#131: Kiss a Giraffe

Thursday June 6^th, 2013

 The day started with a later start then usual due to ignoring the first two alarms I set. After my forty minute sleep in session, I took a rushed shower and attempted to chug half a yogurt and inhale a protein bar while everyone congregated in the common room. We strolled through an unfamiliar side of Jesus Maria, which was to my surprise more upscale and very well taken care of. Most houses had fresh vibrant paint with clean yards. Although intimidating at first, the iron work around the house consisting of window guards and gates which were very elaborate, yet had a very serious purpose of security. I recall Dr. Brown saying something along the lines of, “You have to be as safe as your neighbor.” This is because if one residence looks less secure, it has a higher possibility of being broken into.

During this longer walk, Doc Brown also discussed pros and cons of living in Peru with Matthew and me. One major concern Ryan conferred the air quality. Due to the lack of emission standards combined with an abundance of petrol and diesel combustion engines, I was not surprised when Dr. Brown referred to living being equivalent to, “smoking cigarettes.” Another apprehension is the amount of noise. After a while, I’m sure one could get used to it, but it could also drive someone bonkers. Obvious cons might include senseless and impatient drivers which push the limits of space between pedestrians and other cars or buses.
Although initially I thought that the healthcare would be sub-par compared to back home, Dr. Brown promptly informed me that the health services in Peru are actually fairly good. Another benefit of Peru that I initially brought up is the fact that the dollar is stronger than the Sol. Now an ordinary person won’t become rich by moving here but there is a big difference in the prices of everyday things in Peru. Items such as transportation and food are unambiguously inexpensive compared to stateside.

We arrived at El Parque de las Leyendas (www.leyendas.gob.pe/‎) which happened to be a botanical garden and a zoo which were built around multiple ruin sites all on one big complex. First we check out El Museo de Sitio. It contained a big model of the Peruvian ruins as well as lots of artifacts, ceramics, and a replica crypt. From the information on the walls I learned that the creation of ‘U-Shaped’ temples came about in 1800-200 a.c. These temples look like rooms within a bigger three sided room. Maybe the inner chamber was reserved for certain inhabitants while the outer room was used for people holding lesser importance. From 1100-1450 we start to see the use of steps rather than ramps. The ramps are long and gradual, but would be easy to move large objects on carts or animals, whereas the steps were more efficient concerning space and energy. Both served different purposes but preference of stairs over traditional ramps became common during this period. The depiction of the ruins first confused me due to the representation of tons of walls forming rooms made up the topmost level of the ruins. After deliberating with Dr. Brown as well as reading through some info on the walls as well as seeing the life-size model and the real ruins, I determined that a roof would have definitely gone over the top level. Possibly the roof was made of something perishable and disappeared over time. My first assumptions were that there was some kind of weird sundeck with lots of rooms on top the roof, but now it is evident that some kind of covering was originally in place.

After the museum, we checked out various ruin sites throughout the park. Most sites contained perpendicular walls that almost always formed right angles. The long wall actually bent as it got longer. We took semi-accurate measurements using iPhone compasses and hypothesized whether any happenings of the sun (sunrise of sunset) or astrological constellations played a part in which ways the walls pointed. I was told to look out for any curves or circular shapes within the ruins. On top of one of them there were circular pits engraved into the ground. I don’t know if they were supposed to be there or they were part of a modern archeological digging.

We got lunch and fed and ungodly amount of cats. After lunch we looked at some more ruins. While talking to Ryan about the construction of these buildings, we both noticed two oddities. One was that in some places one could see the brick or stones under a layer of smoothly applied muck. It looked as if the muck was an outer layer used to fortify the structure. The other peculiarity was that near the base there was a random array of stones clearly sticking out of the outer wall. Although not in any particular fashion, the rocks were evenly spaced in their random arrangement.

When then were free to roam the zoo on our own. We stuck together as a group and looked at some of the exquisite animals throughout the zoo. I even kissed a giraffe!

Viva Peru

 ~JH