Cuckoo for coca leaves

---

If you recollect from last post, we abruptly whisked you back in time about a month to our adventures in lovely northern Peru and then wrapped up in Cusco with us all gung-ho for the Inca Trail and all the other ancient wonders of the region. Well, our spirits were gung-ho anyway, our bodies were absolutely uncooperative. They wanted to do nothing but sleep at this altitude.

But before I get into all of the wonders of the Andes (and of the coca leaf for that matter), I thought I’d write a line or two about the Incas. And since I never got around to listening to the lecture series on the Incas that dad had checked out of the library for us, it really will be much less wordy than my usual historical ramblings. Here goes. (Inside I’m already bracing myself for the messages from people who will inevitably write to correct my misinformation.)

One of the first things that surprised me about the Incas is that it wasn’t all that long ago that they were one of the most powerful civilizations that the Americas had ever seen. In fact, although the civilization arose from the Andes in the late 12th century, it really wasn’t until the 1400s that they began to leave their mark on the continent. And if you know a thing or two about those darn Spaniards conquistadores, you’ll know that they began all their pillaging and plundering and conquering a mere century after that.

Given that the Incan glory days were a paltry 100 years or so, it is a wonder they had the time to accomplish all that they did. (It likely had something to do with those notorious coca leaves, if you ask me.) In fact, “at the height of its existence the Inca Empire was the largest nation on earth and remains the largest native state to have existed in the western hemisphere” (Wikipedia). Their hood stretched from well into Chile and Argentina all the way up to the northern reaches of Ecuador. And all throughout the empire they had built a series of roads totaling over 22,500 kilometers crisscrossing some of the most rugged mountains and inhospitable deserts that I’ve ever seen. Not too shabby for folks who hadn’t yet mastered the idea of the wheel.

The other truly remarkable thing about the Incas in my mind was their uncanny ability to rule. During their short rule, they managed to subjugate and peacefully assimilate all sorts of civilizations that were impressive in their own right and whose civilizations endured for centuries longer than the reign of the Incas (the Tiwanaka, Nasca, Mochi, and Chimu just to name a few).

But how the Incas reigned is what really impressed me. Rather than killing off or enslaving their neighboring civilizations, they flexed their muscles in a few early battles (some say luck had a lot more to do with it than muscles) and then used their reputation to leverage their neighbors under their influence. The ruling Incas required civil service from their minions and in this way, were able to adopt and integrate the skills and specialties of the civilizations they conquered throughout their kingdom. For example, they learned stonework from the Tiwanakas from Bolivia and metalwork from the Chimu of Northern Peru. Pretty darn clever, if you ask me.

If I wasn’t getting so long-winded already, I’d mention a word or two about how amazing it was that the Incas were able to tame the steepest rugged mountainsides into productive farmland with sturdily built terraces and impressive irrigation networks. But I’ve got other things to talk about, like all the incredible Incan ruins near Cusco that we finally mustered up the energy to visit in between cups of coca tea.

One rainy morning we took a cab up to Sacsayhuaman (pronounced ‘sexy woman’ tee-hee) and Qenqo, two ceremonial sites on the hills above Cusco and fabulous examples of the Incas extraordinary mortar-less stonework. Sacsayhuaman is an important site both for the sun festival, Inti Raymi, that takes place each year during the winter solstice and for being one of the last strongholds of the Incas before losing Cusco to the Spanish. Qenqo is also an important ceremonial site, but I liked it mostly because of the puddle shaped like a llama.

And all around Cusco, in between restaurants advertising insanely cheap five-course meals, you can see fine examples of Incan architecture. In fact, much of the center of the city was built on the remains of the great ancient capital, and this is evident today in the foundations of a handful of churches and colonial mansions as well as several streets and alleyways. It’s a real testament to the strength and accuracy of the Inca’s work when their constructions have held up better over the centuries (and during a couple of earthquakes) than many much more modern buildings.

