Editors' Note: MORE THAN LIGHT

 

 

 

 

Dear Readers,
In Arequipa everything have happened, from ancient settlements more than 10,000 years old to secessionist attempts during the 19th Century, with several earthquakes, talented painters, constant restorations and Incan mummies. And of course there will be happening more things on this city filled with impetuous and vigorous people.
Arequipa is the perfect postcard, with buildings made of hewn stones that give it the appellative of "White City", thousands of doves flying across an unforgettable blue sky and on the back closing the landscape, the Misti, the guardian volcano. As the singer Chabuca Granda well said, Arequipa is the "light that gives glint to the light itself".
But everything is illuminated in Peru, and in that way we could reach the little town of Sarhua, famous for its talking wooden boards; or take a peek of the Temples of the Sun and the Moon and see the slow process of restoration of the culture that created the Lord of Sipan; and if you still want to get astonished, lets enjoy a Marinera dance, a charming courtship full of tenderness and roguery.
Close your eyes and imagine been in Peru. Now, would you dare to open them again?
Regards,
Jose and Cynthia
 
 
Main Article: THE HISTORIC CENTER OF AREQUIPA
In this bucolic landscape the people had from time immemorial the tutelary volcanoes.
In the first scene of this story we see a picturesque valley scattered with small terraced fields, at the foot of the three volcanoes and in the middle of one of the driest deserts in the world. People had been living in this extended oasis from time immemorial -several thousand years no doubt -indigenous ethnic groups (Collaguas, Lupacas, Puquinas, and others), as well as Quechua who were the dominating group at the time the bearded Conquistadors arrived from Spain.
At the beginning of November 1533, Pizarro and his men sacked Cusco. End of first act -though much remains to be told -of the dramatic tableau known as the "Conquest of the Incas". The new Governor of Peru and Conquistador realized that a city was necessary between the imperial capital which he had just subdued and the territory of the Charcas, to the south west he had to conquer before he could share the new dominions with his partner and the rival Diego de Almagro.
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Second Article: SARHUA, A LAND OF MOUNTAINS AND COLOR
The rustic boards or ceremonial beams in Sarhua contain images of the family going about their daily business, which can later be remembered together with their favorite objects, animals and plants.
Sarhua is approached from the high Andean plateau. A mountain which seems enormous close to looks small when you see a village clinging to one side. You have to continue downwards by a footpath that stops abruptly at the river Pampas, and six and a half thousand feet above are the Sarhuinos
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Archaeologic: SUN & MOON TEMPLES
This major archaeological site was built at the time of the Moche culture (100 BC-650 AD), just east of a prominent, freestanding hill, the Cerro Blanco (White Mountain), and next to a small tributary of the Moche River. It occupies a central location within the extensive Moche Valley. The complex sits about three miles inland, southeast of the modern city of Trujillo and is considered by many scholars to be the former capital of the Moche State.
The complex is dominated by two huge adobe brick buildings: the Pyramid of the Sun, or Huaca del Sol, and the artificial platform called Huaca de la Luna, or Temple of the Moon. On the quarter-mile-wide, open plain between them, researchers have found many graves, most of them looted, as well as evidence of large scale manufacturing covered by a layer of sediment up to 10 feet thick. A considerable number of administrators, religious, and manufacturing specialists must have been living at this great prehispanic settlement. Like most prehispanic sites on the coast, it is located so as not to usurp agricultural land and in a good position to acquire food, building material and other resources.
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Peruvian Art: MARINERA
The Marinera is the Peruvian National Dance. The Marinera has its origins in symbolism and legend, born in a Creole ambiance with much Peruvian pride. The history tells that when the Spanish came to Peru, they found this dance in the areas that today we know as La Libertad and Lambayeque, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean northwest of Lima, the capital of Peru.
The Marinera is danced by sweeping the feet, leaping, and the couple play with hats and handkerchiefs. It displays the dancers' abilities to their maximum splendor. The picaresque and grace of the music and the burlesque intention of the lyrics are united to the typical gyration of inciting and joyful melody, and at the same time the complex rhythms play is reinforce by the Creole Cajon.
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