Notes from Incaland

Picture taken from this website:

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/South_America/Peru/South/Cusco/Machu_Picchu/

Notes from Incaland

Incan mythology:

Pachamama: Earth Mother
Mountain: Father
Sun: Inti
Moon: Quilla
Below earth: snake (underworld)
Earth surface: Puma
Heavens: Condor

Incas worshipped three elements: sun, mountain, and earth, but their main source of worship was the sun, probably because when it wasn’t shining, their world became brutally cold, as it does today when the sun disappears there.

Tourist Sites

Cuzco Cathedral—Rather than a total effacement of Incan iconography, Peruvian and especially Cusquenean iconography is an Incan overlay on top of the Christian. All Peruvian Marys are shaped like mountains with a crown on their heads representing the sunrise, and if you trace the lines, you see the same trapezoidal shape in Mary that you do in Incan windows in all their ancient cities. This means we have both the vision of mountain and earth mother combined in the Virgin.

Ollantaytambo—City built with monumental rocks
Chinchero—Tiny Spanish town built in the highlands on top of Incan temples and ruins.

Pisaq—Didn’t get to see the ancient city of Pisaq but did go to Pisaq market where every imaginable Incan item was sold.

Qoricancha—Sun Temple on Avenida El Sol used by Incas as a center of worship. Also a museum below the temple that contains mummies in the fetal position.

Tambomachay—Contains Incan dwellings and temples, agricultural terraces, including aqueducts and dwellings and ritual bath houses for the Incan equivalent of Vestal Virgins.

Pukapukara—Incan city
Quengo—Incan city

Saqsayhuaman (pronouncian close to “Sexy woman”)—The monolithic stones are arranged in the shape of the Puma, and this was a serious Incan center of worship. Every year, just as in Inca times, on June 21, the winter solstice and shortest day of the year, the people gather to perform the ancient Incan ceremony celebrating the sun.

Pikillacta—Incan agricultural center
Tipon—Row upon row of houses. Incan urban center not far from Pikillacta. Incans probably traveled from here to Pikillacta to gather the produce they grew. Perhaps from here they went to Ollantaytambo to visit the sun temple there. There’s also a sun temple at the very top of the mountain at Tipon

It’s true the Spanish murdered many Incas and destroyed their villages; however, the Spanish destroyed only the tops of Incan buildings. The foundations were so sturdy that the Spanish decided to keep the foundation stones and build on top of them.

All the museums in Cuzco contain either Christian/Incan art and/or pre-Christian Incan pottery, clothing, jewelry, headpieces, masks, and other relics.

Machupicchu—Includes an urban center, storehouses, agricultural terraces, and temples to the sun.

Huynapicchu—One huge staircase leads the traveler to the summit of the mountain adjacent to Machupicchu. At the top is what may have been a dwelling for a priest, and next to this is an outcrop of rocks with a hole in the middle. Inside is a cave where Incas probably performed sacrifices to the sun, since this is at the very top of the mountain.

There’s also a temple to the moon, but I didn’t see this.

In the city below Machupicchu, called Aguas Calientes, are hot springs supposedly used by the Incas as thermal baths, and still in use today by tourists and residents.

I also took an Orchid tour in Aquas Calientes (below Machupicchu), which included an introduction to orchids and other flora and fauna of the jungle. The Machupicchu area is the beginning of the jungle and at lower altitude than Cuzco.

People I met along the way

 Young Peruvian man on the plane on the way to Peru. We talked about the differences between US and Peru
 22 year old Spanish woman in an Incan gift shop. She looked Indian and, I found out later, knew Qechua.
 A man and his family in the thermal baths at Aguas Calientes.
 A man on the train on the way home from my first trip to Machupicchu (I returned after only spending two hours the first time).
 Cousin of one of my students. Talked about life in US vs. Peru, difficulty for Peruvians to leave their native country to go live in another, conditions in the country, studying English, and her desire to come to the US.

Geography

In Cuzco, the Andean terrain reminds one very much of the mountain chain that begins in Flagstaff, Arizona, with a lot of scrub pine, low growth, and cacti. In Machupicchu, it is bizarre to see pineapple plants growing up the sides of the mountain.

All flights going to Peru land in Lima, which is the capital city and considered the hub. From there, travelers take flights to other cities. It takes an hour by plane to get from Lima to Cuzco, just to give an idea of the distance and the immensity of Peru.

Climate

Two seasons—Rainy and dry. In Cuzco, the dry season means below freezing temperatures at night. With the wind, the windchill can be enough to warrant full winter clothing.

First Impressions

My first impressions were culture shock. While riding in the car from the airport to the hotel in Lima for example, I couldn’t believe the extreme poverty evinced in the dwellings. I found myself asking, “Do people really live in these places or is this a joke?” In some cases, I think the poverty can be compared to the poverty in poor cities in India.

Similar simple adobe structures appear over and over in Cuzco, outside of the urban center, and especially in the more rural areas. The poverty is painful to see.

Observations:

Row upon row of depressing adobe (brick) red clay houses.

Drivers don’t obey traffic signs or signals and traffic is chaotic. We think people drive like madmen here in the US, but imagine in some cases no traffic signals at all and drivers going fast on every side of you. They beep before every intersection, especially in Cusco where, out of the urban center of Plaza D’Armas, there are no traffic signals.

While in Peru, I was plagued almost every night by migraine headaches due to my activity and the altitude. When I returned to the hotel, I was often so exhausted that I went to bed at 8 or 9pm.

Despite these negatives, a trip to this part of the world is worth it for the archeological artifacts and to appreciate how other cultures live.

Local favorite drinks for altitude sickness—

Chicha—Tastes like a mixture of unsweetened fruit juice combined with alcohol, though I don’t know what kind of alcohol.

Mate de Coca—Tea made from coca leaves. The coca leaves were during Incan times and are still chewed by Peruvians to help them when working outdoors in high altitudes. Despite the name, it is only ½ the source of cocaine. The drug contains coca leaves mixed with other chemicals, while the coca leaves alone don’t have the same affect as the drug.

Inca cola—Like the coca tea, has a kind of butterscotch taste and is good for altitude sickness.

Other interesting data:

There are 6,000 species of potatoes in Peru
There are 16,000 species of orchids in Peru

Guinea pig, or Cuy, is eaten as a delicacy in Peru, though not all Peruvians like it, and some find it displeasing. In the Cathedral at Plaza D’Armas is a painting of the Last Supper by Marco Zappata that displays a guinea pig on the plate surrounded by chicha instead of bread and wine.