Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [34]
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SPORTS
Fútbol (soccer) is the most sanctified spectator sport, followed with a fervor that borders on religious piety. The soccer season is from late March to November. Though there are many teams, their abilities are not exceptional: Peru hasn’t qualified for the World Cup since 1982, and has not won a Copa América trophy (a competition among South American nations) since 1975. The best teams are from Lima, and the traditional clásico is the match between Alianza Lima and the Universitario de Deportes (La U).
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Everything you ever needed to know about every regional Peruvian soccer team – large and small – is available at www.peru.com/futbol (in Spanish).
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Bullfighting is also well attended, particularly in Lima, where it is most popular. The traditional season runs from October to early December, when Lima’s Plaza de Acho attracts internationally famous matadors. Outside of Lima, small bullfights occur at fiestas, but are rarely of a high standard. Travelers should be aware that the bulls are killed in Peruvian fights – so be prepared for gory spectacle.
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Interestingly enough, the pieces appear to be of little aesthetic value. Bingham, in a 1920 letter in which he discussed returning the artifacts, wrote: ‘There is nothing here that they will not be disappointed in. In fact when they see the material they will probably accuse us of having sent them a lot of rubbish instead of the original material.’ Yale has reported that of the thousands of pieces, only 329 of the objects are ‘museum-quality.’
For Peruvians, however, the case is about getting back what they feel is rightfully theirs. (Former Peruvian first lady Eliane Karp-Toledo has written opinion pieces on the matter in various US publications.) But the spat is also part of a larger issue facing the world of antiquities, in which renewed national pride is butting up against the acquisition practices of some global institutions. In recent years, countries such as Italy and Greece have begun demanding that museums return artifacts that may have been acquired through looting or theft. In 2008, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City was forced to return an ancient terracotta vessel to Italy after it was reported that the piece had been looted. Greece is currently prodding the British Museum in Londo to return the Elgin marbles, part of a series of sculptures that once decorated the Parthenon.
Yale has argued that the case should be dismissed on the grounds that Peru’s claims are without justification and that it has waited too long to file suit. (In addition, one of Bingham’s descendants alleged in the press that the objects are better cared for at Yale than they would have been in Peru.) But, in this case, Peru has the paperwork in its favor. The European precedent, however, suggests that the case could drag on for years or even decades – in which case, the main group to benefit will be the lawyers.
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Other sports, though not necessarily popular in Peru, have been well represented by Peruvian athletes, in particular, women. In 1988, the Peruvian women’s volleyball team won the silver medal at the Seoul Olympics, and they still play competitively at an international level. Surfer Sofía Mulanovich became the first Peruvian – and Latin American – to win the Association of Professional Surfers world championship in 2004. And, in 2009, female professional boxer Kina Malpartida defeated a Brazilian opponent to retain her title as the World Boxing Association