Mulekite Landing at Pachacamac – Part I

We received a response to one of our recent articles about where Lehi settled and the various sites we claim in Peru to be Book of Mormon locations. To answer his litany of statements we will list his comment and our response.
• Comment: “Lehi had a natural port bay at the 30-degree South Latitude. There is no natural landing site in Pachacamac.”
Response: We know absolutely nothing about the Mulekite method of leaving Jerusalem, when precisely that occurred, where they went, where they obtained a ship or built one, how many there were in the party, where exactly they landed, or how far inland  from the shore they landed and settled. All we know is that they ended up in the area of Pachacamac.

The original area covered by what is now the Greater Lima District and anciently was known as Zarahemla, the capital city of the Nephites

This area, as recent discoveries have shown, was a very large area, stretching from the Lurin River to what is now the city of Lima, including Callao. No doubt under the Nephites after they arrived, the city grew in size and expanded into a large area. As we have shown in earlier articles, the entire area is covered with ancient ruins with hundreds of pyramids and buildings, plus all those covered over by urban sprawl of both the Spanish and modern development.
    However, the area from Callao down to Pachacamac is not without landing sites. From La Chira to Paso la Arana, and inside (shoreward) from the Isla San Lorenzo off the point of Muelle at Callao, and on the north shore of the Point through the Muelle Sur to the Rimac River, where currently several docks have been built because of the protected bay. Or running southward in a calm sweep of beach from La Punta to Chorrillos along a slight curvature of shore including San Miguel, San Isidro and Miraflores to Herradura, the latter made up of several landing areas around the point of Chorrillos.
    While it may not be a perfect landing bay, like Coquimbo, it would certainly serve as an unloading area for the Mulekites. Keep in mind there is no mention of what happened upon that landing, what took place afterward, or what became of the ship, or if it was ever used again.
• “There is no way to reason for Pachacamac without a nearby River Sidon.”
Response: There is no reason to believe that any original river kept its main course following the destruction indicated in 3 Nephi 8, including the burying of cities beneath mountains, as well as mountains rising up to a “height which is great.” But even so, the Sidon did not run by the city of Zarahemla as so many theorists claim. Mormon makes it clear that the Sidon was eastward in the land of Zarahemla, next to the borders with the Land of Gideon. The river itself was near those borders (Alma 2:15).
• Comment: “You have to hike up to the Marana River hundreds of miles before you encounter an acceptable River Sidon, that flows down from a possible Manti, which would be close to the Land of Nephi, which is up from the land of their first habitation near present day La Serena, Chili.”

Response: First of all, there is no Marana River mentioned in the top 25 rivers of Peru. There is a Maran River, but that is far south of Nazca, flows southward, and is a relatively short river. There is also the Marañon River, but that is far north of Pachacamac. There is a Mantaro River, but that drains southward out of Lake Junin, north of Zarahemla. None of these rivers meet the descriptive information Mormon provided.
Comment: “The Land of Nephi is where they went up to the Bolivian High Lands. This is one of the highest habitable areas in all the Andes. Of course Zarahemla is down from up there.”
Response: The Bolivian highlands or the Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla"), Andean Plateau or Bolivian Plateau, in west-central South America, is the area where the Andes are the widest. It is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. Along a north-south ridge runs the Eastern Andes Mountain Range, also called the Codillera Oriental, which divides Bolivia, with the lowland plains of the Amazon Basin to the east.

The Anliplano is south of where Nephi settled after fleeing his brothers, which are not the Bolivian Highlands

This area referred to as the Bolivian Highlands or Altiplano, which is mostly south of Lake Titicaca, is south of where Nephi settled after fleeing the area of their first landing following the death of Lehi.
Comment: “Pachacamac does not even have a river that flows North. It flows West to the ocean.”
Response: As indicated above, the Sidon River was in the eastern lands of the Land Sidon, near the borders of the land with the Land of Gideon. The Lurin River, that runs to the south side of Pachacamac does run west and empties into the Pacific. None of this is in disagreement with the scriptural record, only to man’s theories and opinions.
Comment: “And the River Sidon is where they dumped hundreds if not thousands of dead Lamanites. Who would float dead bodies into the sea coast next to your town?”
Response: The Sidon River, which was many miles away from the City of Zarahemla (or Pachacamac) was in the highlands to the east in the borders of the Land of Zarahemla (Alma 2:15). As Mormon describes: “the Amlicites came upon the hill Amnihu, which was east of the river Sidon, which ran by the Land of Zarahemla, and there they began to make war with the Nephites” (Alma 2:15). In addition, once the battle took place, the Amlicites began to flee before them all that day” (Alma 2:17-18).
    Alma 2:19-38 describes the ongoing battle that had them crossing the Sidon to the West and then chasing the Lamanites all that day with the Lamanites ending in the northwest away from Zarahemla into the wilderness of Hermounts, or wilderness of wild beasts. None of this was by the city of Zarahemla but to the east of it.
Comment: “The Marana river flows true North or as I said 'from the South' and I think even in the Southern Hemisphere 'from the South would still be North.”
Response: No Marana River has been identified (see the above).
Comment: “And the Marana River flows past Cajamarca (I believe that is Zarahemla) and when the Marana River passes by Cajamarca from one valley to the East, it then plunges down a great ways to the Amazon. So, yeah, toss bodies into that river and feed the piranhas in the Amazon.”

Cajamarca is 528 miles north of Lima (Zarahemla), creating a huge area for the Land of Nephi with no specific information to support such a claim, and reducing the lands of Zarahemla, Bountiful and the Land Northward to a far less size than the descriptions warrant

Response: Cajamarca (Kashamarka) is a Peruvian city far to the north in Peru and 130 miles inland from the west coast, about equal distance between the coast and the Amazon Basin. It is 9,022 feet above sea level on the Cajamarca River. It is a large mining area of Copper and God, with recently discovered silver mines at Hualgayoc.
    The city, which has been occupied by several cultures for more than 2000 years, with its beginning dated to 200 BC, is irrigated by three main rivers, the Mashcon, San Lucas and the Chonta, the former two joining together in the area to form the Cajamarca River. The Chinchipe River, also known as the Mayo River, near Moyobamba.
(See the next post, “Lehi’s Landing at Pachacamac – Part I,” for more on Lehi’s landing at Pachacamac inquiry from one of our readers)