Pizarro slept here
Last night I stayed in the Hotel Libertador whose main claim to fame is that it is built on Incan foundations and parts of the building date to the 16th century when it was occupied for a time by Pizarro. The claim is plausible as he certainly pillaged the temple next door.
The other contender for Cusco´s finest hotel is the more expensive Hotel Monasterio where you can get what I call a "Michael Jackson" room, a sealed room which is flooded with oxygen to help combat altitude sickness.
The Hotel Los Andes where I stayed most of the time was excellent.
Heard on the train
The kidnappers in Colombia are so advanced they check your credit report and other information to compute the optimal ransom. Tyler wrote earlier on the economics of Mexican kidnapping.
Thanks to Christina for the tip.
Machu Picchu
Words fail. Pictures fail. Some things you just have to experience.
That is my main message (and when a blogger says words fail that means something!). Conditional on certain failure I will try to say more next week when I have collected my thoughts.
Peru Facts of the Day
It’s easy to rent a motorcycle in Peru, unlike in the United States where liability fears have made this almost impossible. On the other hand, I would not want to drive a car let alone a motorcycle in Peru. These two facts may well be related – I will let you work out the model.
It would have suited my biases to report that the only Che Guevara T-shirts I have seen were on tourists. But while this may be true in the cities it is not true in the countryside where it is easy to spot El Comandante. Guevara spoke to the people and they are still listening.
My tour guide, an Andean, had nothing good to say about the Spanish. Combine this with the last fact and we see that Peru continues to be deeply divided along racial lines, regardless of how much one hears about mestizo.
Peruvian Food
You can eat pizza in Cusco but why would you? Neverthless, many people must since the places are everywhere – lcd dining. The local speciality is cuy (click on the link if you do not know what it is. But do not tell my children what Daddy has been eating!) Roasted cuy is an old tradition – recall the discussion of syncretism and subterfuge and check out this Cusconian painting of the last supper (scroll down to the third picture for a good view.)
You can get western cuy in town but I wanted the real thing so I asked the hotel guide where the locals go. After some argument (si, si, yo no quiero cuy touristico, yo quiero muy bien cuy tipico) she relented and got me a taxi for the next day.
We traveled well out of Cusco, past the shanty towns and out into the countryside where cows roam next to the highway and the occasional llama can be seen on the mountains. After about 40 minutes we arrived at a downtrodden pueblo. I thought this was it but we then headed out on a dirt road finally pulling into an alley/driveway behind a house. Just like in the movies a fat goose and a skinny dog (you work it out!) moved slowly out of the way as we pulled up to a terrace behind the house. The restaurant, if you can call it that, wasn’t much to look at but opposite were the mountains.
Two Andean mamas right out of the tourist book seated us and began to stoke a large earthenware stove with wood. The cuy was roasted and served with excellent Andean potatoes as well as macaroni and cheese (!).
The cuy: good. The view: great. The experience: priceless.
What’s on my MP3 Player?
If all goes well today I shall climb Putucusi, the mountain next to Machu Picchu. I intend to time the ascent in order to summit with the climax of Dvorak’s New World Symphony. Those of you who know the piece will recognize the megalomania, oh well at least I can’t be accused of lacking self-awareness.
Also on my IRiver MP3 Player:
Rush: Moving Pictures.
Fleming and John: Way We Are.
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool.
Van Morrision: Inarticulate Speech of the Heart.
Mispriced Bandwidth
A correspondent writes:
The Moche site is down again. In situations like these, it’s always struck me that the business model of the host–in this case Yahoo! GeoCities–is insane. If the demand exceeds the bandwidth that their customer has paid for, they should provide an option for visitors to make a donation via PayPal or some such that will restore access to the site. They might make a lot of money doing this–they might even split it with their customers whose sites attract the traffice. If the fee is priced correctly, visitors wouldn’t think twice about paying–obviously we want to see the site or we wouldn’t have followed the link in the first place.
This is an excellent idea. With bandwidth so cheap I would add that there ought to be an option to pay for bandwidth for others as well as oneself. I would have paid for our readers to enjoy the sex pots! I would tell you the correspondent’s name by the way except that this person is at work and doesn’t want it known that s/he uses the boss´s time to peruse "erotic crockery"!
