A Geographer’s Impressions David Lyons / Century College / Winter 2014

Purpose

Peru represents a part of the world whose environments and ways life I have been covering in

classes for 20 years. Now I finally have the opportunitiy to observe and explore these worlds

first-hand!

It’s given me the confidence to embark on more adventures

Peru’s Size and Location

Peru lies on the west coast of South America, bounded by Ecuador and Columbia in the north, Brazil and Bolivia to the east, and Chile to its south.

Peru covers about 500,000 square miles. To compare, Alaska covers about 615,000 square miles and Texas about 270,000 square miles

My Trip

Colca Canyon

Isle Tequila

GPS Breadcrumb Trail of our Trip

Compiled by Jim Walsh

Peru’s Physical Geography

The physical geography and type of environment found in any given place is determined by six climate controls. Peru is influenced by all six

Latitude: Peru is entirely within the tropics

• Two seasons – rainy and dry, high sun is rainy season• Lying the southern hemisphere, its seasons are opposite of ours• Its longitude, and thus its daily time, matches that of the US East Coast

Elevation – much of Peru lies at high altitudes

Altiplano – the world’s second largest plateau

Ocean Currents – the Humboldt Current controls Peru’s Pacific coast

• This cold west coast current sweeps up from Antarctica

• Suppresses the atmosphere / Upwelling supports a productive marine ecosystem

Landform Barriers and Prevailing Winds

• Easterly Trade Winds Blow across Peru and over the Andes Mountains• Result is windward rainforests and leeward dry zones

rain shadowOrographic Uplift

Position Relative to Oceans

Interestingly, this climate control, which so dominates Minnesota – e.g. our continental system, is the least important control for Peru

Peru has three major physical regions

Peru’s west coast is a desert – except during El Ninos

Andes Mountains – complex geologically and environmentally

The Andes stretch the entire South American continent, reaching over 20,000 feet of elevation in places

The Andes are a young and active range, the product of subduction

Any Questions?

Photo by Jim Walsh

Stratified and faulted ash deposits

Photo by Jim Walsh

Venting Volcano

Photo by Jim Walsh

El Misti - “Goat Mountain” / classic stratovolcano / 19,000 feet / last erupted 1985

Cloud Forest – moist trade winds lifted up Andean slopes

Photo by Amy Hadiaris

Eastern Peru lies in the Amazon Rainforest

Three Drainage Regimes and Divides

Western Peru drains to the Pacific and eastern Peru into the Atlantic via the Amazon

The Altiplano of Peru and Bolivia has interior drainage into Lake Titicaca

The People of Peru

Gringo

Quechua

Ethnic Composition• 45% Indigenous Amerindian• Largest groups Quechua and Aymara• Distribution – most concentrated in

Andean region

37% Mestizo and 15% European Largest concentration in Lima

Peru has also had significant migrations from China (mid-19th Century), Italy (early 20th Century), and Japan (after WWII)

Andean People of Peru

Andean People of Peru

Andean People of Peru

Andean People of Peru

Andean People of Peru

Basic Demographics of Peru• Population: 30.5 million• Life Expectancy: 74 years• Birth Rate: 2.6 births / woman• Infant Mortality: 17 / 1000• Rate of Natural Increase: 1.5%• A “Stage 3” Country

Peru – Pre-Inca History

Peru has been occupied by humans for over 14,000 years and agricultural societies since 7000 BCE

Moche Temple in Lima circa 200 A.D.

Peru History – the Inca

The largest empire in pre-Columbian America / Rose in 13th Century and conquered by Spanish in 1572 / A Highlands empire

History: The Spanish and Catholicism

Madonna and Child in hotel lobby – less concern about separation of church and state than U.S.

History: The Spanish and Catholicism

The Spanish used pre-existing Inca foundations to build upon

The Spanish, Catholicism and Acculturation of Andean Peoples

“Guinea Pig Last Supper” in Cusco Cathedral

Andean belief systems - a hybrid of Catholicism and local Animism

My first, and

Last, Guinea Pig

Supper

Peru Gained its Independence from the Spanish in 1821

The Battle of Ayacucho

Bolivar did not embrace the same ideals as the U.S. Founding Fathers. He saw as risky the constitution and democratic system of government of the recently independent United States. In South America, authoritarian governments would become the norm.

The Trajectory of History Since Independence• After Independence, Spanish Peruvians would dominate the country politically and

economically

• Unlike in the U.S., where land would be plotted and parceled by government for wide distribution to settlers willing to toil and improve it, in Peru the Spanish crown selectively awarded vast amounts of land – as well as the labor of the indigenous living upon it – to a few loyal Spaniards who would build lavish estates (Haciendas). Land would be hereditarily passed on.

• Indigenous peoples “campesinos” were often enslaved and given access to meager plots of land for subsistence activities.

• Land reform movements and the breaking up of the Hacienda system did not start until the 1960s.

