypt. Let that sink in.

Today's agenda item was an organized tour of the Caral Archaeological Site. It is about 140 miles north of Lima, but it's a three to four drive because of traffic, Peruano drivers, and terrible road conditions.

While this may be an ancient site, it was discovered only 31 years ago in the barren desert of Northern Peru.

How ancient? The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is believed to be 4,600 years old, dating back to around 2600 B.C. Caral has it beat by the same amount of time between when the Pilgrims stepped on Plymouth Rock and today. Caral is about 5,000 years old. In other words, when ancient astronauts were still whizzing their way to earth with the plans and levitation technology to build the pyramids in the Nile Valley -- hey, do you have a better theory on how the Egyptian pyramids were built? -- Caral was thriving.

And, yet, old as it is, it was discovered only back in A.D. 1994, lost in the dry barren desert of Coastal Peru.

This is a re-creation of how someone imagined Caral looked.

Those bamboo chairs did not survive five millennia.

This is a re-creation of a stone at the center of Caral that is believed to have been a timekeeping sundial. Or maybe not. The people of Caral left no written records of any sort. Not even petroglyphs. And definitely not the sophisticated hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt.

So there's no one to ask.

Five thousands of history discovered only 31 years ago.

Let's walk around the site, But be sure to stay within the well-marked trails. It is an active archaeological site. A very lightly-visited archaeological site.

Noticing a theme with the "31 years" motif?

This is the Fuego Sagrado, believed to be the community hearth maintained by the priestly class of Caral.

It's a hole in the ground with evidence of ancient charring. The sacred hearth thing is an educated guess. Again: no written records and, even if there were, who could read it since the language that was used is likely to be extinct.

This is the main amphitheater, or Anfiteatro in Spanish. There were enough intact stones to make the call on this being an amphitheater a very educated guess.

The expensive seats were believed to be in the back.

The Peruvian desert holds a lot of secrets, only some of which have been revealed in the modern era. The Nazca Lines, for example, weren't really known until manned flight about 100 years ago. And not just Peru's desert coast. Machu Picchu was discovered (re-discovered, to be more accurate) only about 110 years ago. And it's new construction, likely dating back only to the 1450's.

Hey! It's me! I'm in Caral!

Back to our regular programming:

Another of the pyramids of Caral. What's interesting, again comparing these to the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, is the extreme degradation of the only-slightly-older pyramids of Caral compared to the relatively-pristine pyramids of Egypt. So not only were the sloped pyramids of Egypt more advanced technologically, more difficult to build, and more aesthetically pleasing than the stepped pyramids throughout the New World, with those of Caral being far and away the oldest, the more sophisticated Egyptian pyramids have proven to be much much much more durable. That is not to slight Caral. A building surviving 5,000 years in any sort of shape is absolutely amazing. It's just shows how extraordinary and without peer are those pyramids of Egypt. This definitely is moving Egypt up on my list of places I need to go.

Enough about Egypt. This is supposed to be about Caral. Which is impressive and which is older.

More pyramid power.

This is the sundial stone.

It looked decidedly less phallic in person that it does in photo.

This is the Pirámide Menor:

It's smaller than the Pirámide Mayor. Hence the name. Is it smaller because it the last pyramid constructed, abandoned as Caral past its peak, and poverty and famine took hold? Oit was older and the people of Caral were only figuring out pyramid-building by trial-and-error? That was the approach taken in building the Gothic cathedrals of medieval Europe, where kept increasing the size until they built one too big, too tall, and it collapsed. (Beauvais Cathedral in France in 1284, if you're nerdy like me and need to know those things).

And the answer is: We don't know. Yet another something shrouded in mystery.

Above is the Pirámide Mayor:

The Big Kahuna on the Caral Pyramid scene.

It has an amphitheater, but smaller than the main amphitheater from close to the entrance.

These are the middle class residence halls:

The upper crust of Caral society lived in the shadows of the pyramids. That was the prime Caral real estate. The laboring class is believed to have lived closer to the river, which is dry during the dry season and filled with water in the wet season. This is the dry season on the Peruvian Coast which, interestingly enough, is the exact opposite of the Andean highlands of Cusco and Machu Picchu. This is wet season in the Andes.

Interestingly enough, while we know (generally) where people lived in Caral, we don't know where they ended up after they died. That is not a spiritual question, interesting as that may be. They have been no cemeteries or burial plots found yet in the Caral excavations which have been going on for how many years?

Oh, that's right. Thirty-one years.

Did Caral buried its dead? No evidence of that. There is evidence of mummification being practiced in other tribes in Coastal Peru starting in the early years of the A.D. period, but no evidence of it in Caral. Did they cremate their dead? Well, even creation leaves bone fragments. Jaw bones are especially resilient to cremation. No bone fragments consistent with that theory have been found? Were they whisked away by the aliens like what happened to the senior citizens at the end of the movie "Cocoon"? There's as much evidence to support that theory as any other. We simply have no clue as to what happened to the dead in Caral.

We do know what happened to me. I proceeded to lunch in the nearby beach town of Barranca.

One last look at Caral:

Caral. Very fascinating. So old and yet so new. It's only recently been discovered. And it has given up very few of its secrets in those 31 years.

