Peru, Cusco, Machu Picchu

July 7, 2010


Wow! What a trip we had! We left La Paz for Peru on July 1st and found ourselves in Cusco a short time later. From the plane I was able to see the sharp contrast of the different landscapes. Where La Paz resembles what I imagine to be a moon-like landscape, the mountains peak in jagged, pointy angles, as we flew westward toward Cusco, the mountains seemed to smooth out a bit, resembling from the air the look of a bunched-up carpet much darker than the sandy colored mountains of La Paz. Always in the distance lingered the snow-capped chain of the Andes. For only an hour long flight, the change in landscape was astounding. The height of the mountains remained roughly the same, so coming from La Paz, I didn’t suffer the altitude sickness that affects so many travelers to Cusco. All the same, I had some Coca tea at the hotel to counter any ill effects of sorojchi, or altitude sickness.



But all was bien!

We didn’t waste any time and immediately after the tea, started to explore Cusco. We made our way first down the Avendia Sol, or Avenue of the Sun, to the Plaza de Armas, sort of the central square of the city. Here they have many shops and merchants selling wares. And you really have to hand it to those sellers; they get an A+ for persistence. They really try hard to sell things. It was here I perfected my pronunciation of “No, Gracias.” But talk about not taking NO for an answer. If we had stayed just one more hour, I would have bought something; they were wearing down my resistance.
In the Plaza de Armas there is a Spanish cathedral, The Basílica Catedral, and three smaller “churches," Iglesia de la Sagrada Famila, (church of the Sacred family)


Inglesia de la Sagrada Famila


and Iglesia del Triunfo, (church of the Trinity or Triumph), and Templo de la Compañia (accompanying temple) that dominate the square. These were of course built atop older, Inca temples. Cusco originated as an Inca city, perhaps the capital of the Inca civilization. The city itself seems built atop Inca ruins. Many places still use the foundation of Inca architecture.

The Inca architecture itself is amazing, big stones fit together tightly without mortar, a skill that defies logic and understanding to this day. How did they do it? We have no answer to this, but each stone is laid one atop the other perfectly matching and fitting together, practically seamlessly. Each seam is convex/concave and they have remained intact for over 500 years. The blocks they used, some weighing over 150 tons, are impressively cut and manicured to fit the natural shape of the stone around them. Perhaps one of the most impressive is the La Piedra de los 12 Angulos, (the stone of 12 angles). Check out the picture. (If you click on them they get bigger)


Piedra de los 12 Angulos



How the Inca accomplished this is beyond understanding. Perhaps it really was alien technology!!!!
After eating some delicious food and exploring the city, we toured the Cathedral and surrounding churches. It was the first of many interesting tours. As long as I’m handing out A+s, the tour company we had was really well run. They managed us most impressively, and the things and places we saw seemed to increase in impressiveness ending with the trip to Machu Picchu. It was really well planned. They do a good job. We learned a lot about the history of the Spanish and their conquest over the Inca as they attempted to impose religion and in the process take all the gold they could find. Their methods were, by today’s standards, cruel, inhumane, and effective. They accomplished the destruction of the Inca Empire in just a few short years, the first of which there was peaceful cohabitation (1533-35). By the 1600s there was very little left of the history and ingenuity of the Incas. Same story of European conquest we get in most of the New World, but here in Peru, the Incas rivaled the Romans in their ability to plan and build a city and run an Empire that stretched the breadth of South America. So quick was the destruction that several of the temples remain unfinished. Machu Picchu was however preserved in some sense because the Spanish never found it. Still, it was in the building stages when, for some mysterious reason, it was abandoned…perhaps the Spanish, perhaps disease…we are not even really sure what its purpose was, defense? Residence? Astronomy? One of the latest theories was that it was perhaps a sacred center of learning…the first Inca University perhaps? The mystery surrounding Machu Picchu is one of the most interesting and frustrating parts of the city. But I get ahead of myself and our tour.
After visiting the Cathedrals, we went deeper into Cusco to Qorikancha, what is believed to be a sacred temple of the sun for the Inca. The Spanish descriptions tell of a temple covered in gold plating, with life-size golden statures of different animals adoring the gardens. Now, built on the foundations is the Convent De Santo Domingo. It was here we got our first lesson of the incredible architecture of the Inca and got a good look at the amazing stone foundations.

The Sun Temple/Convent de Santo Domingo...notice the Inca foundation and walls.



From there we visited several other Inca sites, too many to show pictures…please check out Mariel’s Facebook page for all the pictures.

The next impressive place was Saqsayhuaman, pronounced (for the Americans) like “sexy woman.” The word actually translates into something like, the satisfied falcon or vulture. This was a huge Inca fortress/temple/citadel. According to the guides it must have taken 150 years or so build. It contains tremendous stone boulders, some weighing as much 150 tons. It was here in the late 1500s that the Incas began their ill-fated revolution against the Spanish. It was doomed from the start as a lack of an army, and mechanisms of war hindered the Inca, and hundreds of thousands were wiped out in one battle. There were so many dead Inca Saqsayhuaman earned its eerie name.
The area is several hundred acres and built on three levels, representing the three levels of the universe according to the Inca tradition. Hana Pacha, or the heavens (represented by the condor), Uku Pacha, the underworld (represented by the snake), and Kay Pacha, or Mama Pacha, our world or the earth, (represented by the Puma.) There are several other symbols that represent the same, and it is apparent the Inca had several gods and spirits that controlled and manipulated the universe. However the reoccurring symbol of the three worlds seems ubiquitous to all the temples/ruins we visited. From here, we were able to see a great vista of Cusco. The ruins light high above the city and have breathtaking views.

