The Easter celebrations are nearly over and you may have seen, heard or participated in the passing of the seven churches. This is tradition not only carried out in Peru but over Latin America, starting on the Thursday the 7 seven churches are for devout follows of the catholic church to remember Jesus from the Last Supper to his crucifixion. 

The churches in Peru are as follows with a little history and their role in the walk of the seven churches: 

(Iglesia de las Nazarenas) located at Jirón Huancavelica 515. Built in the 18th century this church houses the sacred image of Jesus that was painted by an African slave and has withstood many disasters and has also become the main symbol for the “Señor de Los Milagros” festival in October. The first church is to remember Jesus at the Cenacle where he celebrated the “Last Supper” with his disciples and to remember his night at Gethsemane where he prayed and sweated blood a night before his crucifixion. 

2. The Sanctuary of Santa Rosa of Lima 

(Santuario de Santa Rosa de Lima) located at Jirón Chancay 223. This church was also built in the 18th century and for many years was the home of Isabel Flores de Oliva, Santa Rosa de Lima. Here you can find the well of wishes, the garden of Santa Rosa and her room where she stayed. Santa Rosa became the first Catholic in the Americas to be declared a saint. The second church is to remember Jesus being taken from Gethsemane to the house of Annas where he was interrogated and was hit by one of the guards. 

   3. The Coventry of Santo Domingo    

(Convento de Santo Domingo) located at Jirón Camaná 170. Built in 1540 this church is very important to the catholic community and is where the relics of three saints Santa Rosa de Lima, San Martín de Porres and San Juan Macías are kept. This church also became Santa Rosa’s final resting place. The third church focuses on Jesus’s walk to the house of Caiaphas where he was spat on and insulted. 

4. Cathedral of Lima (La Basílica Catedral de Lima) 

located at Jirón Carabaya or can be found at the Plaza de Armas. One of the oldest cathedrals in Peru dating back to 1535 and was built over a pre-Hispanic temple to the sun. Some of the oldest artefacts of Lima can be found here and it is the final resting place of the Conquistador and founder of Lima, Francisco Pizarro. The fourth church is for the devotees to reflex on the meeting Jesus had with Pontius Pilate and the false accusation that were brought against him.

 5. Monastery of San Francisco 

(Basílica y Convento de San Francisco de Lima) located at Jirón Lampa y Ancash. Here you can visit the old library with books dating back the colonial period however, this church is more well-known for the catacombs that lay beneath the church where 25,000 people were buried till the practice of burying people under churches were outlawed in the 19th century. The fifth church is to reflect on Jesus’s and his appearance in front of King Herod, where he and his guards were also abusive to Jesus. 

6. Church of La Merced (Iglesia de La Merced) 

located at Jr. de la Unión 621. This church was built 1535 by friar Miguel de Orenes and is known for its beautiful architecture and paintings also the church is known to commemorate the sacrifice by the Mercedarians who exchanged themselves for Christian prisoners who were considered enemies of the catholic church. Mercedarians were used to catechize the people who were conquered by the conquistadores. This church is reflex on Jesus’s second appearance in front of Pontius Pilate, here Jesus is crowned with a crown of thrones and is condemned to death. 

7. Church of San Marcelo 

(Iglesia San Marcelo) located at Jr. Rufino Torrico 618 Esq. con Av. Emancipación. The church was built in the 1551 when the order of San Agustin arrived to Lima. In this church there is many images, images of Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Los Remedios and San Marcelo. The church has been rebuilt and modified during the 18th century due to earthquake damage. The last church devotees reflex on Jesus’s passage from the house of Pilate to Calvary carrying the cross, where he was crucified and the burial of Jesus, where on the third day he resurrected. 

The following Friday (Good Friday) is the day to remember the Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross), this is followed by pray.

Written by: GringoPerú

There is an interesting legend about the yucas (cassava) noted by Franciso Izquierdo Rios and Jose Maria Arguedas in a book called “Canciones y Cuentas del Pueblo Quechua”,1949. 

