Project

We had to make an internet-based interface for the telephone system. As a complex and difficult as you could get. I don't know how we ever got it done.

Joke in the end.............. Asterisk already had one.

Museo de Nacional

A standard museum. Clay pots, silver pots, silver garments, stones, etc. The very interesting part that really struck us was the Shining Path display. Some of the Peruvians told us they thought America was this super dangerous place where we all carried guns and shot each other for fun (thanks media). But Peru was super safe! Yeah right. For years Peru was caught between drug gangs, pro-communist guerrilla forces, anti-government forces, student protesters, and the government. People were rounded up, sent to isolated prisons, and would never return. The military occupied colleges where protests had been held. In one instance, 3 students were kidnapped by the military and their bodies discovered 3 days later. Later we had dinner maybe 100 feet from the center of a huge truck bomb explosion in the posh area of Miraflores. That explosion ruined hundreds of buildings in the area, and cost a few million dollars in damages. You can see all over the city the lasting legacy of the Shining Path. Everything is behind walls, fences, gates. Locked away. The wealthy you are the better built the wall. You either had a fence or a stone wall capped with glass, barbed wire, or electric barbed wire. The really rich neighborhoods were further walled off with guards and gates. Everywhere is filled with police. I swear the biggest employers are the police, military, private security, or taxis. Basically the whole thing came to the point where the fighting would stop in Peru if you make the cost super high. And you do that be arresting everyone, torturing everyone, and killing everyone. Eventually the Japanese embassy was over run. People became so frustrated with everything. The Shining Path gave up. Fujimori is now on trial for crimes against humanity and fraud. He started the path for an economic boom in the country. People respect him but don't seem to be proud. Apparently the country is starting to relax a little from the high tension years of the Shining Path. Some say if the police presence were to go away that the Shining Path would come back. The government is still fighting them in the jungle in the north. It was really chilling to read all of the stories about people killed by the government and the Shining Path. After that I did not feel the same about Peru.

Futbol game

Professor Hanson, a professor from TECSUP, his brother, me, and another student from Purdue went to a futbol match to watch Universatario play against another team in the Peruvian league. This stadium was massive! I guess it seats over 80,000 people. The problem is the average attendance is under 20,000. (Later a Peruvian student told me they only sell it out against their main rival, during concerts, and when the national team plays there.) At this stadium you get a quick understanding of Peruvian idea of professional. The place was really dusty, the bathrooms were questionable; the field looked very well worn. Generally, I like older stadia because most of them have more personality than modern ones. So I figured this stadium was 70 or 80 years old. Maybe over the years they renovated to fix the concrete, put in new seats, added a ton of luxury suites, etc. No! This place was only 8 years old. I have never been to a top stadium that looked so in disrepair. It made me wonder if Peruvians build things and let it go until it falls over. The game wasn't too exciting. The field was surrounded in a thick Plexiglas wall with barbed wire. You weren't allowed to sit at the bottom 10 or so rows (the fence was completely covered in banners) because the riot shield police were at the ready. Again you had the Peruvian food vendors coming up to you asking you wanted something. The Peruvian professor told us that you can ask the vendors if they have drinks filled with alcohol. Unofficially, of course. The fans sang, yelled, and used flares. Definitely different from American pro sports. Afterward we went to a restaurant and I ate a whole chicken, two beef-ka-bobs, and a salad. The games weren't too expensive. I guess it was 10 soles to enter.

Fountain Tour

We went to the largest display of fountains in the world. Some were sculptures of things with water spraying out. Others had jets of water coming out of the ground. It was almost like the greatest collection of fountains from all over the world. One looked like a cooling tower of a nuclear power plant. One fountain was like a tunnel. Jets of water would curve over us and we could walk through it. I stuck my hand between two jets and the police blew a whistle at me. Whoops. At one end was this massive fountain that shot water straight into the air. A guess the guy got his inspiration from a fountain in Las Vegas. The most impressive part of the entire show was the show they do. This fountain has a long line of jets that shoot straight into the air. They have colored lights under them. At 8 I believe at the middle, the jets turn into sprayers were they project a movie and lasers through the water. They play music during the show. Afterwards we went home and on the way we saw their massive renovated national stadium. At the one end they have this massive tower with a restaurant at the top.

