[HN Gopher] Peru's Great Urban Experiment (2023)
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Peru's Great Urban Experiment (2023)
Author : Thevet
Score : 59 points
Date : 2025-03-16 03:37 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (archaeology.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (archaeology.org)
| gignico wrote:
| I've visited Chan Chan during my honeymoon last year, it's
| impressive! All Peru is impressive, north to south. Highly
| recommended!
| yannis wrote:
| Great you visited it. One reads all these cautionary notices
| about traveling to Peru. What was your experience? Did you
| visit on a group tour? Would love to know more.
| gignico wrote:
| Yes, Peru (and South America in general) can be fairly
| dangerous for people used to Europe or the US, but if you let
| you be guided by someone who knows where to go, it is a
| wonderful place. My wife herself is Peruvian but lived in
| Europe for her whole life so it was a new experience for her
| as well. We travelled on a tour planned by a travel agency
| ad-hoc for our honeymoon, so we were alone (not in a group)
| but we were escorted by private guides for all the travel,
| who organized both the transports and the touristic
| activities. Schedules were tight so it was challenging, but
| really rewarding! On top of the usual famous places like
| Machu Pichu I also greatly recommend the amazonian region. We
| went to a lodge on the Maranon river some kilometers from the
| source of the Amazon River and met local tribes (including
| one of the _five_ last speakers of a disappearing local
| ancient language). Great memories for sure!
| bregma wrote:
| I went there with my younger kids a few years ago. It was
| like visiting the USA only fewer guns and authoritarian
| people in uniforms everywhere, and don't drink the water out
| of the tap. Also maybe pay in cash everywhere since no one
| takes cards. Lima is big and like big cities everywhere be on
| your guard in touristy areas because a lot of people make a
| living there and not always through legal means.
|
| Hiking the Inca trail to Maccu Piccu and seeing the Nazca
| line in person though, worth it. Just stay in hostels and
| travel by bus. A bit of Spanish would help but we got by OK
| without it.
| contrarian1234 wrote:
| > Lima is big and like big cities everywhere be on your
| guard in touristy areas because a lot of people make a
| living there and not always through legal means.
|
| Super weird to normalize urban violence.. as someone who
| lives in Asia.. this is a really messed up terrorized
| mindset. You don't need to walk around Shanghai, Singapore,
| Tokyo, Seoul or Bangkok and "be on your guard" .. ever.
|
| Your government(s) have just failed you in providing a safe
| environment to live
| kvgr wrote:
| It must be historical and also how cities are settled.
| South America has huge influx of uneducated, poor people
| into the cities. It is easy for them to get entangled in
| bad activities in the slums. Like Rio. Beautiful city and
| some government reforms pushed ex slaves into city with
| no prospect for life. and government forgot about them
| until there was a problem. And maybe there is different
| social net in Asia. Culture based on shame, more than
| power/status(?).
| dakiol wrote:
| I think it's the whole American continent (north and
| south) that's way behind Europe/Asia regarding safety in
| the streets.
| bregma wrote:
| Honestly I felt more unsafe in certain touristy parts of
| Paris than anywhere I went in Lima. But not because of
| violence but because of pickpockets and scammers. I would
| chalk that up to the fact that most foreigners visiting
| the Plaza des Armas in Lima are probably an order of
| magnitude less wealthy than the busloads middle-class
| tourist crowding Montmartre in Paris.
| robohoe wrote:
| What's odd the Opp calls out guns in USA but is ok with
| unsafe areas in Peru?
|
| > It was like visiting the USA only fewer guns and
| authoritarian people in uniforms everywhere, and don't
| drink the water out of the tap.
| nomdep wrote:
| Is not about normalizing (or "my country is better than
| yours") is about acknowledging reality
|
| Also, OP wasn't talking about violence (very rare) but
| scams.
| smpnav wrote:
| Peru has had a lot of bad press but if you use your common
| sense you'll be fine. I live in Lima, for example the tourist
| areas here have a high police presence and are safe.
| kvgr wrote:
| I felt kind of safe there, depends of a district. But I
| know personally a guy 1,9 meters, boxer, that got drunk and
| took a taxi, the guy drove him to darl alley where friends
| were waiting and took his stuff. So it is always about
| using your brain and a bit of luck. But that was more than
| 10 years ago. Maybe with uber, these situations are safer.
| smpnav wrote:
| Yeah, it's definitely about using your brain and it's
| wise not to take a street taxi anywhere. Uber is not
| perfect, but much safer.
| kvgr wrote:
| I was there couple years ago. If you don't go to places you
| shouldn't, you are mostly Ok. I felt much safer in Peru than
| in Brazil for example. It is not europe or some parts of
| asia. But for central/south america it was farily safe. Not
| sure about some changes in the last years.
| kvgr wrote:
| There is so many things to see in Peru. And so many things we
| dont know about the world.
| yannis wrote:
| Very interesting article, especially if you interested in how
| societies become organized and urbanized. Two fundamental
| requirements for a city, is a source of water, a centralized
| economy, such as a palace, that stores food and artifacts, and
| lastly be enclosed in walls. I am surprised that no such
| perimeter walls existed, although the palaces were surrounded by
| walls.
| ForTheKidz wrote:
| Yes, who can think of Los Angeles without considering its
| massive and all-encompassing walls.
| mmanfrin wrote:
| It truly would not be a safe settlement without the great
| Angeline Walls keeping Los Gigantes out from the north.
| asdff wrote:
| It does have massive, and all encompassing walls. They aren't
| built like how we used to build defensive walls in history,
| those are obsolete. Instead they are lined with chainlink and
| razor wire, contain radar and other systems for across the
| horizon detection, have runways for aircraft, silos for
| ballistic missiles, magazines for gunships, missile carriers,
| submarines, satellites and other craft in outer space with
| classified capabilities, entire datacenters. It is one of the
| most well defended positions in human history.
| SiempreViernes wrote:
| Right, the silo fields in North Dakota are obviously part
| of the great wall of Los Angeles. Ask any citizen of Fargo
| and they will confirm that they are indeed proud bricks in
| the great Angelino wall and renounce any claim to living in
| a city themselves.
|
| /s
| nkrisc wrote:
| The absolutely are, though. Not just LA, of course, but
| for all American cities.
| pessimizer wrote:
| The two fundamental requirements for a city are:
|
| 1) a source of water,
|
| 2) a palace or other place to center an economy, and
|
| 3) to be enclosed in walls.
|
| We know the last because we have yet to discover any traces
| of the walls of any unwalled cities.
| paganel wrote:
| > and lastly be enclosed in walls
|
| This is mostly a Western-centric view, as there were lots and
| lots of cities in the Muslim/Ottoman world (just to give an
| example) with no walls encompassing them whatsoever.
| schnitzelstoat wrote:
| If there is a stable peace then walls aren't so necessary, like
| during the Pax Romana many cities in safe parts of the Empire
| didn't have walls, or they had old walls built in more
| dangerous times and the city then expanded outside of these.
| SiempreViernes wrote:
| I'm confused if you mean that a _palace_ needs to have
| enclosing walls to count, or the whole city?
| EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote:
| They honk a lot. I thought Israelites were big honkers, but they
| have nothing on Peruvians.
| petesergeant wrote:
| > I thought Israelites were big honkers
|
| I don't think they had cars in the iron age
| EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote:
| Sorry, globalists.
| justlikereddit wrote:
| >2Chan predates 4chan by 1000 years
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