Lima
Today we visited Lima, the capital city of Peru. It was a full day, indeed. We docked early at the port of Callao and drove through the now continuous suburbs, which connect the two cities. Years ago, when I first visited Lima, there was a long expanse of desert where houses and shops sit today to accommodate Lima’s 6.5 million inhabitants. We made stops at the famous Larco Herrera Museum of archeology, as well as the home of Captain Gerónimo de Aliaga, a nobleman who accompanied Francisco Pizarro on his conquest of the Inca Empire and still occupied by his family after 17 generations. We also visited the Plaza Major in the city center and lunched at the base of a 2,000-year-old pyramid.
The highlight of our day in Lima, however, was a visit to the laboratory of our new shipmate, Dr. Guillermo (Willy) Cock, who is busy with his team excavating and preserving for science, thousands of Peruvian mummies, most collected in the Lima area and surroundings. Dr. Cock’s work is supported by the National Geographic Society. The laboratory building is packed floor-to-ceiling with mummy bundles recovered by Dr. Cock, often just as they were about to be lost to the rapid growth of the city, as modern barrios spread over ancient graveyards. The work is monumental and the schedule is urgent and it clearly takes a man with the energy and passion of Willy Cock to see the importance so clearly and to pursue it with such zeal.
On this voyage we have had many opportunities, and will have even more in the coming days to become acquainted with the magnificent art, textiles and pottery of the Incas and the many other high civilizations which occupied western South America from Ecuador to Chile for thousand of years. We look forward to seeing these wonderful sites (and sights) through the trained eyes of Willy Cock who is now on board National Geographic Endeavour and who will travel with us in the coming days.
Today we visited Lima, the capital city of Peru. It was a full day, indeed. We docked early at the port of Callao and drove through the now continuous suburbs, which connect the two cities. Years ago, when I first visited Lima, there was a long expanse of desert where houses and shops sit today to accommodate Lima’s 6.5 million inhabitants. We made stops at the famous Larco Herrera Museum of archeology, as well as the home of Captain Gerónimo de Aliaga, a nobleman who accompanied Francisco Pizarro on his conquest of the Inca Empire and still occupied by his family after 17 generations. We also visited the Plaza Major in the city center and lunched at the base of a 2,000-year-old pyramid.
The highlight of our day in Lima, however, was a visit to the laboratory of our new shipmate, Dr. Guillermo (Willy) Cock, who is busy with his team excavating and preserving for science, thousands of Peruvian mummies, most collected in the Lima area and surroundings. Dr. Cock’s work is supported by the National Geographic Society. The laboratory building is packed floor-to-ceiling with mummy bundles recovered by Dr. Cock, often just as they were about to be lost to the rapid growth of the city, as modern barrios spread over ancient graveyards. The work is monumental and the schedule is urgent and it clearly takes a man with the energy and passion of Willy Cock to see the importance so clearly and to pursue it with such zeal.
On this voyage we have had many opportunities, and will have even more in the coming days to become acquainted with the magnificent art, textiles and pottery of the Incas and the many other high civilizations which occupied western South America from Ecuador to Chile for thousand of years. We look forward to seeing these wonderful sites (and sights) through the trained eyes of Willy Cock who is now on board National Geographic Endeavour and who will travel with us in the coming days.
