(ATR) Lima 2019 president Carlos Neuhaus says the Pan American Games will have a strong cultural program to bring the extensive history of Peru to life.
"Lima has more than 4,000 years of history and [the Pan American Games are] a great opportunity to show what Lima has in culture," Neuhaus tells Around the Rings during a media roundtable in Lima.
"I’m working with the head of University San Marcos, the oldest university in Americas, to have cultural games. We have a team starting to work with that and have the culture of things in Peru.
Peruvian cuisine will also be on display during the Pan Ams.
"We are working also to promote and show off our foods," he said. "Peruvian food, we will make an effort to show the rest of the world in Peru you can eat good. It will be an opportunity to recap all of our history."
Neuhaus adds that Lima 2019 is creating a budget for its international promotion and the torch relay will be included in that budget.
"The ministry of tourism is working on that," he said. "The torch will come by sailboat from Mexico to Lima and start in Machu Picchu. That’s an opportunity to have the torch tour in Peru in some of the ancient places. My father was a historian so I will use the lessons learned from him."
The effort to include Peruvian culture in the Pan Ams was evident at the inauguration of construction of the Pan American Village on Sept. 13. Traditional shicra stones were buried by Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and PanamSports president Neven Ilic underneath where the Pan Am Cauldron will soon be built.
Shicra stones have been used in Peruvian culture for thousands of years to protect buildings from earthquakes. Lima’s proximity to the Andes Mountain range makes the city prone to seismic activity.
The Lima 2019 Pan Ams will also feature traditional sport in Peru, perhaps none more so than surfing. Neuhaus described the strong surfing history in Peru and how the Pan Ams will be used as a test event and a qualifier for Tokyo 2020 where the sport will make its Olympic debut.
"We had championship tournaments in 2010 and 2011 and in 2014 Peru was team world champion," he said. "We have very good surfers. We will have a test event in December this year. We had 120 million people watch the tournament in 2014.
"Lima will be a classification event for Tokyo so I think at least four positions for men and women will have the possibility to go to Tokyo so it will encourage the top level but they are coming to our house and the waves will not be small!"
The Lima 2019 Pan American Games begin July 26, 2019 and conclude Aug. 11 followed by the Parapan American Games Aug. 23 to Sept. 1.
Written by Kevin Nutley
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