One of the best things that can happen
when you travel is when you stumble upon the unexpected. That
happened today when we went exploring in General San Martin Pisco,
our last stop in Peru, a country I love.
When we looked out our door this
morning, we thought the Captain must have made a mistake, as we were
docked in the middle of nowhere. From every direction all we could
see was sand-dunes and hundreds of miles of nothing.
We decided to take the shuttle bus into
the town. After travelling about 30 minutes, it dropped us off in a
little seaside town. About a dozen years ago the town had been
devastated by a major earthquake. Some rebuilding is taking place,
but the general concensus is that it will take years for it to get
back to where it was.
We walked down the seaside walk where
there were a few restaurants and some vendors. At the end of the road
we sat on a bus stop in the shade and watched a group of young men
play soccer. They were pretty good.
We continued to wander around town and
spied a small museum. We went in and found a film crew interviewing a
Peruvian man through an English speaking translator. We stood there
for about 10 minutes, not wanting to disturb the interview. They were
holding a small skull and talking about cranial changes and
distortions. It sounded quite scientific.
The translator came over and told us
the museum was closed because they were filming a tv show and the
film crew needed all the space, but if we wanted to just have a quick
look around, we could. The owner of the museum (it is a private
collection) soon joined us and gave us a wonderful personal tour of
his collection. He has an absolutely astounding collection of Inca
and pre-Inca artifacts, including skulls and mummified skulls.
There is a great deal of interest in
this area (there are numerous backpacking hostels and lots of young
people wandering around) because of the Nazca Lines. Resembling
massive animals and geometric figures, these geoglyphs decorate the
dusty Pampa de San Jose and are best viewed from the air. Some
measure 1,000 feet long and are etched into the desert's unfriendly
crust and have probably been there for some 2,000 years. It was the
1968 “Chariots of the Gods” which has generated cultish interest
in these lines.
What brought the film crew here was
Juan's (the museum owner's) collection of skulls which feature the
'cone heads'. One of the people being interviewed said there were
three reasons why people distorted their children's skulls in the
Paracas tribe were (1) they thought it was attractive; (2) they
thought it made their children more intelligent; and (3) they wanted
to look like their ancestors. The interviewer, of course, questioned
who these original ancestors were.
After we visited the exhibits, the film
crew was taking a break so we began talking to them. It turns out
they are the crew from The Watchers, a series of programs that
researches all things alien. !!! Wow.
They have been all over the world
filming for the program, and they said this place excited them the
most because there was no attempt at 'cover-up.'
We finished off our day by enjoying
Inca Cola at a local restaurant, buying bracelets from Camilla, a 10
year old girl who was the 'smartest girl in her class' according to
her friend.
All in all, a great day. Next stop,
Chile.
YOU JUST CAN'T BEAT THE REFRESHING TASTE OF INCA COLA!
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