Sex Pots
Yesterday MR readers crashed the Moche sex pots site that I recommended. I guess this tells us what Tyler and I should really be writing about! The original post is here the site is working again today. Enjoy!
Syncretism and Subterfuge
Cusco’s Cathedral is built upon an Incan palace and filled with gold and silver, much of it melted down from Incan treasures. It was built, moreover, using the artistry of the native population – amazing carvings, silver work, masonry and paintings.
If you look carefully, however, the artists managed to inject some of their own culture. Most peculiar is a painting of the crucifixion. At first glance it’s a very good but standard painting but look closer and don’t Jesus’s hips seem rather wide? And can it be, no surely not, but at a certain angle doesn’t it look like he has, well, breasts? Heh, in the right light he’s kind of se…no, no, stop. That’s too much even for me. Once you see it, however, it’s not hard to believe the local theory that the artist used a female model in order to put some Pactta Mama (the Incan mother earth goddess) into his work.
The Spaniards also changed many of the local festivals. Where before the locals had paraded their mummified ancestors around the square now they were required to parade figures of Jesus and the Saints. Once, however, the figure of Saint James was dropped. A peculiar ash was found inside and later shown to be cremated human flesh. Apparently, the locals had found a way to continue following their customs while at the same time satisfying the Spaniards.
My favorite things Peruvian
My list will not be so informed as one of Tyler’s but I was pleasantly surprised to find that with a little thought I could come up with some credible items.
Literature: Mario Vargas Llosa – an easy pick. The War of the End of the World is his masterpiece – an epic in the style of Hugo and Tolstoy, filled with religion, fanaticism, obsession and violence. If Vargas Llosa were a leftist he would have won the Nobel by now but he is a classical liberal. For lighter reading try Aunt Julia and the ScriptWriter or his tale of running for the Peruvian presidency, A Fish in the Water.
Movie: Motorcycle Diaries has some great shots of Machu Picchu and is not without interest but even if it didn’t romanticize an authoritarian it is too slow and unsophisticated to be a great film. Thus, I am going to cheat a little and go with Touching the Void which takes place in the Peruvian Andes. As I wrote earlier it is "a harrowing, awe-inspiring, true-story of two climbers made into a great movie/documentary. Aside from the sheer entertainment value, very sheer in this case, the move has a lot to say about the diversity of preferences, the will to survive and believe it or not, how to achieve goals."
Music: Susana Baca, the best of black Peruvian music. Once nearly lost, this music is now popular in Peru and is earnings worldwide recognition, in part due to the promotional efforts of David Byrne and his LuAka Bop label.
Art: I confess to liking the amazing sex pots (nsfw) of the Moche. Produced some 1500 years ago by the Moche civilization these erotic ceramics depict all manner of sexual act including oral sex, anal sex, threesomes, homosexuality and more – a real sextravaganza. Many were destroyed when the Spanish inquisition came to Peru. Others were hidden away in the basement of museums as objects not fit to be shown or even acknowledged.
Alfred Kinsey introduced the sex pots to the West in 1954 writing that the Moche artifacts were "the most frank and detailed document of sexual customs ever left by an ancient people.” Hilariously, quite a few archaeologists at the time argued that the pots were symbolic warnings about what not to do!
Aside from prurient interest, I think the pottery is a fascinating demonstration of how variable are society’s sexual conventions yet how immutable is human nature – tell me, for example, that this guy ain’t proud!
Scholars versus Activists
Scholars seek the truth, activists already know the truth. Activists don’t like questioning, debate or independent research. Consider how Dennis Durbin and Flaura Winston, two activists at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who have published research on child car seats, react to Steve Levitt’s work:
Their [Levitt and Dubner] conclusions stand in stark contrast to the existing body of
scientific data that support current child restraint recommendations,
and are, in our opinion, irresponsible and dangerous….We hope that this misleading article does not cost a child his life.
This is not science this is a threat – anyone who questions us or our research is putting children in danger. Back off or we will tar you as monsters.
Contrast this approach with that of a scholar interested in truth:
What is more puzzling to me is why my results and Heaton’s both suggest
very little injury benefit of car seats, but the medical literature
often finds 70% (!!) reductions of injuries with car seats relative to
seat belts. We find reductions that are an order of magnitude smaller.
They use very different methods — surveying people in the weeks after
crashes for instance — but still it is really a puzzle. Which is why,
when you read my paper, I am extremely cautious in interpreting the
injury findings.I hope that the medical researchers, Heaton,
and I can all work together to try to make some sense of the
conflicting results being generated by these different methodologies to
resolve this important question.
Of course Steve doesn’t need my help, as always the data is his best defense.
Medicare Incentives
A superb article on Medicare from the WashPost nailed a key problem:
In Medicare’s upside-down reimbursement system, hospitals and doctors
who order unnecessary tests, provide poor care or even injure patients
often receive higher payments than those who provide efficient,
high-quality medicine.
Read the whole thing, data, graphs, and good analysis, here.
Guest Blogger: Tim Harford
As I search for enlightenment in Peru, Tim Harford will be enlightening readers of Marginal Revolution. Tim writes the Dear Economist column for the Financial Times. He is also an economist with the International Finance Corporation, co-author of the excellent primer on foreign aid, The Market for Aid, and author of the forthcoming The Undercover Economist. I am looking forward to reading the Undercover Economist of which Steve Levitt says:
The Undercover Economist is a rare specimen: a book on economics that
will enthrall its readers. Beautifully written and argued, it brings
the power of economics to life. This book should be required reading
for every elected official, business leader, and university student.
MR readers are in for a treat this week!
The Revolution reaches Outer Space
At MR we are often told, "We love Marginal Revolution but when traveling the outer rings of Saturn downloading it takes such a long time." We agree and in order to make our product more easily available to other life forms we now do OSS, Outer Space Syndication, courtesy of Blogs in Space. This will require certain changes on our part as the producers of Blogs in Space are careful to make clear:
Bloggers who use this site are urged to keep their blogs devoid of any
overt language, comments or content designed to offend, taunt or
provoke alien life forms in any way. Aliens may find your lifestyle,
grammar or the picture of your girlfriend offensive, we just don’t
know. Blog In Space does not warrant that any content transmitted into
space will not be objectionable to alien life forms and will not be
responsible for alien abductions, close encounters or intergalactic
war.
Will OSS increase the audience for MR? I’m not sure but I do believe that one day entire alien civilizations will devote themselves to the study, appreciation and worship of the bildungsroman. You think I jest? Stranger things have happened.
Thanks to Jacqueline for the pointer.
In Defense of Mercenaries
The Gurkhas have been active in the British military since 1817 but they are not British citizens they are Nepalese hired by the British. In recent years the Gurkha brigades have served in the Falklands, Kosovo, Afghanistan and now Iraq. The Indian army and Singaporean police force also hire many Gurkhas.
The Gurkhas are unusual but not unique. The United Arab Emirates, where Tyler is now, relies almost exclusively on mercenaries. The French Foreign Legion continues to attract a small number of mercenaries from around the world. During the Vietnam war the United States paid the South Korean, Philippine and Thai governments for the use of troops – these were mercenaries paid by proxy.
Should we hire more mercenaries today? Our military already has hired more than thirty thousand non-citizens. Why not bypass residency entirely and go straight to Mexico, India and elsewhere to hire soldiers? If outsourcing is good for US firms then surely it is good for the US government.
Outsourcing the military has a number of advantages. The supply of labor is nearly limitless and the price is low. Some people will object that quality is low too but if Indians can be trained to do US tax returns they can be trained to fight US wars.
One reason the Gurkhas are among the most highly regarded troops in the world is that the entrance exam is extremely difficult – only 1 in 30 applicants makes the cut. The British can pick and choose because wages are high relative to the next best alternative (the Indian army picks up many of the British rejects). Meanwhile, we are so desperate for troops in the United States that we are forcing old men and women, people who haven’t seen active duty in forty years, back into service. At US wage rates we could easily hire many thousands of Mexicans. Many Mexican noncitizens are already
serving honorably in the US military so there is no reason for quality to decline.
Mercenarism may seem unusual today but in the 18th century a typical European army contained 20-30 percent
foreign troops – mercenarism was the norm. It’s hard to see how the United States has a comparative advantage in military labor so the future may resemble the past more than it does the present.
Comments are open.