Thanks to Will and Kate's decision to get hitched, Hubby and I were able to travel to Peru recently. The Royal Wedding added an extra holiday in a two week period of time already crammed with two other bank holidays in the UK, so at the thought of being able to take 13 days off for the price of 4, Hubby and I jumped.
Who needs to see Kate's wedding gown live anyway, right?
As you can imagine the trip was amazing. All throughout my eduction in Mexico every year our history lessons always, always, dedicated a large chunk of the year to studying pre-colonial civilizations (go figure) and of course that meant systematically at some point or another talking about the Aztecs, the Mayas and the Incas. I've been fortunate enough to have been able to be in close contact with the cultural legacy and actually touch the ruins of the first two over the course of my life in Mexico, but the Incas had always fascinated me with exotic and mystical tales of Inca princesses and lost cities.
And above all, I wanted to see those famous "terrazas" we always read about.
The first step of the trip was reaching Cuzco, the lovely colonial town high up in the Andes. Cuzco is the starting point for the Inca trail and for me personally it was in my top three highlights of the trip. It has the most amazing cathedral I've ever seen in Latin America and an original colonial atmosphere you can almost imagine Francisco Pizarro and Ines Suarez strolling along its narrow cobblestone streets.
The pretty little town of Cuzco
The main square
Ladies crossing the street
Cuzco at nightCuzco, is also 3800 mts above sea level, which means somebody had to take oxygen to deal with the altitude sickness (hint: it wasn't me).
Anyway, it was in Cuzco when we started noticing it. Whenever we listened to a guide talk about the city, the history of the region or the Inca people there was a very clear, very loud, very explicit message: the Spaniards came, they infected us with their diseases, they captured our Inca emperor, they tore down our sacred temples to build churches on them, they basically destroyed our civilization and every bad thing that has ever happened to Peru since then is the fault of Spain.
No sugar coating or anything.
In Mexico we've always had mixed feeling about that part of our country's history. Of course it bothers us that the Spaniards conquered us and shipped our gold and silver off to Spain but at the same time we acknowledge the very important contribution mestizaje played in making our country become what it is today. Nowadays, nobody denies or resents the fact that 80% of the population has a last name ending in -ez. That's why when talking about that "sensitive" part of our history, mexican historians are always very careful to use the words "conquistadores" or else make sure to emphasize that they are talking about la Corona Espanola (the Spanish Crown) and not Spain as a country and much less the Spanish people. Although it is always implied that we are of course referring to Spain, it is very seldom referred to as such so openly.
But in Peru I was shocked to see that they have no such inclinations. Guides will blatantly say the Spanish ruined the country, killed the Inca emperor, destroyed the beautiful temples and took apart the carefully constructed political and social structure the Incas had so successfully built. Everyone we spoke to in Peru at some point or another brought up the subject of how Spain's ambition and unquenchable search for gold and treasures provoked the downfall of the Inca civilization. And although from a historical point of view that may be true, it still was quite shocking for me to realize that, so different from my own home country, the resentment and hatred towards Spain is still very much alive in the Peruvian's heart and memory.
During our trip we got to meet several Spaniards also backpacking through the country. When we spoke to them of this they and asked them their opinion they pretty much told us the same thing: although they never for one moment felt threatened or discriminated while traveling in Peru, it did make them a little uncomfortable when guides would not blink an eyelash when blaming the Spaniards right in their faces for the violent history and destruction that was brought on by the Conquista.
I guess I always took for granted the fact that Mexico probably had it better than other countries in Latin America. By the time Pizarro arrived in Peru, Cortez and his men had already pretty much conquered all of Central America and the conquistadores were no longer in it for the adventure and excitement of discovering a new world, they were hungry for gold and glory and cared little of anything else. What initially (and briefly) had been an encounter of two different worlds, by the time it arrived in Peru it was pretty much a story of "yaddi-yaddi-yadda... if we've seen one sacred temple, we've seen them all. Tear it down, build a church and show me the gold people!!"
Thankfully, not all was torn down.
The tiny little town of Aguas Calientesperched high up in the Andes - last stop to....
... you guessed it....
The amazing Machu Picchu ruins!!
The Condor Temple -- can you see the Condor?(I couldn't at first glance!)
That little patch of grey in the center..THAT's Machu Picchu!!
No words can describe how amazing it is to be there!!
Those famous terrazas!!!Dug right on to the mountain's shoulder,
they were the amazing farmlands of the Incas
All photos taken by Hubby.You can check out more on his Flickr page here
Fned.
7 comments:
Do you think maybe it's because Peru is economically still much worse off and has never really come into it's own as a country? Mexico, while still having major problems, I don't think suffers from quite the same poverty that Peru does.
I'm always fascinated by the duality of Mexican attitudes towards their Spanish blood and their indigenous blood. Actually, I find that Mexicans handle duality in anything better than my culture. There are always shades of gray, nothing is black or white. The homage paid to the Aztecs and the Maya is one side but the reality of their current lives is another.
Gah, your pics are making me salivate! Hubby is a very talented photographer. That's amazing that you got to make a trip to Peru! I was thinking of going there this summer with my boyfriend but we elected to go to Guatemala instead... Now I regret my decision!! That is really something else about the history though, and the apparent bitterness that still exists. Do you think the Peruvians are justified in blatantly blaming the Spaniards, or do you think they should "cool it" and move on?
Hubby sure did a great job of taking pics...in between inhaling his oxygen ;)
Kyle: I'm not sure if it's just a question of money or if it's more a sentiment of having being cheated. Pride is something every latin america feels very strongly about. I know I do. =)
Jonna: I totally agree.. in Mexico on the one hand there is high praise for the EZLN and the message they bring about repecting the culture and traditions of the indigineous people and then on the other you hear words like "naco" and "indio" and you realize that we still do have a very ambigious attitude towards our past.
Oneika: I'm sure Guatemala is going to be awesome!! I've never been there but can't wait to hear/read all about it on your blog! -- and to answer your question, yeah.. I think Peruvians should learn to bury the hatchet an move on. However, sadly from first hand experience, I know it's much easier said than done.
Aunt S: Thanks!! =)
Fned.
How interesting - I didn't notice that when I was in Peru, but that's probably because I didn't ever have a guide. I don't remember it coming up in normal conversation with people. In Chile there isn't much discussion of the Spaniards themselves, but being whiter/more European is associated with the upper classes, and the indigenous people receive some poor treatment and discrimination.
The part of me that's lived in Chile long enough thinks that maybe the Peruvians just like to hold grudges. They're still mad that the north of Chile doesn't belong to them anymore and threaten war over the maritime boundary - they lost that territory in the 1800s!
Emily: LMAO!! :)
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