Flight from Cuzco to Lima

At some point in your life you need to fly between Cusco and Lima. Seeing the ancient heart of the Incan empire disappear behind a mountain. Amazed when the isolated pueblos pop into view with one windy road leading to it, the metal roofs glinting in the afternoon sun. Watching the geography change and witnessing how the ancient glaciers formed the flat valleys where a good portion of humans live, growing in the fertile soil. And watching it all change.

Seeing the pueblos get farther and farther between until it is what appears pristine and untouched nature. With nothing more than the isolated lagoons left by melted ice long ago. Yet, as soon as the stewardess tells us that the descent has begun, witnessing the arrival of signs of human life again. Factory farms, mines, and houses upon houses. What used to be empty land, with nothing more than shadows to see, you now see some of the worst parts of humans. Mines many kilometres across and deep. Seeing hundreds of factory farm barns nestled in the valleys formed by ancient glaciers. I was back to the modern world. Or at least the Peruvian equivalent.