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Published: August 7th 2007
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We flew into Lima airport late at night and, through planning and a wee bit of luck, met my mum Sheena as she had just arrived from Malawi to spend a couple of weeks with us. It was great to see her and catch up on all her African news.
We didn´t stick around Lima too long but got a cheap flight to Cuzco to start our Incan adventure.
The first thing that hits you when you arrive in Cuzco is the altitude - at 3,326m , you can really feel the impact. We were to spend the next few days huffing and puffing our way around and getting over niggling headaches. The second thing that hits you is how friendly the people are, we had numerous pleasant encounters with folks in the markets and on the street.
Cuzco is also a beautiful city. The Incas built the old town in the shape of a Puma, one of their totemic animals and, although few Inca relics remain, it is still a fascinating place. The central square is packed with gorgeous colonial Catholic churches, most of which were built on top of demolished Inca palaces with stones plundered from
Inca ruins. Cobbled streets run off the main square and climb steeply on all sides.
While we were there, we were lucky enough to see a parade celebrating local services. Fabulously dressed groups of locals paraded by, giving thanks to street cleaners, teachers, nurses, musicians, office workers etc.
We spent a great day walking around four Inca ruins near Cuzco with Deana, our very helpful local guide that we met. Not much to say about the ruins as they were plundered and destroyed by the Spaniards, but we were impressed with the stonework that remained and the complexity of their buildings. One had a huge stone calendar that marked the summer and winter solstices precisely through the position of the sun.
Machu Picchu We chose to visit Machu Picchu via train from Cuzco, a controversial decision as we had been advised that the best approach was to walk to the ancient town for 4 days over the infamous Inca Trail. Anyway, we chose to be uncool and brace the tourist route and it turned out to be a truly stunning experience.
The train takes four hours to get to Machu Picchu, travelling through gorgeous scenery,
over mountain passes and through the fabled Sacred Valley. As we weaved between the towering snow covered Andean peaks, we were intrigued to see vast hillsides terraced to enable farming.
When we arrived at Aguas Caliente (the local town at Machu Picchu), we jumped on a bus for the 15 minute trip up to the site. Despite having seen pictures of the city and reading about it, the sight of this vast ancient place sitting atop a mountain in the middle of the Andes still took our breath away. We met a great local guide called Jose who took us around for a couple of hours. Since we were a bit quicker off the bus than the large organised tour groups, we managed to enjoy 15 minutes of glorious seclusion in the ruins.
The Spanish invaders never discovered Machu Picchu and it remained secret until the 1930s when an American historian, Hirham Bingham, found it with the help of two local families who were the only people who knew of it.
Despite being the most famous and stunning of Inca sites, no-one really knows what Machu Picchu was used for or why it was abandoned. One theory
(from Jose) is that the Incas left Machu Picchu to protect it from the Spanish when they arrived and took over Cuzco. They thought they would return to the city when the Spanish left.....
Another theory from Deana is that there was a plague in Machu Picchu and the Incas burned and then abandoned the city.
Whatever the story, Machu Picchu is a stunning sight. Since the Spanish never discovered it, the buildings remain pretty much intact, missing roofs of course as the they were made of grass. Sadly, the city is now in danger of slipping right off the mountain due to subsistance caused by the huge number of people who walk on it each year. It was designed to house 600 people, and daily 1000 to 1500 people visit it.
We found it interesting that the locals are quite dark about both the Spanish invaders and the American discoverers. The country is now quite advanced in archeology and is becoming increasingly proud of it’s pre-colonial history. Our guide was particular caustic when discussing the discovery of Machu Picchu - Bingham shipped all the artifacts he found over four years of excavation back to the states.
In Miraflores, Lima
.. what´s with all the casinos? And aren´t we supposed to be in an undeveloped country. Feels a little like Manly! Peru has asked to have them back and the US Govt is refusing. When I asked him if Bingham found any gold or treasure at the site, he laughed and said that officially there was nothing found, but it would be the only Inca site that was not laden with treasures.......
Anyway, we had a brilliant day exploring this man made wonder then headed off to see the Isla del Sol in Bolivia....
Turtles on Tour The Incas were known to be of short stature. All the ruins have low roofs, the beds are short etc. As we were leaving one house in Machu Picchu, Wendy commented that our guide Jose wouldn´t have to bend down to avoid hitting his head...... he is clearly of Incan descent. Luckily he laughed.
A note on the Incas - SKIP THIS PART IF HISTORY IS DULL TO YOU! Despite being a very famous race in history, the Incas only knew widespread power for a short period (1430s to 1530s). A peaceful people, they believed that the first Inca emerged from a stone on the Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun) in Lake Titicaca (modern day
Flowers in Cuzco
The government were giving away free flowers to locals to celebrate local services Bolivia). The Incas based themselves in Cuzco and built the city. They believed in many gods and worshipped the Earth. They built many stunning palaces and temples in the area with incredible stonework, fitting stones weighing hundreds of tons together seamlessly.
When a neighboring tribe got feisty in 1438, the Inca in power got all het up and beat them in a battle. This started the Inca takeover of a huge swath of land through what is now Ecudor, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Their reign came to an end when the 14th Inca died and there was a civil war between two of his many sons to be the next Inca ruler. Unfortunately the Spanish had arrived at the same time and took advantage of the situation to destroy the Inca empire and take over the countries, shipping huge amounts of gold and treasures home to Spain.
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el keevo non homo
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inca faces
you look constipated. awesome pictures. are you guys having fun? using a digi slr? photos are very cool! culture shock hey? keep the blogs coming. love them. keevo