Pachacamac and update.

We realised it has been a very long time since we lasted posted anything on our blog, Apologies to those of you who read regularly. We have been busy in the last month, and blog posting time has just not been available, along with emailing, and other such things.

Jobs on our current to do list include; a huge amount of planning to do before we go back to the UK. In addition we have had to organise, and do last minute organisation for the jungle trip (posts to follow) and also organisation for the end of year kid’s Christmas do (12 December posts to follow). We also had the visit of Holly’s parents and sister, Les, Heather and Robyn.

We are currently on retreat in Cienaguilla at the moment and therefore have a little time to catch up on the blog, and other things.

Last week partly due to the visit of our friend Naomi Hill,

who is also part of our missionary family TOM (see http://www.missionorder.org/) we went to a pre Incan ruin called Pachacamac. (The photo above shows Naomi, NOT at Pachacamac, but in the jungle! - posts to follow!) On the forbidden staircase - the security guard with a gun took us on a special trip to this staircase, as a treat, but wouldn't let us go up any further unless we were seen!

This ruin is about 45 minutes out of the centre of Lima and very interesting, especially comparing with Inca ruins and especially those buildings found in Cusco and obviously with Peru’s number one tourist destination, Macchu Picchu.
One interesting comparison between the two building forms is the difference between the landscapes of Macchu Picchu, which is situated in a green well irrigated mountain valley, compared with Pachacamac which is situated in the desert at sea level. This however is just a climatic comparison, but not where the comparisons end. For example the people who built Pachacamac built their buildings using adobe (a mud like substance) and mud as mortar. The architecture as well was very rounded in form. This is compared to the very angular form of Macchu Picchu and Cusco which uses no mortar to hold them together, but instead mathematical shapes which interlock. The other thing that also struck me when at Pachacamac was the way there is a great similarity between the way the people were treated in the time that this establishment was active and today. For example the lords and leaders treated their servants and the women as second class citizens and beneath them. The old adage ‘jump servant’, and the servant’s response should be ‘how high’. This is still reflected today as some of the middle and upper class treat those from the working class and below as there for their convenience at best, and as bad as dirt. In the time of Pachacamac you had little or no rights. This also happens today with the private beaches, which aren’t private unless you don’t look as though you can afford to be there, and the lack of courtesy when ordering in restaurants.
This as a Christian is not what I see the Bible saying, and something which shocks me culturally, and makes me ask the question, what is my response, what is my role?