One of the highlights of our time in Cusco, however, would have to be our tour of the Sacred Valley. Early one morning, we were picked up by a shuttle and driven here and there all around the valley in order to visit a handful of markets and several Incan sites. The Pisac market was especially fun as Paul perused the junk tables looking for rare coins and brass door knockers, I admired the stunning woven handicrafts and played with little kids, and we both did our best to sample all the local culinary specialties. (The empanadas there are out of this world, but we gave the guinea pig a miss.)

The other markets weren’t too shabby either, but really how many textiles can one look at before they all start to blur. For me, the best parts of these other markets were the several little girls whose mothers dressed them up in traditional getups and posed them next to llamas and baby sheeps and stuff in order to earn a couple of extra soles from folks wanting to take pictures. We couldn’t resist and reluctantly handed over a couple of coins for the photo ops (we’re still trying to decide if this sort of exploitation should be supported or not).

And the ruins of Pisac and Ollantaytambo that we visited later that day were absolutely breathtaking. At the Pisac ruins we were mesmerized by the rows and rows of farming terraces up the steep valley walls as far as the eye could see. And in Ollantaytambo we were able to train for the upcoming Inca Trail as we climbed the hundreds of steep steps up to the unfinished monument to the sun where humongous slabs of stone lay willy-nilly on the ground. According to our guide, the Spanish invaded while the Incas were in the middle of constructing the temple, and thus we’re left to imagine how much more impressive it might have been.

Thankfully, my headaches had started to abate during our third day in Cusco. I was also just beginning to be able to climb a flight of stairs without having to double over to catch my breath at the top, and thus, feeling a slightly more physically ready to tackle the four days of hiking ahead of us. The trouble was we kept meeting folks who had just finished the Inca Trail, and just about all they could say was how miserable they were because of the cold and the rain. I was miserable because of the cold and the rain, and I hadn’t been forced to stay outside in it all day and night. Ugh! After hopelessly trying to convince Paul that maybe we should just take the train to Machu Picchu, we did the next best thing and scoured the town for suitable rain gear. We even bought rain guards for our shoes! We would not be beaten.

Turns out all the worry about the Inca Trail was just a colossal waste of time. The weather was gorgeous most of the time, waiting to rain until we were snuggled up in our tents and sleeping bags, and the walk itself was not nearly as physically demanding as some of the folks we had run into had made it out to be (although we did pass six or so people who had turned back on the first or second day—bummer).

Mostly the walk was just incredible. In fact, Paul and I would both say that we dug on it more than Machu Picchu itself. The scenery was absolutely stunning and changed so much from day to day. We walked past gorgeous waterfalls and over high mountain passes, through grassy plains and high jungles and every once in a while, when the clouds lifted, we were surprised by gorgeous views of rugged snow-capped mountains all around or deep river valleys below.

And even more inspiring were all the ruins nestled into the stunning landscape that we encountered each day. We passed check points and store houses and temples and fortresses each more impressive than the previous, and it was just surreal to imagine the Incas and their people hundreds of years ago utilizing these structures and walking along the same road that we were trudging along. Occasionally passing local folks with big bags of goods strung over their backs as they made their way to the nearest village made it even easier to picture how it might have been before. (And sharing with them some coca leaves or one of the many snacks that our tour group provided us always made for a fun break.)

In fact, our tour company did all sorts of fabulously nice things for us. I felt a little princess-ish at times, I must confess. Besides having our tent and sleeping gear carried for us by super friendly porters (perhaps the most awesomely impressive examples of human fortitude ever—lugging 30 kilos of weight each over some rugged countryside just so us hedonistic tourists can play in comfort—I’m very grateful!!!), we were woken up with hot tea and buckets of warm water to wash up with, fed unbelievable four-course meals, and spoiled by having our tents set up and taken down for us. Paul and Jeff never did any of that sort of stuff for us on our tour around Africa.

