A few weeks ago we took a long weekend and travelled to the north of Peru to see some of the less travelled sites not usually on the Gringo Trail of the more popular southern Peru.
We flew from Lima to Trujillo and made our way to Hotel El Golf, the only Five Star Hotel in Northern Peru (why not) and settled in.
Trujillo is the 3rd largest town in Peru, about 500km north of Lima and was the first city to declare independence from Spain in 1820. Close by are the very important archeological sites of Chan Chan, and the Temple of the Sun and the Moon. The entire region is a vast blank desert wasteland with hardly a fertile valley in site. Why any civilisation chose to live about here is a mystery to me. Some nice colonial architecture in the main square, but pretty limited.
Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km², and had a dense urban center of about 6km². Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimor (the kingdom of the Chimú), a late intermediate period civilization which grew out of the remnants of the Moche civilization. The vast adobe city of Chan Chan was built by the Chimu around AD 850 and lasted until its conquest by the Inca Empire in AD 1470. It was the imperial capital of the Chimor until it was conquered in the 15th century. It is estimated that around 30,000 people lived here.
Huaca de la Luna ("Temple/Shrine of the Moon") is a large adobe brick structure built mainly by the Moche. It, with the Huaca del Sol, is part of Huacas de Moche, the remains of an ancient Moche capital city called Cerro Blanco by modern archaeologists.
The Huaca de la Luna, though it is the smaller of the two huacas at the site, yields the most archaeological information. The Huaca del Sol was partially destroyed and looted by Spanish conquistadors in the 17th century, while the Huaca de la Luna was left relatively untouched. It is believed today that the Huaca del Sol may have been more administrative, military, residential and burial mound for the Moche elite, while the Huaca de la Luna served a largely ceremonial and religious function, though it contains burials as well.
Today the Huaca de la Luna is colored the soft brown of its adobe brickwork, just after its construction it would have been an impressive site to behold. The huaca was decorated in murals which were painted in black, bright red, sky blue, white, and yellow. The sun and weather has since faded these murals away, but other murals used in earlier phases of construction can still be seen inside the Huaca. Many of these depict a deity now known as Ayapec. "Ayapec" is a pre-Quechua word translating as all knowing. "Wrinkle-Face" is the name given to another deity by the later Inca because of the deity's appearance.
The Huaca de la Luna is one of the most impressive archeological sites I have seen in Peru, mainly because it has been preserved, not reconstructed, unlike Chan Chan which seems to be an almost totally reconstructed site.
While both sites are impressive, it's still difficult for me to comprehend the act of human sactifice that was practiced at both sites. To appease the gods countless people were sacrificed over the years to try and convince the gods to provide rain, good crops, or whatever. You can either conclude that life was of less value, or that the gods were so much more important than humans. The later is probably the case. Humans really didn't have a clue back then, and unfortunately there are many human cultures still on Earth who still believe that there is an all powerful Being (or beings) that created the Multiverses, and at the same time meddles in the day to day business of individual humans on this one particular rock. Confounding.
The reason for the fall of these civilisations is not clear, but my theory is that they may have gone through a particularly bad El Nino which destroyed crops and made water scarce, and no matter how many people were sacrificed, nothing improved. The people would have become restless, disenchantered with their religion, and eventually rebelled againsts the priestly classes and simply packed up and left for the mountains or more fertile grounds.
Trujillo is OK for a visit, and a must do if you want to see all of Peru, but on the scale of things, it doesn't rate compared to a Cuzco and it's surrounds.
On 30 August I participated in the Pago a la Tierra ceremony in Cuzco, or Payment to the Earth, a ceremony that Andean people hold sometime in August to celebrate the Andean New Year. During the ceremony offerings are made to Pachamama, or Mother Earth, prayers are made for family and friends, and for good fortune in the following year.
The ceremonies are normally held inside Peruvian family homes and a shaman is invited to assist in the ceremonies, but it is often just the head of the household like a grandfather who will be responsible for the ceremony.
My wife’s travel company has an office in Cusco and most of her staff are Andean, or Quechua people, (part of the Incan empire) and each year they follow all the traditional Andean indigenous religious ceremonies, alongside the Catholic ones. Often these ceremonies are combined which the Spanish engineered very early on in the conquest as a way of converting the locals. Some Incan ceremonies were abolished, such as Inti Raymi (see blog below), but thankfully there has been a resurgence in traditional ceremonies over the past 100 years. One of those, as true to the original as possible in the modern world, is Pago a la Tierra.
