Inca Ruins and Terraces

Inca "Priest" and "Goddess"

Monday and Tuesday, March 28-29, 2016, WTRD 80-81

Monday:  On our way out of Cusco and on our way to Ollantaytamba, we stopped at five sites.




















One was at a Christo overlook


 that had expansive views of Cusco, surrounded by mountains on three sides, a challenge for pilots landing and taking off. (see airport runway in middle of photo below).  We will fly out of here when we go back to Lima.

Looks more than the .5 million reported people

Population creep up the mountains

 These ladies have a wonderful scenic view for selling their wares.

Second was at military, temple area of the Incas:

Massive Stones Chipped, Smoothed and Fit into Place Like A Giant Puzzle

Grooves, holes, and handles provide clues to how these rough stones were moved and lifted into place.

Because this is not a palace or temple, these stones are not as finish perfect as the ones in town.

On top of the mound of the military grounds are the remains of an Inca Sun Temple.

Note the large circle of temple (just above my head)

Our third stop

Photo opportunityposers get ready for their day at these sites.

The Alter is a cool place believed to be where priests prepared bodies for burial.

was at a temple that was carved in passageways through large outcroppings of stones.  All very interesting and thought provoking.  The achievements of these indigenous people without iron or wheels continues to beg the question:  How was this done?

Once we left the outskirts of Cusco we traveled through mountains and valleys on our way to Olliantaytambo

Roasted Guinea Pig Sales in Small Towns - Not KFC but KFGP!

bypassing several small communities, and finally visiting a small community that Peregrine/Intrepid supports.

Our fourth stop, and first stop in this rural community was a farm house and cocoa kitchen where we enjoyed a delicious lunch, and had a demonstration of how this one family makes chocolate bars from cocoa beans. Yes we bought some chocolate, not very good, but hey! it was chocolate.

Mountain Village with Red Flag on a pole...What could this mean?

Fellow Travelers Marguerite and Janne waiting for lunch before dessert

Now for Dessert and Chocolate making Demonstration

Bittersweet and gritty.

Our second community stop was at another rural home and pottery studio.

Knock, knock...anybody home?

Doors for little people.  Watch your head Russ!

The family finds dried clay within their region, grinds, sifts, and hydrates the clay so that it is malleable.

With a home made potter's wheel and tools made from sticks and tin cans, the Papa sculpts the shapes of bowls, glasses, candle holders, soap dishes, mugs, pitchers, etc., and the Mama paints, kilns, and glazes.  Yes, we bought a few souvenirs.

Our last stop was at a farm home where the Mama makes Chincha, a beer made from corn.  Interesting to learn about the process.

She makes Chincha traditionally

Just Like Great Grandma Did

And it's still served in a giant glass.

Apparently, when the beer is ready for consumption, the family brew houses, fly a red flag outside their door.  Most of the red flags are red plastic bags tied to a pole.  In this case, the Mama put red flowers like a bouquet outside her door.  This Mama is much more classy.

In the courtyard after we sample the chinch, we tried the fun little drinking game that patrons play.  If they lose, they buy the beer for their friends. The game is a type of coin toss onto a flat surface with spinners and holes with different point designations.  We all miserably failed.  Mama however has had a lot of practice and she racked up the points.

Fun, but no we didn't buy any of the beer. Not to our liking.  Nevertheless we all gave Mama a tip for the demonstration of beer and  and how to play the game.

  We arrive late in the day at our accommodations and take an early evening stroll through the picturesque town.

Tuesday:  Today, we are in Ollantaytambo and have had a wonderful morning climbing the terraces in the Sacred Valley.  The views have been breath taking.  This must have been a beehive of activity between 1200-1500 with thousands of workers building terraces, quarrying stones, building granaries, and farming crops.

It defies the mind how the large stones weighing several tons were quarried high up on the mountain across the valley and transported up the steep slopes atop the terraces without horses, plow animals, carts or wheels.   There seems to have been an interrupted construction on top of a temple with massive stones when the Inca were conquered in 1520.  It is a mystery with many probable theories, but there is no positive proof and no written records or art depicting how this was accomplished on such a massive scale.

Grooved Stones give rise to theories about how they were transported

Ramped and Rolled on Smaller Stones

INCA Terraces

We are taking a brief rest before boarding a train to the base of Machu Pichu where we will spend the night, and ascend by bus up to the ruins tomorrow.

Everyone in our group had assigned seats on the expedition train.  There were roof windows for us to gaze in awe at the towering mountains.  The ride takes an hour and a half to Agua Calientes.  Driving a car takes 7-8 hours on a twisty one lane road that stops short of Agua Calintes.  We were happy to be on the train!