It starts when the God Wiracocha, exhausted and hungry after a day of hunting went to the Yunga (Yunga is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest) to collect some yucas. The yuca at this time hung from branches. The plants failed to recognize the God as he was tired and his clothes were different, so when Wiracocha reached for the yucas the branches wilted denying him of their fruit. Angered, Wiracocha punished the plants as they had rebelled against him, the punishment meant that yucas will never be eaten in heaven again and that only man and animal will eat them only after destroying the plant. So the fruit of the yuca plant became its root and to this day the plant most be destroyed in order to obtain the yuca.

Translated by: GringoPeru

Inka Cola is a soft drink that is well-known and loved by Peruvians and is seen as the national soft drink that represents Peru. The origin of this drink originally came from the British immigrant Joseph Robinson Lindley, also called José who was born in Doncaster, Yorkshire in 1859. Lindely and his wife, Martha Stoppanie moved to Peru in 1910 and settled in the Rimac district of Lima and started to work on a soft drink based on the native plant Lemon Verbena. Located at 371 Jirón Cajamarca they opened a small bottling plant where all the work was done by hand, this small place was called Fábrica de Aguas Gasificadas Santa Rosa. In 1918 they obtained the first machines to assist in the production of their product and in 1928 changed the name of the company again to Corporación José R. Lindley S.A. In 1935, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Lima, Lindley launched Inca Kola with the logo “Solo hay una y no se parece a ninguna” ("There is only one, unlike any other"). 

The company continued to expand and develop and in 1962 the company launched another product called Bimbo which came in flavours such as strawberry, pineapple, orange and cola. Another mile stone for the company came in 1972 when it expanded nationwide and in 1996 they acquired a German bottling plant called Krones which was fully computerized and automatic allowing the company to produce a thousand bottles a minute. Direct competition came from the Coca-Cola and in 1995, Inca Kola had 32.9% of the market share while Coca-Cola had 32% and due to popular demand Bembos (Peruvian fast food chain) and McDonalds began to serve Inca Kola. However, in 1997 due to a mix of restructuring of the company, expansion and mismanagement, the company took on a huge debt resulting in a $5 million loss for the company in 1999. In this crisis the company looked for help turning to Coca-Cola which took half of Inca Kola Perú and one-fifth of Corporación José R. Lindley S.A, the deal cost Coca-Cola a speculated amount of $200 million. 

The grandson Johnny Lindley Taboada, grandson of the founder became the chairman of Corporación José R. Lindley S.A and worked with Coca-Cola striking a deal which stated that he would be the sole owner of the trademark Inca Kola outside of Peru and within Peru a joint-venture with Coca-Cola. During the years that the two companies negotiated smaller business started selling their own branch of soft drinks like Isaac Kola, Triple Kola, Concordia, Oro and Kola Real. Their main smear against Inca Kola was that Inca Kola was no longer Peruvian and was a sell out to an international company. Corporación José R. Lindley S.A continues to buy out bottling plants, bottling both Coca-Cola products and Inca Kola and in 2010 to celebrate its 100 years in Peru, it received a medal of honour from the Congress of Peru. On 28th of January 2014 Johnny Lindley Taboada passed away and Johnny Lindley Suarez became the new chairman.

By: GringoPeru

Cave Paintings… a tourist attraction not well talked about in Peru but if you go looking there are some amazing places to go hiking and look at these ancient sites. Out of the 24 departments of Peru only two have been noted not have any petroglyphs and cave paintings (maybe they are still yet to be discovered), these are Tumbes and Ucayali. In this brief summary I shall mention only a few well-known prehistoric sites and where they are located. One Peruvian archaeologist Quirino Olivera over the span of two years found over 10,000 cave paintings dating back more than 6,000 years near the village of Tambolic, in the district of Jamalca, province of Utcubamba located in department Amazonas. In this region, Shupcha and Tambolic is known to have a high concentration of cave paintings. 