Since the company first opened an Office in Cuzco, one of the staff members has organised for her family to do a Pago a la Tierra for the office and staff. My wife participated in her first ceremony last year, and this year was my first. This was an important event and we flew from Lima just to take part in it.
It was with a little trepidation that I participated in the ceremony as I am a long time skeptic of any religion, believing they have originated in superstition and ignorance of the physical world, but this was an opportunity to experience an important indigenous ceremony first hand. I was curious to try and understand what people really experienced.
We arrived at the office at 9.00pm to find a ceremonial fire guarding the doorway.
We entered the office and took up seats as the fire was brought inside, reduced to a smoke and carried throughout the office spaces to cleanse them. Luckily the office smoke detectors were turned off, or didn’t work, as the ancient smoke machine bellowed clouds of the stuff until we almost couldn’t see each other. Just before dying of asphyxiation the smoke cleared and the ceremony moved on.
We then all took turns at spilling Cusquena beer (traditionally Chicha – the Andean corn brew) on the earth outside while saying a prayer to Pachamama, and we then drank a small amount of beer as a bottle of Cusquena and a glass was passed around the circle.
Surprised that the fire brigade hadn’t turned up, bags of coca leaves were brought out, (probably enough to grind to a couple of grams) and we were then asked to separate all the perfect leaves from the dodgy ones, which would then be used as offerings to Pachamama. Meanwhile, we all took a small amount of coca leaves that we chewed during the ceremony. (actually, my coca leaves lasted about 5 minutes before I had to hide the ball of green goop in a flower pot. It’s an acquired taste.)
At the same time, grandfather started arranging an offering on the altar (office desk with a blanket over it), which would later be bundled up and buried the following day. He started with arranging red and white flowers in the shape of an Andean Cross, and making a little prayer as each flower was placed down. Each time he raised the flower to the front of his face and made a soft whistling sound like he was blowing the prayer out into the spirit world. He then dipped the flower into a small pot of wine, and placed the flower down very carefully. He then asked for where each office was located around the world. One by one they were reeled off and each flower placed down represented a little prayer for that office. We then listed all the places we travelled to in South America, and each of those was given a sincere prayer. Each city softly whistled off to Pachamama in the spirit world.
(Grandfather saying a prayer)
After the flowers were laid, he dipped a small feather like brush in some wine and splashed it over each corner of the cross of flowers. Each person in the circle was then asked to go to the altar and do the same.
(splashing wine on the flowers)
While this was all going on grandad's helper was putting together a bunch of special offerings that would be laid on the top of the pile. These included; chocolates, biscuits, sweets of all kinds including what looked to be a chocolate dummy, the feathers of special birds including the Condor, and small effigies built over corn cobs with heads made of sculptured alpaca fat, looking out with little seed eyes. On their heads were four little spikes wrapped with colourful tin foil and little stars shoved into the fat. They looked like little fat Christmas trees, without branches. Well, that’s what I thought at the time.
Included in the offering was a pretty scary looking llama fetus (hopefully aborted naturally), and a small colibri, or Humming Bird, (also hopefully dying naturally), each with sculptured Alpaca fat on their heads to make them stand out. They were pretty freaky looking offerings, but obviously very important.
(Grandfathers helper with the weird offerings - the small dark figure with a white head is the llama fetus)
All the perfect coca leaves were then rounded up and grandfather began laying them over the flowers, and continued on with prays for each of the offices and the places we travel to. As with the flowers, a pray and a whistle, followed by a dunking in the wine before being laid to rest.
At this point I noticed the dogmatically secular Sean had faded away. I’m not sure if I was experiencing an important cultural event, or a religious event. Maybe they are the same thing, but I wasn’t thinking ‘this is crazy stuff’, at all. Even the scrawny fetus didn’t weird me out too much. Maybe it was just respect for the culture, but all I could think was that this was important shit.
(making a prayer and laying down her coca leafs)
Each person in the group was then asked to pick 24 perfect coca leaves in six groups of four, and we each went to the altar in turn and made a prayer to six important people in our lives, for the New Year. Each time dipping the group of four leaves in the wine and placing them down carefully with our right hands on the altar, piling them up to the centre. I hope Pachamama looks after my six most important people for me this year.
