Peru - Introduction - Contrasts

During my too-short week in Peru, there was one overarching theme:  the constant presence of contrasts, whether historical, religious, or cultural in nature.  The contradictions are impossible to ignore.

First, in Lima:  Modern structures and ancient ones sit side-by-side. (Note that throughout my blog, you can click on the pictures for a larger view.)

The La Muralla Restaurant sits in La Muralla Park, a public space in Lima built on the site of the old Spanish city walls.  The restaurant features a terraced garden, modern in style but ancient in principle.  In the photo you can see remains of the wall on the left and remains of an old city structure on the right.

In Central Lima, it's not unusual  to see graffiti and utilitarian doors on older, ornate structures.  This example is on the Jiron de la Union, a pedestrian walk containing shops, banks, and movie theaters.

Historical and culture contrasts aren't just in the architecture; they can also been seen in the way people present themselves.

Here a group of women, apparently from Huancane (near Lake Titicaca), prepare for a Sunday morning parade featuring their provincial iteration of the Virgin Mary, while a woman in modern dress walks by, nonchalant.

I'm still not sure what to make of this parade costume.

The contrasts are historical and religious in nature in Cuzco, where the Conquistadors built Roman Catholic churches on the sacred sites of the Incas after defeating them.  There are 14 Catholic churches in Cuzco, according to my tour guide, and all of them are built on the foundations of Inca temples, which were looted and destroyed. The symbolism is unmistakable: the "triumph" of the Church over the indigenous religion.  The most haunting example of this is Qorikancha, aka the Church of Santo Domingo.

Here a stone church is built on the base of the older Inca temple wall, while a more recent wooden structure is attached. It's both bizarre and beautiful. I'll have more pictures of Qorikancha in a subsequent post.

Qorikancha is located in the tourist district of Cuzco, right next to this modern tapas restaurant on a narrow road constantly populated with taxis and other automobiles.

High above Cuzco sits Saksaywaman, the remains of a fortress that predated the Incas.  The Spanish and Inca generals fought a bitter battle for this high place in the early 16th Century.  Now, on a nearby hill, the Cristo Blanco (modeled after the similar statue in Rio) stretches his arms over the city.

The constant contradictions were sometimes disturbing, sometimes jarring, and always fascinating to me. When I consider it, we certainly have similar contrasting images here in the United States; one of the most familiar to me is the sight of the St. Louis Gateway Arch towering above the Old Courthouse in St. Louis.  I'm not sure if the contradictions are more jarring to me in Peru because they are foreign to me or because they are truly more extreme. Either way, I found myself noticing them everywhere in the small piece of Peru I had a chance to visit.