There are so many other things I’d love to share about our time on the Inca Trail, like trying to chew coca leaves like the locals all do and being surprised by how fast my mouth went numb and I was drooling green spittle, or discovering the “Shopping Center” selling Cokes and cigarettes on day two and just having to buy something because it was there, or taking hits of oxygen after lunch before making the final assent to Dead Woman’s Pass (4200m, and yes, a little challenging) because I figured I could use all the help I could get, or squealing with glee in the middle of one of the tunnels on the trail because it was just so cool to walk on this amazing ancient trail and discover that they built tunnels to make it easier on us, or feeling so, so very relieved to finally make it to camp the third night and know that not only would there be a beer there waiting for me, but some really great new friends there to share it with, or wishing that everyone would just slow down that last morning when all the groups were racing to the Sun Gate that was completely clouded in, or feeling unbelievably fortunate to sit high above Machu Picchu early the last morning and watch the mist finally lift revealing the amazing city for the first time.

I know that I’m getting a little bit sappy here, but doing the Inca Trail was one of the very best things that we have done on this big adventure of ours and reminiscing about it a month later feels real good, so y’all will just have to deal with the mush.

As for the ruins themselves, I’m not sure what to say. Yes, they are absolutely amazing, but you already knew that. Everyone knows that. Being that Machu Picchu is one of the few Incan cities that the Spaniards didn’t obliterate, one can get a glimpse of what many of the others most have looked like in their glory. And that’s something pretty special.

But to be perfectly honest, the ruins for me were a little anticlimactic, and I kept wishing we could rewind a bit and walk a day or so more. And besides that, I conked my head really well on one of the door frames and had a killer headache during much of our time exploring the lost city. I’m sure that this didn’t help things much.

Paul was feeling especially exuberant, however and decided to climb Huayna Picchu, the extremely steep little mountain overlooking the ruins to get some photos from a different angle. It turns out that getting to the top of Huayna Picchu was a bit harder than he figured and kinda kicked his butt, so you may want to ooh and aah a bit more for the photos he took from up there.

After a morning at the ruins, our group made our way down to Aguas Calientes, the nearest little town to Machu Picchu, where we had our farewell buffet and sadly exchanged hugs and emails. Then after a long much-needed nap (we were woken up at four that morning), Paul and I rested our tired muscles in the local thermal pools. Honestly, I can think of no better place in the world to put a set of thermal pools. It was joy.

Then it was back to Cusco, and getting there turned out to be a bit more adventuresome than we would have liked given our condition (okay, maybe the hike was a little hard). The company we booked the Inca Trail hike with messed up all sorts of things logistically with us, including our train ticket back. Instead of getting the afternoon train all the way back to Cusco like we wanted, we were given a ticket for the early morning train which stops about halfway there. Lucky us, the train station was closed, and we were let off on the side of the highway a few kilometers further on where we were forced to flag down our own way back to Cusco. This made for a rather long day.

The day got even longer (but heaps more fun) when we ran into a few folks from our group back in Cusco and ended up drinking and laughing into the wee hours of the morning. Thanks to our merrymaking, catching the early (and unbearably long) train to Lake Titicaca the next morning would prove to be much more excruciating than the Inca Trail, but you’ll hear about that when we get around to posting the next blog.

---

Photos

My favorite surly little girl
You'd be surly too if your mama put you in an uncomfortable outfit every morning and encouraged tourists to take photos of you.

Comments

[Martina]

I loved Peru as well
Hi Paul and Casey, It was a pleasure reading your bit about Peru, I was 5 months pregnant when we did Peru, and it brought back happy memories reading your Blog. I thought i was going to die in Cusco and basically wanted to leave the minute no, second we got off the plane. I wasn't allowed the coco leaves, so nature took care instead. I was soo nauseus. We had to cancel the Inca Trail on doc's recomendations, and it is good to read how beautiful the trail was. I am ok for missing it, as we spent 3 nights in Aqua Caliente resting and looking into the local life with lovely food, the healthiest I ate during my whole pregnancy. Don't know where you are now, but have fun, enjoy and keep sending updates. I love them. Have a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2007, lots of love Martina