Finally got to Pachacamac, the Inca ruins south of Lima. Quite incredible. We wandered around for a while wondering why they had built their huge temples and city here when we went up inside the Templo del Sol and over it and suddenly could see the entire Pacific Ocean and survey the green farmlands beneath us. Suddenly, it all made sense.
The bus ride to Pachacamac was pretty confronting: shanty towns all up the hillside that look like brightly colored shipping containers hung with drying clothes and blaring radios; workers in wretched streets with welders and building cars right there in roadside workshops; children resting tired heads against carts overflowing with vegetables they´re trying to sell. We had a pretty heated discussion about our role as tourists in a country this abject — much worse than Russia as I saw it in 2003 — and in what could actually be done in a meaningful sense even by the populace themselves.
We´re pretty tired but in the end had a great day and we´re off early tomorrow morning to catch a flight to Puerto Maldonado and the Amazonian retreat called Explorer´s Inn.
We´ll see if I can update from there. Otherwise, I´ll tell you more when we hit Cuzco. Love and stuff!