On Saturday

Saturday was our tour of Lima. We circled lot of statue-filled plazas, wide boulevards, and ancient Spanish parks. We drove past a huge Inca pyramid that was built out of mud bricks. Millions of bricks. I don't believe these bricks were probably 4 or 5 times larger than modern bricks. Back in the day the pyramid used to have a flat spot on top that they said held huts. I wonder where all the bricks went because it isn't very large anymore. We went to a park that dates back to Spanish conquistadors. Pizarro apparently wanted olive trees and received about 12. Since then they had traced more than 50 trees in the park back to the originals. This park also contained the Argentine embassy. A beautiful yellow building. Architecture in this area can be traced to certain people. Incas built mud brick buildings with a flat grassy roof or no roof at all. Spaniards built medium pitched roofs to keep the rain off (What rain?). Central Europeans built high pitched roofs... for the snow.... Our guide didn't tell us this but all the buildings at one point were all the same color. But since all of the buildings are right next to each other, it became hard to tell each one apart. After that each house had to have a different color and they picked bright colors to catch your eye. We went past the Palace of Justice, more statued traffic circles, and a Sheridan. We had lunch at a buffet and one of my fellow students got the number of our waitress. That was a little weird. After that we went to the Presidential Palace where the president doesn't live. The fancy yellow mayor and government offices. We went to a park that had the old outer defensive walls of the old city. The park had a large statue of Pizarro on a horse. Really it is weird how the Spanish came in like they owned the country, killed, Christianized the natives, gave them diseases, and yet still honor him. The opposite mentality than we have in America. We walked over to another church that had the saintly relics of the three saints of Lima and Peru. Our guide didn't really seem to care but it was still interesting because all of the normal saintly relics are usually in Europe. The buildings in the old parts of Lima have balconies. I forget what our guide said about them. I think they had something to do about not being seen by commoners, and hiding women.

Convento de San Francisco de Asisi

On Saturday we were given a guided tour of Lima. We saw all of the old buildings from long ago. Buildings built by Italians, Spaniards, and Americans. We saw a Sheridan built by some Americans but I didn't hear why it is so important in Peruvian history. I think our guide said something about revolution. But the most impressive building we saw was the Convento de San Francisco de Asisi. This church and convent were built all the way back in the 1680s. Really I think they should Convento de los Pigeons. I have never seen so many pigeons in one area. A lot were flying around but you couldn't kick your leg without hitting a few. Of course the Peruvian children loved running through the masses on the ground. This caused all of the pigeons to take off; we were wary of their "bombs." The church had lots of ledges for pigeons to land on, and the multitude of statues and marble scenes the church had. Evidently they employ two vultures to attack the pigeons but the pigeons reproduce more rapidly than the vultures eat. No me gusta. We eventually walked into the atrium. Humorously some women with a board of necklaces tried to infiltrate our group and make it inside. A guard told her to go away. Unfortunately the convent was being renovated so a lot of the religious statues were hidden away. The roof was interesting because, besides being artsy, the panels were held only by pressure. Which makes me wonder if you knocked one down, would they all fall? They had a lot of paintings of benefactors, bishops, and saintly people. All were commissioned around 1685. Old. Very. There was a chapel of sorts dedicated to Mary and the baby Jesus. The interior of the convent was styled like the ones in Spain: open air courtyard that cast a shadow and no exterior windows.


Many of the plants in the courtyard were imported from Spain. We entered one of the many chapels the brothers held prayers in. I believe the first one we crossed was for the elderly who could not make it to the larger one. Nothing remarkable there though I swear we heard that the area to clean yourself was once a bathroom but no one could collaborate this. We went to their library after this. Interesting place. It had lots and lots of ancient books (presumably religious). The typical monastic type of library: lots and lots of shelving to hold all of the books. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall. In the center of the room was a massive book. There was a hymnal book or sorts with the medial drawings. Apparently that was their communal "projection" book for everyone to use. In the main chapel they had a big book stand for it. I couldn't imagine being the guy to drag that thing around all the time. This area was above the church with the newest organ I had ever seen. It was build 1886 or so. This place had little itty bitty seats for when the brothers to rest if they became tired. Comfortable. One of the chapels had placards of all of the martyred brothers. Each one was supposed to represent how he died. Some were holding their head (beheaded), standing on a rock (stoned), or holding mushrooms (poisoned?). Some were hard to understand how they died. Apparently this place was also an active convent but you couldn't tell.

The crypt. A place to bury the dead. And bury they did. Estimated at 50,000 bodies, I wonder if
that was low. The crypt was the first public burial place for the city. But a bad disease swept through the city killing many of the people. The convent was so overwhelmed that they would build/dig a hole, toss a body in, throw some lime on it, toss another in. Our guide said it was 10 meters deep! Originally bodies would be placed with reverence but eventually they were dumping bodies in there. This caused the crypt to be closed around the mid-1800s, as other burial places were used and crypt using fell out of favor. Recently an old brother was buried there (only members of the convent are allowed now). Archaeologists went through to count the bodies and kept discovering new areas. One such area they opened contained something that killed many of the people that were working. They closed it up and forgot about it.

Too bad I couldn't take pictures because was one of the highlights of the trip. Odd to say because there was so much history in this place but that was all we had time to see.

Tuesday.

A quickie today.

We start our death project. We may die from it.

Our taxi mounted a median to get into another lane to get onto the highway.

We played futbol with some Peruvians. I score twice. We may have won a billion to billion and one.