Hacienda San Jose: El Carmen pt 3

I am finally writing the last post in my series about our trip to Chincha a couple weekends ago. The morning after visiting the Ballumbrosio family (which I wrote about in my previous post), we woke up to a bright sunny day and headed off down the road to the Hacienda San Jose, the location of the previous slave plantation in El Carmen and now the location of a elegant hotel. We walked down the country road, passing huge fields of grapes and other crops on either side as far as the eye could see. I had read in my guide book that it was possible to have a tour of the old plantation despite the fact that it now costs around $200 US dollars to stay there. We had to pay about 8 dollars for the tour, but it was definitely worth it to see this incredible restored historical mansion and see this very different side to the Afro-Peruvian story. When we first caught sight of the hacienda we all let out a little gasp- it was absolutely gorgeous. The plantation had a central plaza, huge open porches, its own church and gardens. The building has been beautifully restored with portraits of the original slave owners (elite from Spain), traditional farming tools on the walls and other artifacts including a metal brand that was used to mark slave's bodies with an "S" for San Jose plantation.

The whole time I was there I felt very divided about the experience- it was such an beautiful, peaceful place but with such a gruesome and dark past. I don't know it I would feel comfortable staying there. However, I appreciated that they provide the tours and don't try to hide the horrible history. I would be interested to see how a similar plantation in the American south is portrayed today. This plantation was started in 1688 and by 1764 almost 1,000 slaves worked on this sugar and cotton plantation. There was an incredible painting displayed that was painted by a slave of the hacienda cerca the 1830s that depicted the daily life of the plantation including images of slaves being punished, but also slaves dancing in a circle. This was fascinating to see after our visit to El Carmen- to see that the Afro-Peruvian dance was allowed (although I think only Sundays and Catholic holidays.) I find it very interesting to see how the relationship between slaves and their masters varied depending on the location and the dominate culture throughout the Americas.

Anyways, on our tour of the hacienda, we climbed down into the dark basement of the building and we saw some of the cells where slaves were hidden or punished. There also existed a long tunnel to another nearby Hacienda in case the family wanted to escape slave rebellion or war. We also entered into the "Room of Punishment" for slaves which was below the entrance and saw where slaves were chained to a metal pole and forced to stand on one foot for days. It was very painful to see.

The hotel itself is very fancy and furnished in an historically accurate, but elegant way. However, I can't help but notice that the same cycle of inequality has continued to this day; the Hacienda, now a historical monument, makes thousands of dollars from tourism, while the decedents of the slaves still work in agriculture and live in poverty. Furthermore, while Afro-Peruvian dance seems to be foremost an expression of pride, strength and perseverance for the people, it seems that most of Peru still sees it almost as a spectacle and the narrative of Afro-Peruvian culture and identity has not yet been embraced or discussed very much as part of Peruvian history. However, several days ago, I did see a very interesting exhibit of photographs of Afro-Peruvians that was displayed in the National Museum in Lima. This exhibit displayed beautiful portraits of Afro-Peruvians from around the country and I think we even recognized someone from our trip to Chincha in one of the photographs! I definitely felt a very personal connection to the the exhibit after visiting El Carmen and having a small taste of this rich, but not widely known aspect of Peru's multicultural identity.