When it came to studying history at school I remember always being much more facinated with the ancient civilizations than those closer to our own time.
The Egyptians, the Greeks and, of course, the Incas...
All had facinating rituals, societies, spiritualisation and knowledge of our planet which we consider so scientifically ahead of their time - but they probably considered necessary for survival. With all the scientific knowledge we now have in the 21st Century we still wonder about ancient monuments and archeological sites that have survived - the pyramids, stonehenge, the Nazcar lines...and the meanings behind them. Why were they built? and how?
While the Incas are probably the most well known ancient civilisation in South America, made famous by monuments and temples such as Machu Piccu and the 'inca gold' made famous in pirate movies, they were actually the shortest reigning of all the ancient societies here. Peru itself was was once much larger - covering much of what is now Chile, Bolivia and Argentina and was conquered by several 'tribes' over thousands of years - including the Nazcar and the Paracas cultures which preceeded the Incas by over 500 years.
Yesterday we delved deep into the minds of the Nazcar as, while staying in the city that takes their name, Nazca, we visited their cemetry...
There seems to be a theme running through this trip for me which includes lots of bones and mummies. I have visited elaborate cemetries in Paris and Buenos Aires including the graves of the famous, and have seen more than my fair share of bones in the catacombs of Paris and the catacombs beneath the largest cathedral in Lima, Peru.
The Nazcas believed that, in order to enter the next life, you must leave it as you arrived. So they mummified their dead in the fetal position as soon as they passed, dousing the entire body in salt and wrapping it in cotton before popping them into graves in the middle of the desert alongside offerings to the gods of seashells, corn, gold and beautiful pottery.
Fastforward to the 20th century to when graverobbers found the site, opened the graves, took the gold and pottery, threw around some bones, broke some ancient earthen-wear and left the graves and the mummies to the mercy of the sun.
The result? White skulls and bones, cooked and bleached by the sun, that without this invasion, would have been covered in salty, 1500 year old skin. I think I prefer the bones after seeing one mummy that the graverobbers missed now kept safe and shaded in a small museum near the site. The fact that it was hidden from the sun means it is still mummified as the Nazcars indended - skin and all. Creepy as it sounds I found it facinating to learn more about the Nazcar's ideas of spirituality and the afterlife.
Later that night we learned even more about their culture as we visited a planetarium (well, more like an igloo really...a fairly pathetic planaterium) to hear about one of the world's most mysterious archaelogical sites, the Nazca lines. Etched into the desert ground by scraping away the dark rocks to reveal paler ones underneath, stylised drawings of animals, insects and birds are depicted as well as random lines up to 10km long. Who drew them and why can only be guessed at but theories range from alien invasions (which is the theory I subscribe to) to complex astronomological calendars and indications of underground water sources made by the thirsty desert civilisation.
An overnight bus (my last for a while hopefully) has bought us to 'the white city' of Arequipa. Standing at the foot of the (active) El Misti volcano and oozing the best of spanish colonial charm, Arequipa vies with cuzco for the title of Peru's most attractive city and is actually the country's third largest.
In my day of free time I happily whiled away several hours in the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, a peaceful convent built in the 16th century when it was traditional for the second son or daughter of a family to enter the religious service. The Santa Catalina accepted only women from high-class spanish family with each family paying a hefty dowry for her acceptance. But life inside the convent was far from modest - each nun had between one and four servants, many brought rugs, fine china and silk curtains - and they often threw parties.
In between and around swilling beer with friends though, the nuns must have done some heavy praying. One of the nuns here was canonised by the pope in the 80s for the miracles performed through her...and many people come here in pilgramage to her.
As for me...I found the nun's cells and way of life interesting - but most of all I loved the quiet and peaceful feeling of being in this 'city within a city'....
Till next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment