Before heading out of new Caral to see the ruins of the 5,000-year-old Caral, we walked to the health center to learn about medical care in small towns (pop. 1,200) like this. Because of the limited services the health post could offer, an ambulance is on hand to transport patients to a hospital in a larger city about an hour away.
At the Caral ruins we learned that the reason the students had not learned about Caral in middle school, when they learned about the contemporary earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt, is because it was only about 20 years ago that carbon-dating revealed that these ruins, long-known but mostly ignored, were much older than previously imagined. What allowed a civilization to begin in a place that appears initially to be a desolate desert coast were two factors: irrigation from a river with year-round water from the Andes, and fish protein that come from communities on the nearby coast that benefited from nets made from cotton grown in the irrigated valley and the high fish population off Peru’s coast.
Olivia, Caleb, Landon and Hans lead the group through the streets of Caral on the way to breakfast.After breakfast we walked to the town’s health center.For Service some of the students will work at small health centers like this.The nurse and the obstetrician, in red, described the clinic’s work in the town.The nursing and pre-med students also had a variety of questions for the clinic staff.After the clinic visit we left to visit the much anticipated 5,000-year-old ruins.The ancient city had several large pyramids that were administrative centers.The stone for this obelisk, probably a sun dial, was brought from a mountain several miles away.The black flags on the pyramids act like scarecrows, keeping birds from leaving droppings on the ruins.The civilization apparently collapsed after a climate or weather-related event, but not from warfare. No weapons were found in the ruins.Along the way we picked up a ninja.The same valley has a few dozen other cities from the same civilization, but Caral, the largest, was apparently the capital.Summer 2017 Peru SSTWill their suitcases hold all the souvenirs they plan to take back?After the busy streets of 10 million Lima residents, the quiet streets of Caral (pop. 1,200) were a welcome change.