Beer was then passed around the circle again and we each toasted other members of the group with a Salud! As I drank my portion of beer I tried to avoid the lumps of chewed coca leaves now stuck to the rim of the glass. It was tricky business. What I could not help noticing at this point was the sincerity in which the Quechua family said their salud to each other, and to us foreigners living in their culture. It touched me, and put an Aussie ‘cheers mate’ to shame.
(offerings on the coca leaves)
Then it was time to lay down all the other special offerings that grandfather's helper had been putting together during the evening. The chocolates and the like were laid down first, then the feathers followed by the corn, and the scary llama fetus and the poor little colibri.
(prayer with llama fetus)
We were each then asked to go to the altar and break off some dried corn, make a prayer, and sprinkle them with our right hands around the outside of the pile of flowers, perfect coca leaves, the yummy looking chocolates, and scary dead animals.
(placing corn on the offering)
Two and half hours after starting the ceremony, we were almost finished. The offering was wrapped up carefully in an Andean blanket, we all blessed it again, and we finally passed around another beer to finish it off the six pack of Cusquena.
(wrapping the package - it would be burried tomorrow)
I’m not exactly sure what to think about this ceremony.
The dogmatically secular Sean thinks we should ditch old ceremonies to ancient gods who we now know are myth and spend our devotional time more wisely. Like to our close family and friends, not to non-existent entities floating about in the ether.
However, this particular ceremony is such a family event, a reverential event that I couldn’t help but be touched by it. I couldn’t quite grasp whether the prays were being sent to Pachamama for her to then do her business, or whether they were being sent through her to the people and spaces very important to us. Maybe she’s just a vehicle: A powerful entity or concept, which can deliver karmic like energy to others. The Andean people in the room seem to be uplifted by the thought.
But in my logical head, I know she doesn’t exist, so I am dragged back to reality.
Should Andean people ditch praying to Pachamama because science, biology and geology have now uncovered the reasons behind weather patterns, crop yields, and seismic events?
The western secular Sean says ‘yes’ as my brain is trapped in the modern world, born in 1969, the year mankind landed on the moon.
While I can understand the history behind Pago a la Tierra, I can barely understand the modern spirituality of it, even though I may have got a slight glimpse of it during the ceremony.
In the end, my respect for their culture and customs has been enhanced, and I am extremely honoured to have been able to take part in such an event, but I don’t think Gringo Sean has been converted.
(I wish I had have taken more video now as you would have got a better feel for what was going on. At this point he is asking for important places around Cuzco that should be blessed. We are telling him of places relevant for Intrepid. Sorry, it was all in Spanish, but you might get the gist...)
It was Inti Raymi on 24 June, the most important day in the Andean calendar. By coincidence I was in Cuzco, and was lucky enough to actually take part in some of the festivities alongside a local community who work with my wife's travel company.
Inti Raymi is the ‘Festival of the Sun’ and is held on the Winter Solstice each year in Cuzco, and other major Andean towns. Before the Spanish conquest the Andean people (mainly Quechua and those conquered by ‘Incans’) gathered to honor the Sun God, sacrifice an animal to ensure good crops, and pay homage to the Inca, as the first born Son of the Sun. The celebrants fasted for days before the event, refrained from physical pleasures and presented gifts to the Inca, who in return put on a lavish banquet of meat, corn bread, chicha and coca tea as they prepared to sacrifice llamas to ensure good crops and fertile fields.
The ceremonies stopped in 1572 when Spanish Viceroy Toledo banned Inti Raymi celebrations as they were pagan and contrary to the Catholic faith. Following the edict, the ceremonies went underground. It wasn’t until 1944 that the ceremony was brought back to life with a reenactment of the ceremony played out by indigenous actors.
Today, it's the second largest festival in South America. Hundreds of thousands of people converge on Cuzco from other parts of the nation, South America and the world, for a week-long celebration marking the beginning of a new year.
In the days leading up to Inti Raymi the local communities surrounding Cuzco come into town and participate in parades through the streets starting from Avenida del Sol and circling the Plaza de Armas. All dressed in the traditional clothing not changed for centuries and unique to each village.
My wife's company work with several communities surrounding Cuzco who provide porters and cooks for their Inca Trail tours and these communities participated in the dances. One particular community who had done fantastic work this year invited the Cuzco staff to join them in their parade on the evening of Inti Raymi. Travelers were also able to join them and we danced through the streets surrounded by thousands of spectators dressed in their traditional ponchos and hats. What an experience!
While it is a great cultural event on one level, it’s also a little bewildering to me that some people still practice these types of celebrations post moon walk. Sacrificing animals to the Sun? Huh?
