Friday, June 7, 2013

Parque de Las Leyendas and Museo de Sitio "Ernst W. Middendorg"


        After almost spending a full week in Lima, I have become more comfortable with our lifestyle here at our home sweet Hostel.  At first, my impression of Jesus Maria and our accommodations seemed a little out of my comfort zone, but I have learned to take advantage of the places nearby and to enjoy our free time here as much as possible. 
         
       On our next excursion, we visited the Parque de Las Leyendas, which contained a really laid back atmosphere unlike the other places we've been thus far. This park not only houses a zoo, but also contains several monuments, pyramids, and buildings of the ancient city of Maranga. We enjoyed getting to examine the buildings that were built by different cultures who occupied the area up until the Inca period. We also entertained ourselves by getting to see different animals, which was my favorite part of the day.  We even made a few new friends…as you can see in the pictures below.
           


            In our first observations in the Museo de Sitio, we observed the different architectural styles from the Inca, Ichma, and Lima cultures. It was really interesting to see the development of the site and  how much the original buildings have changed so much over time.

         The Lima Culture is characterized by the use of small hand-made adobe bricks known as abiditos. From my observations these buildings were characterized by their rectangular shape. The Huaca 43 pyramid we observed was very rectangular, and contained several stones spread out on the walls. This particular one seemed to contain lots of erosion.


       The Ichma style is characterized by adobe made in a rectangular mold. I also observed that these buildings contained stairs, as well as slanted ramps coming out from the sides. The pyramid, "Huaca San Miguel" was originally used as an administrative center of the Ichma Culture. It was constructed with bricks that contained a covering of mortar and slabs. The walls on this pyramid had ridged edges and stones intruding out of the walls. I also made a note of small circular holes.  One section of this site which caught our attention was a line of 32 rectangle holes, as seen in the picture below.


       The Inca style were also of a square and rectangular form. From by observations in the Museo de Sitio the buildings were not all connected like the previous ones, but also contained the slanted ramps. The Huaca Cruz Blanca pyramid was constructed with mud walls and contained several platforms, stairs, and wide enclosures. We also noted that this site would have been aligned in some celestial way. The alignment of the sun could have been an indication for the time of harvest.




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