Perusing Peru: Lima Arrival

Christmas in Lima with the traditional Nativity Scene:
Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus. The ox. The ass. The angel/ And two of the reindeer. Donner and Blitzen, maybe?

Third trip to Peru. Third trip to Lima. Third time that Machu Picchu is not on my Peru itinerary.

Mental health getaway. Once upon a time this would be my first trip after retirement. But retirement has been postponed, but the trip already was scheduled and this is an inexpensive time of year to travel, so why not a return trip to Peru.

This is my hotel for the first leg of this Perusal of Peru: the Crowne Plaza Lima in the Miraflores neighborhood of the city. This, being a U.S. based chain hotel, is your typical American-style business hotel. I picked it for the neighborhood, since I prefer to avoid U.S. chains when I travel due to this simple fact: They cost more.

Speaking of neighborhood, this is the neighborhood. That is NOT a sad-looking Christmas because there is no such thing as a sad-looking Christmas tree. Think of the bend at the top as being an homage to the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

The neighborhood is a bit noisy. This is a city after all. And traffic is a mess. But it's clean and decently safe with plenty of nice restaurants.

 

This is the upscale "suburb" of Lima.

I did not get moving today into well into the afternoon because yesterday was a travel day with the first airplane ride of the day starting at 1:00 p.m. So nothing much on the day's itinerary. So I walked down to Parque John F. Kennedy. It's known as a "cat park."

Lots of stray cats. All looking healthy and well-cared-for.

And here is the park's namesake:

They nailed the hair, but the face? Less so.

He looks a bit chubby to be JFK. More Teddy than John John, if it had been eaten by Teddy.

There even was a dog and cat adoption taking place at the park. And a fairly large Christmas just inside El Parque D'Onofrio restaurant.

Lima does get decked out for Christmas quite nicely.

This is the side view of La Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa, the Parish of Our Lady of Miracles:

This is the side facing Parque John F. Kennedy, America's first Catholic president. (We Catholics have done much better with the Supreme Court than the presidency. Only two Catholic presidents, but working control of the Supreme Court for nearly 40 years, at least since the George H.W. Bush presidency.)

Let's have a look inside, shall we?

I have seen more ornate Catholic churches, but the structure itself, with the curvature of the roof pulling your eyes toward the alter in the front, is very nicely done.

This is the front entrance:

Across from the front entrance, in Parque 7 de Junio, which borders Parque John F. Kennedy, Yes, two side-by-side parks in Miraflores, Lima, Peru, filled to the brim with stray cats. Struttin'. As stray cats do.

But Parque 7 de Junio has something that Parque John F, Kennedy does not: a nativity scene for Christmas:

And how do we know we are in Miraflores?

Letters! Every city in Latin America has its perfectly-instagrammable letters. Miraflores is decked out in its Christas garb, as you can see.

One last look at La Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa:

And right next door is the lovely Miraflores City Hall.

I'm not sure why it's called a "city hall," since Miraflores is not an independent city but is a neighborhood within the City of Lima. I guess the term "city hall" is used more loosely 'round these parts.

With all the Christmas decorations up, I presumed that these parks would look even better after dark, when the Christmas lights come on. I was not disappointed:

This giant Christmas Tree is still under-construction. Maybe it will be done tomorrow? It's a very short stroll from the Crowne Plaza, so it would be worth checking out.

There were more Christmas decorations in Parque 7 de Junio than Parque John F. Kennedy. Separation of church and state? Or, more likely, it's because Parque 7 de Junio is much, much bigger.

The reindeer were lit up, as Christmas reindeer should be.

A couple of dozen. None with red noses.

This giant tattooed blue bull probably is a year-round presence here in Parque 7 de Junio.

I don't think he is one of the oxen for the Christman creche.

Obverse angel:

A festive angel of lights:

Now the festive angel of lights with the Miraflores City Hall in the background, breaking all those rules of "separation of church and state" that are more meticulously observed in adjacent Parque John F. Kennedy: 

Here is La Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa lit up for the night:

With the lights being white, this might just be night-time lighting and not festive Christmas lighting.

On the other hand:

There is no mistaking the red and green lights lighting up Miraflores City Hall. It's definitely not honoring the Italian-Peruano community for the local San Gennaro festival.

Separation of church and state indeed. The concept does not exist in Miraflores.

I was going to get some chifa -- that hybrid fusion cuisine combining Chinese cooking with the flavors of Peru, but I have a ridiculously early start tomorrow for a tour outside of town -- so historic it's not pre-Columbus but pre-Christ -- the real B.C. -- so I ate a light Mexican supper:

Mandil Taqueria.

I decided to try the nachos with a tamarindo agua fresca.

The tamarindo agua fresca was awesome. Very refreshing.

The nachos?

I got the pollo nachos. Grilled chicken. Guacamole. Jalapenos. Pickled onion. Black beans. Maybe some tomato. I couldn't tell. Which is how I like my tomato. And a light, runny cheese sauce. In a bowl of chips. This was, perhaps, the healthiest nachos I've ever had in my life. It was very good. But was it "nachos"? Depends on if you are nachos purist. But, again, this is Peru. Do you really order nachos in Peru if you are a nachos purist?