Saqsayhuaman.

Mariel and I infront of the 150 ton stone...How'd they do that? Notice how the stones fit together without mortar.


After Saqasayhuaman, we visited Tambomachay, or the resting place. Here there are several ruins that are sort of an aqueduct, with water still flowing. According to legend it is a place like the fountain of youth. However, Mariel tells me that a friend of hers drank some of the water and spent the remainder of their vacation sick in bed with typhoid…sooo…I didn’t risk it. But it was equally beautiful and it was interesting to see how they were able to use the shape of the surrounding earth and their own architecture to support the land and crops.

Tambomachay

With a quick stop at Qenqo, a cave like structure where it is presumed that pre-mummification took place, we proceeded back to our hotel. At Qenqo there is an interesting stone monument which, when the sun hits it correctly, casts a shadow of a puma. Then back to Cusco for a late dinner and some sleep after a tiring day.

Then next day was spent touring several other sites sacred to the Inca. One Inca palace had a Spanish church built on top of it. We proceeded down into the Sacred Valley of the Inca.

The Sacred Valley

This valley is a rich farming zone that follows the rio Aguascalientes, (hot water), a very special place to the Inca with lots of terraced farming land still in use today. One very interesting place, also an unfinished temple/fortress/palace, we visited is called Ollantaytambo.

The Ollantaytambo terraces

This was the first place to challenge our stamina, a tall, terraced fortress that scaled up a mountain in the small village of Posada. Here we were able to walk up to the top of the structure and see the village below. We could see the gigantic stone monuments making up the unfinished temple which came from the mountain across the valley. Again, how in the world did they manage? Our guide told us to imagine them working like ants to pull and push the humongous stones and eventually lay them in place. Again, this fortress remained unfinished for what reason? We may never know. From the top of the temple grounds we could see across the valley a natural rock formation called the profile of the Inca.

Profile of the Inca (look closely at the center of the picture)



The profile is natural, but if you look closely you can see they crowned the face on top with a stone tiara. To either side of the profile you can see storage buildings for the food and crops grown in the valley below. Carrying the food up there must have been no easy trick.
The next day, July 3, we awoke at 3:15 a.m. in order to take a two hour van ride to the town of Ollantaytambo where we caught a train for a one hour and fifty minute ride to the town of Aguas Calientes, point of departure for Machu Picchu. The train ride was amazing with views of agricultural terraces and ruins, and basically if followed the path of the Inca trail. Once In Aguas Calientes we boarded a bus that took us up a windy, curvy, and let’s call it like it is…friggin scary ride up the mountain to Machu Picchu, much scarier than the Death Road. I closed my eyes for some it, I admit…But the jungle terrain was incredible; we were able to see the terrain change from the rather barren mountains of Cusco to the dense growth of the Machu Picchu valleys as we descended some 4000 feet. Then up, up, up the scary road to Machu Picchu. It was about a 30 minute bus ride and we entered the park. We walked through a tunnel type opening in the crack of the mountain, and on the other side, Machu Picchu exploded into view. I can’t describe it. I was stunned, awed, shocked, impressed, flabbergasted, amazed, and swooning with vertigo.

First Look at Machu Picchu




Why did they build the city on the top of the mountains? Why did they leave before it was finished? What was the purpose? There are living quarters, agricultural areas, temples, an astronomy observatory…we think. Was it a center for education? Clearly it was very important, and as the Inca trail leads directly to it, it was meant to be visited. I would love to know the answers to some of these questions, but it all adds to the incredible mystery of the place. Walking around there you can feel the different energy. Even after the long, tiring trip to get there, we were invigorated to climb to the top and explore the amazing houses and aqueducts, temples and observatory. We arrived about an hour before our tour guide so we had a chance to explore by ourselves and take pictures. I only have put a few here, and I would encourage you again to see Mariel’s facebook page for many more, plus some descriptions. It was, simply, awe-inspiring. I’ve never experienced anything like it. The whole time I was there I had to keep looking and reminding myself that I was actually there. All my life I’ve wanted to visit and it was hard to believe I finally was.

Once the tour guide found us we were able to get some explanations for what we were seeing, explanations, or guesses, or hypothesis because so much is unknown. What little we do know is that it is one city that the Spanish didn’t find. An American explorer, Hiram Bingham, “discovered” the city and began the clearing process with the help of the National Geographic. Actually Bingham heard about the area and paid one Sole, about 10 cents, to a local farmer to show him where it was. That was back around 1912. Most of what we know about it comes from Bingham’s speculation, some of which has been rejected by archaeologists today. Look at the picture of the Sun Temple…the rounded structure...


notice how fine the stone work is compared to the stone work of the priest’s house to the left, and that is even finer stonework than the storage houses and the farmer houses below…according to the tour guide the better the stonework, the more important the building…thus the temples and observatory are very important.

Storage Places

An unfinished temple

In the observatory, there is a stone, like a great sundial, but not so much for telling the time of day but the time of the year. It corresponds with the sunrise on the solstices, important for planting purposes. Well, I could go on and on and on…I think I already have. I’ll shut up for now, but there are a lot of interesting tidbits and facts and guesses we could make. Google Richard L. Burger at Yale University if you really want to know more about Machu Picchu. All I can tell you is it is a magical, mythical, beautiful place. And I want to go back!
Ok, shutting up now…more adventures to come. Check back.




Chau!