• Peru’s Quechua Andean regions remain relatively poorer and more traditional

Recent History

• 1970s-1990s: A communist insurgency terrorized Andean Peru• “The Shining Path” promised action to address

Peru’s inequities, initially gathering support from rural poor • 1980 initiated its “armed struggle” and morphed

into one of the most brutal of all late 20th Century Maoist guerilla movements• Ultimately defeated by government forces under

President Fujimori, Guzman captured in 1992• Estimated 63,000 casualties (Shining Path credited for

half) Abimael Guzman, philosophy professor turned Maoist group leader

Politics in Peru

• Three Independent Branches• Five year Presidency• Unicameral 130 Seat Congress• Multi-party System• Mandatory Voting

President Ollanta Humala Quechua with Military

Background

Alberto Fujimori – President 1990-2000, credited with modernizing Peru and defeating Shining Path, now serving 25 year prison term

Alan Garcia Perez –ran economy into ground in 1980s (inflation 2 million%). Apologized and got re-elected in 2006

2014 is an election year

Peruvian Economy

Primary Sector• Mining

• Andean region is mineral rich• Major exporter of metals to China and US

• Fishing• World’s leading exporter of fish meal

• Agriculture• Irrigated export sector

Secondary• Construction boom• Emerging manufacturing economyTertiary• Tourism• Services: micro-entrepreneurs

Characteristics• World Bank Designation: “Upper Middle

Income”• Aggregate GNP: $330 billion (47th)• GNP PPP Per Capita: $10,200• Rapid growth: >6.5% annually• Export-led development strategy• Fiscally Sound• Income Equality: Gini = 48 (similar to US)• Peru has cut its poverty rate in half from

50% to 25% in recent decades

GDP per capita in PPP 2012

Source: World Economic Outlook 2012

My Observations: a bee-hive of activity, construction everywhere, a hard-working and practical people, palpable optimism, but also lots of marginal small businesses

Small shops and niche producers everywhere

Specialization on products made from used tires

Peru Construction Techniques: clay bricks, hand-trowelled cement, and lots of rebar

A Country Under Construction: Add-on as finances allow and use lots of rebar

Local Markets in Peru – Vibrant and Colorful

• Peru, like most less developed countries, has a large informal economy

• Peru, like most less developed countries, has a large informal economy

Countless varieties of dried potatoes

Juliaca Markets

• Peru, like most less developed countries, has a large informal economy

Small local shops predominate but supermarkets and chain stores are becoming more common

A cappuccino and a Starbucks can be found

Much of Peru’s highlands is dedicated to grazing

The Alpaca Whisperer

VicuñaThe World’s Finest Natural Fiber

Photo by Amy Hadiaris

A Picture is Worth ….. 1 Sol

Peru: Recently poor and rapidly changing

•

Development has been uneven geographically and societally

Lima, a Modern City with Colonial Roots

Dominates Peru politically, economically, demographically

Getting Around Lima

Slum Sprawl of Self-Constructed Housing Marks Lima’s Outskirts

• Lima’s newest migrants are insecure of land tenure, but have been gaining political power

Photo by Amy Hadiaris

Many recent urban residents are migrants from rural areas

Push and Pull factors include agricultural modernization, Political Instability, Globalization, the lure of the city

Rapid Urban Growth and resulting Congestion

Getting Around in the City

Eating in Peru

Photo by Amy Hadiaris

Chef Gaston Credited with making Quinoa cool again

Peru – a Land of Weavers and Knitters

A Rural Co-op of Women Who Spin and Knit

Wilbur Quispe: Keeping Traditional Weaving Techniques Alive

Wilbur Quispe: Keeping Traditional Weaving Techniques Alive

• Yarn is hand spun and natural dyes are used

One son has dedicated himself to the craft full time

The Men Knit on Isle Tequila

And the Women Weave

Visiting a Farm and Simple Way of Life

Practicing a Diverse Mixed Farming System

Family Members

Photo by Amy Hadiaris

All the Trappings of Modern Life

Raised Beds System for Cropping and Pasturing

Monastery of Santa Catalina in Arequipa

Where the Sisters had servants, private bedrooms and kitchens – the Vatican finally cracked down 300 years later

Monastery of Santa Catalina

Photo by Amy Hadiaris

Peru at 16,000 Feet

Peru at 16,000 Feet

Photo by Amy Hadiaris

High Altitude Bathroom Facilities

Lake Titicaca – World’s Highest Navigable Lake

• Elevation 12,500 feet / Area 3,200 miles2 / largest lake in South America

Photo by Jim Walsh

The quiet life on an island in Lake Titicaca

Photo by Jim Walsh

The City of Puno on Lake Titicaca

The Paradise of Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon

Photo by Jim Walsh

Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon: nice day for a hike

Left: remnants of indigenous settlement destroyed by Spanish. The Canyon’s scattered settlements deemed ungovernable

Right: Town of Chivay built by Spanish to concentrate and Christianize the Colca people

Our Group and Our Digs in Colca Canyon

Andean Condors

Photo by Jim Walsh

A Simple Food Kitchen in Yanque

The City of Cusco, once the Inca capitol, now major tourist center

Photo by Amy Hadiaris

Cusco Main Square

Spanish built complex of Catholicism atop the razed Inca “Temple of Sun”

Inca Terraces

Inca Granaries destroyed by Spanish

Inca Engineering – Still Works!

Ollantaytambo

The Inca in Peru

Ollantaytambo

Chinchero

Pisaq along Inca Trail

Machu Picchu

Inca Trail

Fancy Sundial

Inca Drawbridge

Our Group

Melanie – our trip leaderSiverio – our Peruvian guide

Jose and RaulOur knowledgeable guide and trusty driver

Photo by Jim Walsh

Puerto Maldonado Airport and its two gates

My Trip to the Jungle

Bellying up in Puerto Maldonado

Heading into the Jungle along the Madre de Rios

Would OSHA approve?

Jungle Accommodations

My Trip to the Jungle

A Strange World

Hiking to Sandoval Lake – five hours in mud

Our Fearless Guide Valeria

Me Tarzan!

Our Fearless Guide Falls Out of the Canoe

Epiphytes – “Air Plants”

Limiting Factors? What are limiting factors?

Wildlife Seen through a Pocket Camera

Extreme Riverbank Erosion and Oxisols Exposed

Harvest of Tropical Hardwood Awaiting Export

My Jungle Cohort