Claudia Mejia Villalobos, B.Arch ’24
Chase L. Leavitt Traveling Fellowship 2024
Summer 2024
Prepping for my eight hour flight to Lima, Peru found me seeking every camera battery I had to be ready to take pictures of everything. Embracing my identity as an El Salvadoran, a nation rich in indigenous heritage yet marked by colonization, I have selected Peru in being a guide of indigenous architecture and systems. Immersing myself in the heritage of South America, I aimed to decolonize my own identity, reshaping my approach to global issues. Respectively, water is life, power, and wealth therefore bodies of water and designed water systems are markers in showing the prosperity of a society. With the support of this fellowship, I was able to focus my research on indigenous and Spanish architecture with an emphasis on their potable water systems.
In the position I stand today, I cannot say I am less confused than I was before I went to Peru. I learned so much and saw so much that it makes sense for me to still be confused yet at a different level. My days in Peru were limited to 8 therefore I made sure to make the best out of it. My idea was to get to Peru and explore different landscapes that demonstrated their use of water. Therefore instead of breaking up my research trip into a day, I will break it up into The City, The Ocean, and The Mountain.
THE OCEAN:
Getting to Peru, I rushed to get breakfast and headed to Callao, a region in Lima,Peru. I also explored a bit of Barranco to see the tourist side of Peru. Before going to the way the water met the land, I stopped by the Peruvian Naval Museum to understand how the waters in Peru had looked throughout the years. I thought it would provide some insight on even how the indigenous people that had settled by the sea had built boats and treated the Ocean. The port of Callao has always been a really international port where many wars, especially between Peru and Chile, had occurred. This port was and is still also heavily used for commerce. However, with all this traffic comes a lot of pollution. Not to say, it is also polluted by the mines nearby as the minerals pollute the water and air. Although near the ocean, this area stills suffers from droughts, floodings, desertification and arid and semi-arid regions categorizations. More than half of Peru’s population lives on the coast. These regions provide beautiful landscapes but have been dramatically affected by climate change. With the poor management of economic development policies and unsustainable use of natural resources these regions thirst for not only easy access to a potable water system but also water pollution solutions. All of this I documented and collected to
make a short film!
Neighborhood in Callao called La Punta’s pier and parked speedboats
THE CITY:
Getting to the historic center of Lima really showed the similarities between different Latin American and European architecture. Having had the opportunity to study abroad in Italy the year before going to Peru, although not Spanish, the influence of Mediterranean European architecture was visible. Without a doubt, this was the part of Peru where I began to see more tourists and plazas being closed for security. Besides the beautiful plazas, church, and cathedrals, what I found really interesting was the diptych created by the Rimac River of social status. On the side the historic center was on was the clean and busy side, followed by the river, the train, the highway, and the street until one could get to Rimac, which was too dangerous for me to visit. Across the river, I saw water tanks taking water to these houses that lacked usable plumbing, but the side I was on had perfectly functioning plumbing. The change between the two neighborhoods was drastic. Like all cities, Lima is home to a diverse social and cultural population. In the film I made about the city, the audience is exposed to an eclectic range of views in the city where it starts with shots from Rimac, leading to the historical center of Lima and ending at the coast of Miraflores.
A Peruvian lady smiles as she walks past the Cathedral of Lima.
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THE MOUNTAIN:
I will not lie, the mountain was the hardest part for me to explore because minutes after landing in Cusco, I began to experience altitude sickness. However, right after that was gone I walked the city during the night which to my surprise was lively and filled to the brim with tourists. Although I missed the city tour that I had scheduled, I was able to walk the city the last night I was there as well. The Mountains of Peru, also known as the Andes, serve as one of the most influential landscapes for culinary, cultural, and day-to-day life. As the Andes were and are home to indigenous communities, so much is learned from seeing these spaces. The Andes are also home to ancient living systems that have been and are continuing in being implemented in daily life and being solutions for climate change struggles throughout the country. Everything in Aguas Calientes, the town I stayed a night in before heading to Machu Picchu, is truly based off the Urubamba River. The main road is right next to this river as well as the path to get to Machu Picchu follows the road downstream. On my trip to Machu Picchu, I met a Peruvian family that had gone up before and that was where I met my friend Annie! With this film, I wanted the audience to see the relationship between natural water landscapes and indigenous ruins on the skirt of these spaces. Showcased are also villages within the Andes, particularly Machu Picchu, and their ability to keep these spaces and ruins clean and protected through a mix of ancient and modern practices.
Me at the top of Machu Picchu!
CONCLUSION:
This exploration served as a case study that allowed me to explore and I truly do feel like I launched my career trajectory as an aspiring citizen architect, and diplomat. In architecture, I am heavily interested in repurposing, looking back to ancient systems, and readapting to grow as a community. My core value of “learning by doing” has been exercised through my academic abroad experience in different places like Mexico, Italy, and now Peru. Opportunities like these I would not miss because I truly believe this is building me in becoming a world citizen. This experience required me to activate all my senses and helped me build an empathetic perspective that sets foundational qualities for an architectural consultant with an emphasis on the sustainability route I plan on pursuing.