Breve manual de geografía fantástica: Raimondi y Riva-Agüero describen Paucará

Abstract

Both Antonio Raimondi (in El Perú) and José de la Riva-Agüero (in Paisajes peruanos or Peruvian Landscapes) describe a capricious trachytic formation: Paucará, located in a paramo of the Huancavelica puna (high mountains). While Raimondi describes it in strictly naturalistic terms (the Italian scholar seeks to prove the impossibility of its human genesis), Riva-Agüero, without denying what Raimondi affirmed, fantastically anthropomorphizes it and links it to relevant moments in Andean history. Thus, while aspects of Raimondi’s description resemble the descriptions of Alexander von Humboldt, who –according to Mary Louise Pratt– reinvents South America as pure nature, Riva-Agüero’s description humanizes – albeit tragically– space.