 The reason for the high concentration of cave paintings in Amazonas is because the thick jungle has kept them from being disturbed for thousands of years, a lot of cave paintings are left unprotected in Peru but many are still visible and if the region of Amazonas is too far for you the region of Ancash, very close to Lima has two notable caves called Ichic Tiog and Wacramarca. Ichic Tiog and Wacramarca are located in the Huascarán National Park and as many of you know Ancash is famous for the high mountains. Ichic Tiog is located 3,900 metres about sea level and if you feel adventurous Wacramarca is slightly higher up at an altitude of 4,100 metre above sea level. Not only does this region have cave painting it also has sites where you can see dinosaur foot prints which date back to the Cretaceous period. 

 Now heading down the south of Peru in Tacna you will find the Toquepala caves located 96 miles from the city of Tacna at an altitude of 2,700 metres above sea level, archaeologists have dated artifacts from around 7,650 BC. One archaeologist Jesus Gordillo addressed concerns about the Vilavilani cave in Tacna which has paintings dating back to 7,000 B.C, the main threats to the paintings are strong winds and heavy rains also there is the risk that such painting maybe damaged by people who enter the caves. There are many more to discover and there are tours to some of these especially the ones in Ancash.

By: GringoPerú

The city of Ica is located in the south of Peru and is about four hours away from Lima on bus, a lot of people visit the city for the tourist attraction that is known as “The Oasis of Huacachina”. Located three miles from the city of Ica, Huacachina has an interesting legend (there are many versions to the story but many facts remain the same). I shall also write about another famous legend that is popular in Ica, the palm tree with seven heads located 2 miles from the city of Ica in a small village of Cachiche. Firstly, the “The Oasis of Huacachina”, Huacachina (Huaca in Quechua means to morn and China in Spanish can mean many things in this case we can assume it means young woman). 

 Now during the times of the Inca´s there was a young woman or some stories mention a princess that was in love with a prince however, the prince suddenly passed away and so she found a place where she cried and returned there every day crying for her loved one, these tears collected into a large pool of water (oasis). One day while crying she was startled by a hunter that was watching her, she fled with her mantle dragging behind her and this according to legend created the huge sand dunes that surround the oasis. Now all legends state that she became a mermaid however, not many legends tell of why she became a mermaid, she just became one. Some say men have to careful not to fall to her song or she will drag them to the bottom of the oasis, according to one story she needs a soul of male victim every year to remain alive so she can continue to look for her loved one. Other versions mention instead of a hunter there was an evil spirit, another story states that while bathing in the oasis the princess saw the hunter with her mirror and as she ran she created the dune and on dropping the mirror created the oasis. One final legend I read about was written by Desert Nights a hotel located in Huacachina and this story changes completely. According to this story there was a young woman that had a pact with a god and this pact stated that she would never fall in love with anyone else however, while brushing her hair she caught the site of the hunter in her mirror and fell in love with him. The god became angry and turned her into a mermaid so she could never be with the hunter and her mantle blew in the wind creating the sand dunes and as she dropped the mirror it created the lagoon. In this story it is said that she comes out when the moon is full enticing single men with her song. 

The next legend focuses on the village of Cachiche which is said to have been inhabited by witches and here you will find a palm tree with many entangling trunks, it is said to have seven heads and the legends goes like this. The witches of Cachiche were well known for their remedies and medicine and it is said that in order to unlock the secrets that they desired they needed to sacrifice one of their own however, the one that was chosen did not want to die so she fled. Her attempt was futile as she tried to run she jumped up on top a palm tree and on doing so another witch created a magic lasso and tried to capture her.  

As they threw the lasso they missed splitting the tree till it had seven heads and the fleeing witch continued to evade capture till she jumped on the seventh head which broke and she was captured and taken to be sacrificed. Before dying the witched placed a curse on Ica and said if the seventh head ever grew back the city of Ica would be flooded.

One supposed witch Julia Hernández Pecho Viuda de Díaz is one of the famous and well-known witches who died at the age of 106 in 1987 warned of the curse but it was largely forgotten about. However, on the 29th January 1998 the River Ica burst its banks and the city of Ica was flooded and it is said that when the tree was observed the seventh head had started to grow and was quickly cut once again. In Ica the seventh head is observed and if it starts to grow again it is quickly cut. So these are the most popular legends of Ica and it is easy and inexpensive to get to Ica, so get on the bus and see these sites for yourself, you won´t be disappointed.

By: GringoPerú