{"id":6237,"date":"2012-05-13T17:18:07","date_gmt":"2012-05-13T21:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/?p=6237"},"modified":"2012-05-13T17:18:42","modified_gmt":"2012-05-13T21:18:42","slug":"who-knew-batman-was-so-big-in-peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/13\/who-knew-batman-was-so-big-in-peru\/","title":{"rendered":"Who knew Batman was so big in Peru?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As our Peru trip tour bus made its way through the streets of Ollantaytambo last week on its way to the Inca site known as the Fortress, I spotted … the Batmobile! <\/p>\n

Well, not the<\/em> Batmobile. More like a<\/em> Batmobile\u2014a small taxi with a rear window in the shape of the Bat symbol. I wasn’t quick enough with my camera to snap a photo, however, and when we headed back after our climb, even though I was vigilant, I didn’t spot it again as we meandered through the small town. And that, I thought, was that.<\/p>\n

But later in the week, as we bussed toward Cuzco after our stay in Machu Picchu, I spotted five other similar vehicles with Batman decorations in small towns along the route. I was only fast enough snap a shot of this one, but it’ll give you an idea of what I mean.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But those half dozen vehicles weren’t all.<\/p>\n

Because later in the week, as I stepped from the Convent of Santo Domingo in Cuzco, I saw this bus momentarily stopped in traffic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Before it could pull away, I was able to snap this side pic as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had no idea why these Bat-vehicles were all over Peru, and now that I’m back home and have had a chance to search online for a reason, I’m still<\/em> not entirely sure. Various sites report that<\/a>:<\/p>\n

If you are staying in Cuzco for a long time, the Combis are a cheap and reliable form of transportation. These are the Volkswagen vans and small buses with names like Imperial, Batman, or Zorro.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OK, so I get that they exist. But that doesn’t really explain why<\/em> they exist. Is Batman a revered character in Peru? Were the comics, movies, TV shows, etc., major cultural influences? If you have any theories, let me know.<\/p>\n

But there was still one final Batman to come. While wandering Lima’s Miraloflores LarcoMar Mall, I ran across this game in an arcade.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Unlike the Bat-vehicles, which I assume to be copyright infringements (tell me if I’m wrong, please), this superhero version of Whac A Mole is an officially licensed product<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And yes, I did proceed to bop the Joker, the Riddler, and even Harley Quinn. But then, you knew that I would, right?<\/p>\n

The same way you knew I would eat all the guinea pig<\/a> I could get my hands on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As our Peru trip tour bus made its way through the streets of Ollantaytambo last week on its way to the Inca site known as the Fortress, I spotted … the Batmobile! Well, not the Batmobile. More like a Batmobile\u2014a small taxi with a rear window in the shape of the Bat symbol. I wasn’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[144,196],"class_list":["post-6237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-batman","tag-peru"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}