Being a long time traveler, I have happened across the most remarkable of sandwiches on more than one occasion. A sandwich you will find all over the globe. From its humble beginnings in New York, to East Africa, the Peruvian Andes, and even the place the Buddha received enlightenment.
The Club Sandwich.
I can’t remember my first Club but for some reason it gave me comfort. It is the quintessential room service item. The go-to food when I need a hit of western indulgence. And when you order it, you know what you are generally getting because the ingredients should not change. It can only be served well, or poorly. Well, that’s the theory anyway.
A bit of history:
There are various theories on the origin of the Club Sandwich. One common theory is that a man came home late one night pissed (as men do) and needed something to eat, so he just smashed together whatever was in the fridge. He enjoyed his creation so much that he spoke to his friends about it at a club they were members of the following week. They decided to have one made at the club as an experiment, and they all loved it. Thus, the ‘Club Sandwich’ was born.
It is also thought that the sandwich first appeared in 1894 at the famous Saratoga Club-House, an exclusive gentlemen only gambling house in upstate Saratoga Springs, New York, where the potato chip was born.
Whatever the case, the Club seems to have originated from the New York region in the late 19th century. I wish it hadn’t have come from the States, but oh well…
How to make a Club:
Toast three slices of bread. Lightly butter. On the first piece lay down some shredded chicken, fresh fried bacon, tomato, and mayo. Lay another piece of toast down. On top of that lay a couple of lettuce leaves, a fried egg, cheese, and a slice of ham. Cover with the final piece of toast. Then, place on a grill for a few seconds each side to ensure it’s all hot and crispy, and the cheese melts. Slice the sandwich in quarters and hold each quarter together with a toothpick.
Importantly, the Club must be accompanied by fresh chips, or fries. They should be thin fries, crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
The Club is presented with the four quarters lying on their backs angled towards the centre of a dish with the fries scattered in the centre of the plate.
The Club MUST be presented hot! No cold chips, bacon, or unmelted cheese!!
Whenever I travel I rate the Club on a scale of 1 to 10. Each Club starts with 10/10 and if they miss any of the ingredients then they lose a point. If they do something poorly they will lose a half a point.
Oddly enough, both the best and worst Club Sandwich I've had presented to me were in India.
The worst was room service at a small hotel in Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha received enlightenment.
Score board: Only two pieces of bread -1, Not toasted -1, No bacon -1, No ham -1, No lettuce -1, No tomato -1, No egg -1, No mayo -1, Not cut in quarters -1, No fries -1, Cold -1.
Score: minus 1 out of 10.
Shame Bodh Gaya, Shame!
The best Club Sandwich in the world, so far, goes to the Hilton in Mumbai. Presented exactly as described above in the How to make a Club, section. Glorious!
All action is cause and effect. We do not act without cause, and that cause is to survive.
"You see there is only one constant. One universal. It is the only real truth. Causality. Action, reaction. Cause and effect."
The Merovingian
Every action humans carry out, every thought we have, every motivation we have, is based on the most basic instinct and evolutionary adaption of the human species.
That is: survival.
The driving force of all life.
While our base instinct is to survive, we accomplish this in various ways, according to our nature and nurture. Looking beneath the veneer can be fascinating to discover the long line of cause and effect that drives us to think and act. During this process we may sometimes think of 'why' we act believing there is some divine 'purpose' for being. These thoughts are mere diversions from the reality of life.
I think understanding that the purpose of life is survival allows us to then search for meaning in life. A subtlety, but an important one in my opinion. It allows us to expand our horizon while always being grounded in the knowledge of the pure reality of existance.
We are not puppets of some white bearded extraterrestrial sitting in judgment in the clouds. We do not have to follow dogmatic doctrine made up by schizophrenics in ancient times without question. We are another animal evolving on the planet and must cope with the changes to our world due to such things as technological and scientific advancement, which allow us to better understand ourselves and our environment.
Having a mind free of religious dogma allows us to search for fact and truth, not meaning through outerwordly, non existant entities.
With the purpose of life clear - survival - my mission is to find purpose in my life. How can I make my life as great as it can in this world at this time? How can I contribute and make others lives as good as they can be? How can I find the happiness described by Aristotle and others as 'eudaimonia'? The flourishing of the heart that leaves us in awe. My purpose.
As for any other deeper meaning for any and all life in the universe beyond survival, it's nice to speculate, and great to discuss the possibilites, but we should never stray too far from reality.
