Peruvian Lockdown

[Martin Hash]

Huaca Sign.JPG

My half-Incan grandson lives in Peru so my wife & I decided to spend the winter there where it’s spring-like now. We’ve been to Peru many times, traveling throughout most of the fascinating country, not to mention the fabulous historical sites throughout the rest of the country, such as Machu Picchu, the Nazca Lines, Lake Titicaca, and too many more to list. People outside of Peru have no idea just how much history has occurred there, and some of it is a half mile down the street where the archaeological sites, the huacas, are free to visit. Signs indicate where they are and tourism is encouraged.

America has a tradition of resistance to authoritarianism, though we seem to be succumbing now, but Peru is a nation accustomed to it: in fact, one of the most savage Communist guerrilla groups, Shining Path, still operates here, and essentially ruled the country until 1992. People are used to being ordered about and everyone dutifully wears double-masks outdoors. Every security guard, of which there are many because safety here is private, commands we put on masks, which we immediately take off again. Like some Commie cities in America, you can’t go into restaurants, banks or even grocery stores without proof of vaccination, and they don’t accept American vaccinations: you must have been vaxxed in Peru. What’s worse, the pool at our apartment is closed which the whole reason we chose it.

Security Guard.jpg

All of this would make no difference to us except the irritation factor of having come to Peru to escape such lunacy, but here it’s even worse. There are security guards preventing visiting the huacas within walking distance of our apartment in Lima: everyone is prohibited, not just sociopathic Americans. I’d like to hear the reasoning? As we walked around the base of the pyramid, the security guard traced our every move: heaven forbid we rush up the far side and see some 2,000-year old mud bricks. Even weirder, there’s a children’s playground at the entrance of the huaca, and it was full of presumably virus spreading miscreants.

Playground.JPG