With funding provided by Shirley Kleigel, the GPS Division sponsored a student enrichment trip to southern Peru from September 15-26, 2010. In all, 19 people participated in the trip with 3 undergraduates, 12 graduate students, and 4 faculty. Organization of the trip began in June of 2010, with each student giving a presentation on a particular aspect of the trip.
The purpose of the trip was to introduce the students to the earth science, culture, and history of Peru, particularly to the southern part of the country. The trip started with a flight to Lima and a day there visiting the Larco anthropology museum and the San Francisco monastery and their famous catacombs. The students spent the evening sampling the nightlife in the Barranco district of Lima, guided by the two sisters of one of our faculty members who live in Lima. The next day, we flew to Arequipa, a city in southern Peru, where the day was spent in the Santa Catalina convent and surrounding area. The next day we travelled the 100 km to the coast crossing the Atacama Desert (claimed to be the driest place on earth) and the coastal terraces which are the most dramatic evidence that this part of Peru is subject to large subduction earthquakes. In the desert, we looked at the unique crescent shaped Barchan sand dunes, and the multi-colored deposits of volcanic ash, much of which was deposited in the massive eruptions in the 1600?s.
On Sept 19th, we headed into the high country of the Altiplano with an average elevation over 13,000 feet. We went over a 16,000-foot pass to reach the small town of Chivay, which is on the Colca Canyon. This canyon is an example of one of the deeply incised river drainages that transports water from the high Andes to the Pacific Ocean. This particular one is reported to be the deepest canyon in the world and is also the home of the South American condor, which is the largest flying-bird. The route up to the Altiplano crosses the volcanic arc, which is the result of the subduction of the Pacific Plate under North America. These volcanoes are over 20,000 feet in elevation and many have been active in recent times.
We spent the next two nights in the city of Juliaca, near Lake Titicaca. We took a side trip on a boat a few miles offshore to a set of floating islands (islands built from reed mats), visited the city of Puno, and the ancient burial grounds (Inca and earlier) at Sillustani. From Juliaca, we travelled north to Cusco, stopping at one of the many seismic stations that Caltech has temporarily deployed in the region, a Vicuna (endangered Peruvian deer) preserve, and the Inca wall at Piquillacta. The road along this stretch was blocked by local protests but we managed to skirt around these by traveling on back roads.
In Cusco we visited the Inca fortress at Sacsayhuaman and stocked up on supplies at the farmer?s market. In the afternoon we traveled by bus and rail to Agua Cliente, at the base of Machu Picchu. Along the way we stopped for a couple of hours at the Inca fortress at Ollantaytambo. The following day we spent the entire day at Machu Picchu and in the late evening we returned to Cusco. On the last day in Peru we flew to Lima and caught the late flight back to Los Angeles.