The train snaked through the Urubamba River Valley between open fields, rainforest, and mountains.  Agua Calientes (hot springs), is built on the side of one of these steep mountains.  There are no cars or vehicles other than the busses that will take us up to Machu Picchu in the morning.  Just like the Incas, every part of this city is hand carried up the mountain on the backs and on manpowered push-pull carts.

We walk around town in the afternoon, 

and two geocaches,

Geocache in the lower crevice of this rock

buy some souvenirs, enjoy mojitos for happy hour, and meet up with our group for dinner.  We retire early because it will be an early morning tomorrow if we want to see the sunrise over Machu Picchu

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's on the way to Machu Picchu

Cusco - City of the Inca King - Son of the Sun God

Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016, WTRD 79 

It feels somewhat decadent to sleep in this morning until 7:00 a.m.  WooHoo!  I wake up at 7:00 only because there are fireworks going off very close to our hotel.  So much for church bells.  This is the way the local churches let parishioners knows that the mass on Easter Sunday is about to start.

Our guide Renaldi lives in Cusco, and has been away from 1 year old son since the start of this trip in Lima.  Happy to be home now, he will collect us at 9:00 am for a walking tour of the city in the morning and the afternoon is free.

I drop off laundry at 8:30 a.m. , but first I must negotiate the narrow street.  Fortunately it isn't too busy.

I have only packed 1 pair of long pants and have worn them or a couple of days as we have traveled to higher elevations where it has been cooler.  We will be at higher elevations for three more days and the rainy season is not quite finished.  This is the last chance I will have to get the pants and other laundry washed and dried before we leave.

It's Easter Sunday, but the laundry is open for business.  The owner assures me that the laundry will be done by 5:00 pm.  I am hoping the day will  be warm enough so that I can wear my knee length pants.  If I pick up the laundry at 5:00, I'll have time to change into the long pants before dark when it will be cold.

Our group meets, and we walk to the area that is the Inka street outside the remains of the Inca King's palace, now the walls of a church and convent...the irony of it all.

Reny points out the Inca construction perfection.

The Catholics tried to destroy the Inca walls, but they are so strong and built with such long lasting precision, that the remaining walls have been incorporated into the Catholic Church.  Since Easter Masses will end around noon, the Convent that was once the Temple of the Sun God will not open until 2:00 pm.

We marvel at the wall construction and the amount of craftsmanship and labor that must have been involved.  The Andes to the Sea areas of South America (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chili) were all a part of the Inca Empire in the early 1500's.  The term Inca really referred the King and government.  The upper class administrators of the military and government lived in Cusco, and the finest artisans were brought here to build the palace and the city.  

Before the Spanish invasion and destruction of the Empire in 1520, the empire consisted of numerous indigenous tribes that had been become a part of the empire either through peaceful assimilation or conquest, but they still referred to their own tribal name. (Similar to Californians belonging to the United States of America).  It is estimated that at the height of the Inca Empire, there were 13-30 million people!  

After touring the main squares and streets, photographing people enjoying Easter morning in their church finery and sitting in the park,

we went to the local market and took notice of the special Easter breads and pastries, large round loaves and flat breads with colorful sprinkles and the little pig who wanted to go wee wee all the way home, but didn't make it.

The breads were a bit suspicious in terms of cleanliness, but this was over the top and I could barely eat meat the rest of the trip.

Easter Guinea Pig anyone?

After our guided walking tour, we were on our own the rest of the day.  Russ and I stopped in a little cafe for lunch, meandered through the city streets, visited the Temple of the Sun God, and the handcraft market before returning to our hotel for a rest.  Russ is still not up to his usual energy level.  

Russ oblivious to Street Vendor

So while he rested, I attempted to walk to the laundry and met up with part of our group who had just returned at 5:00 empty handed.  Clothes were  not ready.  Come back in and hour they were told.  I went down to the laundry at 6:00 pm, and the clothes were still not ready please come back at 6:30.  I think the family was celebrating Easter and didn't get back in time to have the clothes ready.  No worries.  We picked up our clothes at 7:45 on our way to dinner.  I was a bit  chilly on the legs, but we weren''t walking far, so it really didn't matter.

We returned to the hotel after dinner, and discovered that the socks were still damp, but the rest was nicely folded.  I picked up the stack and laid it in the suitcase, and hung the socks on our radiator type heater.  The room was nice and toasty, and we retired for the evening.  Tomorrow, we leave at 9:00 with the same quick pack into the bus, and head to Olliantyotambo with some interesting archeological stops along the way.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's in the Highlands of Peru