Ayacucho, Peru

Seems like I have unconsciously gone into the habit of updating once a week..and I dont even notice that an entire week had passed...scary how time flies and I dont even feel I had done anything useful or productive during then!

Ok, lets cut down the chit-chat and do something useful now at least....
Got this card just recently, showing Local Handcrafts...since my request was, 'no Machu Picchu' please :) I have nothing against Machu Picchu, I actually love that place, but I already have few cards of it, and I really want to see something different coming from Peru, and this card just seems like a great choice!
The first picture shows 'retablos', which are very typical for Ayacucho - they are like little houses, the doors at the front open and there is  scene (usually a nativity) inside.
As for Ayacucho, it is the capital city of the Huamanga Province in Peru and it is famous for its 33 churches where one stands for each year of Jesus's life

the stamp is from a set of 4 issued in 2007, representing Architecture of the Vice King's Era....this is the Church of St. Augustin

Lambayeque, Peru

I love this postcard. It may sound insane and as if im getting eccentric about the stuff i like, but ive mentioned before that for some reason, cemeteries and memorial centres are appealing to me...tombs as well....they just hide soooooo much behind them...stories, history, lives....probably that *unknown* thing is what gives me the whole thrill...the unexplored...the possibility to play with your imagination about those things, people and places...

The Lord of Sipán is a mummy found in Sipán while the tomb is a Moche culture site in Peru. Some archaeologists hold it to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in this region of the world in the last 30 years, because the main tomb was found intact and untouched by thieves. Four tombs have been found in Sipán's Huaca Rajada, a mausoleum built by the Moche culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru from around 1 AD to 700 AD.
Because of his high rank this ruler was buried along with eight people, apparently his wife and two other women (possibly concubines), a military commander, a watchman, a banner holder and a child. Among the animals a dog was found.
I dont know why there are not many sites that provide information about this...and those that do have an awful English (grammar, syntax etc.) Even the Wikipedia article :(

Machu Picchu, Peru

Here comes a really oldish card....the stamp is out and there is no date in it, so i cant tell you when it originates from...I wonder if it has been pulled out on purpose or just fell out with time...ive read around that some stamp collectors take their stamps out of postcards as well...i dont really get it...i think that if you take out the stamp of a postcard (and if you manage not to ruin the card in the meantime), the card left just feels naked and is obviously thats something missing when there is already your address in it and a message and all...i know there are passionate stamp collectors, but if i was one, i would never go that far and take out stamps from postcards themselves...

I dont know if  i had mentioned this, but im in one of those times, when im somewhat struggling with posting cards...not coz i have no cards to post, i have way too many waiting to see the light of day....but im somewhat limited with the variety of countries (due to my self-imposed postcard posting rule to which i stick as a blind to a stick) and i often remain with just a few countries available and i somewhat lose my inspiration and those times and i just cant pick coz there is not much to pick from and it feels as if im getting stuck in some repetitive scheme....i dont say i need totally NEW countries (though i wouldnt mind) but i definitely would need some refreshment and get something i dont have in stock....i just dont know how do i expect that to happen when ive fallen behind with swaps and sending cards and all...ive just been carried away with other stuff, plus ive been waiting some income as i could get stamps and all...and then i wonder why i dont have cards in my mailbox....ehh Ana Ana.....

Iquitos, Peru

My last card for today comes from that pack of cards my mum came across some time ago....and this is a card mailed in 1972 all the way from Peru...though without a stamp...there was one, its presence has left clear traces...but where is it now i have no idea...either someone took it off or it fell off by itself....but it would have been nice to see a card from Peru with a stamp from back then...

My first thought when i looked at this card was some tribe performing a ritual or getting ready to go for a hunt in the middle of the Amazon Forest (well, at least Amazon is associated with Peru, so im not very wrong :))
Well, this is what the back of the card says:
Yagu Endians, using their blowguns, Yanamono.....

and the place is called Iquitos....and this is what i had found out...

Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian forest, located on the Amazon River and generally considered the most populous city in the world that cannot be reached by road.

this is interesting...im trying to imagine how it would be if my own hometown was accessible only like this...

well...that would be all for today....hopefully it wont take me sooo long again until i make the next update...if possible, it will be here tomorrow....there are many postcards hungry to be shown :)

thanks to everyone for keep coming despite the lack of updates...this place wouldnt have been the same without you ;-)

Lake Titicaca - Peru/Bolivia

I have a question, since im obviously struggling with this issue....if you receive a card, which shows something that in one way or another is "shared" by two or three states/countries...how do you actually label it? Do you put all of the territories that place belongs to, you put one....you put none? This is not the first time i come across a card which shows something of a "shared" territory and im really starting to wonder whats actually the right way to name it?

Now, after im done with my philosophies, lets get down to the postcard, which I absolutely LOVE!
Its a map card (sorry, but IS a map card indeed :P) and it shows the Lake of Titicaca, which lies on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is 3812m above sea level making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. By volume of water it is also the largest lake in South America.
Titicaca is notable for a population of people who live on the Uros a group of 42 or so artifical islands made of floating reeds.  These islands have become a major tourist attraction for Peru, drawing excursions from the lakeside city of Puno. Their original purpose was defensive, and they could be moved if a threat arose. Many of the islands contain watchtowers largely constructed of reeds.

Yukiko, the sender, says she had visited the Uros island and the Taquille Island as wel, which as she says, has ca. 500 steps to get to the top of it, and that it was exhausting.....hmmm, I can recall several places ive been to, which in order to get to them you need to climb a buuuunch of stairs! But its worth it ;-))

Thanks Yukiko for this terrific card and for all the other cards you had sent me!

Machu Picchu, Peru

And this is my new country!!! Number 81!!! We are moving forward, heehehhehehehee!!!

And i have this one thanks to Veronika who as well sent me that Valparaiso card, and as well two other Chilean cards, but you'll get to see them at some future update....I actually won this one in a lottery...and actually this is the first card i had won in a lottery, just that Veronika wasnt able to send them until recently...yup, i do know how it feels actually :)

Machu Picchu (or Old Mountain) is a pre Columbian Inca site, situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru. Often referred to as the 'Lost City of the Incas' Machu Picchu probably is the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. It is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

It was built around the year 1460, but abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was said to have been forgotten for centuries when the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction.

Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO whs, in 1983. Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it is especially important as a cultural site and it is considered a sacred place.

It was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the "Intihuatana", the "Temple of the Sun", and the "Room of the Three Windows". These are located in what is known by archaeologists as the "Sacred District" of Machu Picchu.