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Published: October 1st 2011
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¡Hola!
A late entry to fill the gap up to the start of our Salkantay trek as there´s too much to write for one!
So where did we leave off? A bit sick in Arequipa I think! Well luckily in a better state than Juanita, who can be found in a museum in said city. Then she is over 500 years old and with a cracked skull. So yes, a mummy of sorts - though perhaps more correctly an ´ice maiden´ as she is pretty much intact inside and out - frozen at over 6000m on a volcano in Southern Peru. She was an offering to the mountain god - to appease or to gain favour. What´s incredible is she and a procession of priests, family and various important Inkas made it up to the peak of this volcano in no more than some woven shoes (their mountaineering boots, replacing the normal sandals). When we think of Victorians conquering peaks in tweed with rope tied round their waist, we should remember how centuries earlier the Inkas were conquering mountains with much less appropriate attire, but clearly an incredibly strong faith. I should add that Juanita was only 11-15 years
old when she climbed this mountain to die and be one with the mountain. ´Stop giving me a history lesson´ you say. Sorry. We went to a museum and it was interesting. Then on from the colonial white of Arequipa to a quite different city... Cusco.
A 5.30am arrival to the city perhaps dampened our opinions of the tourist mecca that Cusco is. It is surely the most pushy place in Peru - with an offer of a massage or sacred valley tour with every third step around the central plaza. I would like to say this is not representative of Peru as a whole - people are normally very helpful and not out to take your money. However, Cusco is popular for a reason. It is really quite a lovely city - with squares, fountains and mountains defining it. There is also a dazzling amount Inkan sites in the surroundings. Our first visit was to Qorichanka - once an important temple of the Inkas, but raided and built over by the Spaniards. Yet inside they left part of the Inkan walls which once made up this great temple, filled with treasures. The contrast between the morterless, plain and
mathematical construction of the Inkas and the more flamboyant colonial style was incredible. The next day we headed out on a Sacred Valley tour and saw the sites of Pisaq, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero. The great Inkan empire only lasted around 100 years and what they did in this time was pretty vast. Yes they built on what other tribes had started, but aspired to much grander buildings - transporting 50 ton rocks - perhaps on rollers - over mountain passes. In their terraces, microclimates let many types of corn, potato and other produce grown and in the hillside the important dead lay. The tour also included a demonstration of hand made Andean clothing. You wouldn´t believe what you can do with some plants and little beatles. And I got an Alpaca jumper. Sooo soft!
After indulging in some Peruvian culture, we then decided we should indulge in our own. To the ´Real McCoy´! A somewhat lifeless but a good imitation of English pub food. What tourists. The day after we saw the impressive Inka site of Sacsayhuaman and prepared ourself for the trek to come...
Laters y´all,
Peter
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