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The Incas adopted Cusco as its sacred capital in AD 1438, giving it the name Qosqo, meaning ‘bellybutton’ or ‘navel of the world’.   Its rise in popularity as an important centre coincided with the emperor Pachacuti coming to power, at a time when the Incas were really making themselves known throughout South America.

Even though the Incas were around for over 300 years, the mark they made on the history books was only really during the last 100 years of these.  Prior to the Inca Empire, it was different cultures that dominated society – the Moche, Nazca and Tiahuanuc.  Each culture was characterised by their architecture, ceramics, jewellery or textiles, which are marked with their specific symbols and patterns.  These cultures coexisted simultaneously for hundreds of years, usually peacefully, but in later years the Tiahuanuco culture became particularly dominant throughout most of Peru.  Various tribes developed within these cultures and internal war faring soon caused the Tiahuanuco culture to slowly disappear.  It was replaced by a number of small empires along the coast, the most notable being the Chimu who constructed the Chan Chan complex near Trujillo.  Inland, three tribes developed, including the Incas who, under the rule of Manco Capac established themselves at Cusco around AD1200.  It took the Incas over 200 years to develop from a large tribal unit into an Empire.

Once established, the Inca Empire quickly became the largest and most powerful ever witnessed in South America.  The name Inca originally applied only to the Emperor, but nowadays refers to the whole nation of some 20 million Indians.  At their peak, the Incas ruled over territory stretching 5500km from southern Colombia to the Maule River in central Chile, and eastwards as far as the fringes of the Amazon Basin.

Many aspects of the organisation and structure of Inca society were inherited from previous cultures. Using the existing cultures and tribes, utilising buildings and towns, the Incans developed on what was already there.  That’s not to say the Inca’s relied totally on what had been before them and they set about constructing huge fortresses, urban and agricultural centres and temples.

The Incas have become world famous for their impressive architecture.  They developed a system of carving massive, multi-angled stone blocks with remarkable precision.  The stone used was often very hard igneous rock, like granite, which is particularly difficult to cut.  Although these blocks are all irregularly shaped, they interlock perfectly.  The walls were designed to withstand the considerable seismic activity common in the Andes.

Wandering around the city centre we caught glimpses of this famous Inca legacy – cobbled streets lined with the remains of the exquisite Inca architecture.  In many cases more modern buildings had been constructed right on top, and next to the Incan stonewalls.

When the Spanish arrived in Peru in 1526, under the command of Francisco Pizzaro, it heralded the demise of the Incan Empire.  Impressed by the extensive mineral deposits of the Inca Empire, Pizzaro sailed back to Spain to recruit an army of fortune hunters.  The Inca were warriors, with a strong and powerful army but they were no match for the 160 Spanish guns Pizzaro had enlisted and they quickly crushed a 40,000 strong Inca force.

In 1532, the Inca leader, Atahualpa was ambushed and held for ransom, but even 20 tons of silver and gold failed to buy the release of the captured Inca leader.  In 1533 Atahualpa was ‘tried’ and executed. By 1535, the Inca society was completely overthrown.  In the same year Pizzaro founded the city of Lima, which quickly replaced Cusco as the major economic centre for the Andean nations.  The new Inca ruler Manco Inca managed to escape from Cusco with an army of 50,000 and held out until 1572 when the resistance ended with his capture and beheading after a failed rebellion. 

In the process of defeating the Incas, the Spanish managed to dismantle most of the Incan temples, fortresses and fine buildings.  The introduction of their own architectural ideas involved knocking down structures and using the stones for their new buildings, often just placing their new buildings on top of existing foundations.

This is no more apparent than at the church of Santo Domingo.  Also known as Coricancha, it is a fine example of the Spanish culture imposing on Incan history.  The church comprises of a wonderful courtyard, in the centre of which is an octagonal grey-stone coffer.  Known as the Cusco Car Urumi (the Uncovered Naval Stone), it supposedly represented the centre of a field planted by the Incans with corn fashioned out of pure gold.  The stone was particularly symbolic and had been surrounded by numerous Incan temples.  The Spanish proceeded to build the church around it, plundering the 55kg of gold that once covered the stone.  The Inca site was forgotten until an earthquake in 1951 that demolished the church, exposing the earthquake resistant Inca block foundations beneath it.

Article taken from Inca Hoots by Caius Simmons & Vicky Brewis.

Technorati Tags: Cusco, Inca, Incas, Peru, Peru Vacations

Our next stop at the other end of the Sacred Valley was Pisac, another quaint village famous for its market.  It is probably among the best and most colourful in Peru and it is also one of the busiest.  Unlike other markets we had been to, it did not really cater for the locals, existing solely for tourists, especially day-trippers from Cusco.  A handful of vendors sat on the pavement selling peppers and tomatoes, but the large stalls selling local handicrafts and textiles heavily outnumbered them.  The market seemed more compact than the Otavalo market (Ecuador), but there were a lot more tourists.

Trying not to catch the eye of any of the stall vendors, we moseyed around the labyrinth of Andean colours; reds, oranges and browns.  We were almost halfway through our trip, which meant we could start considering buying things to take home.  Showing any interest at all in any of the goods was fatal, the stallholder pouncing on you before you could move onto the next stall.  The only item we ended up buying were a few brightly coloured locally made ceramic beads.

If we saw something we liked we invariably tried to knock of a bit of “gringo tax”, although to be honest we didn’t really want to barter the price too low.  Quibbling over a few pennies didn’t seem quite right.  We had learnt to tell if we were being ripped off, and knew what the going rates were for most goods.  We walked away from those vendors that were trying it on, who would usually shout after us, offering the goods at a fairer price.

Wandering around the market were local woman and young children dressed in traditional costume, with lambs or puppies tucked under their arms, or young llamas on leads.  Every tourist they passed they would ask them if they wanted to take a photo of them with their fluffy cute animal.  As soon as the photo had been taken, they would then ask for money.  The tourists didn’t have much option but to hand over some coins – they had been fleeced (literally).  Maybe this was how all the books and brochures managed to get some interesting photos of people.  There was no way we were prepared to pay for the privilege of taking a photo, and anyway the women were making enough money without our cash lining their pockets.  Overlooking the square we watched these entrepreneurs in action and couldn’t help but laugh at a particularly loud, arrogant American woman being collared.  After making a small girl holding a puppy pose for her camera she turned to walk away, only to be chased after by the little girl with her hand outstretched asking for a dollar.  A Peruvian Sol was obviously not enough for her.  Not only that, but the three other women who had been sitting on the pavement in the background also insisted on being paid for their appearance.  The cost of one photo was more than she would have paid for the actual camera film.

High above the village centre, and away from the hustle and bustle of the market, is a large citadel.  Marking the southerly entrance to the Sacred Valley, this fortress would have been strategically important, monitoring the road that travelled between the mountains and the jungle.

The walk up to the ruins took us up through loads of terraces, and was quite exhausting, but the great panoramic views over the village and surrounding mountains made it worthwhile.  Reaching the first part of the fortress we sat and appreciated the birds eye view high above the valley.  From such a height we could see how fertile this valley was, a patchwork of fields spread out across the floodplain and terraces stretching up the steep flanks of the hills.  Spotting a tractor in one field, we realised it was the first we had noticed in South America as most fields are ploughed by hand or using oxen.

This was just the start of the citadel complex and we kept discovering more and more with every corner we went round and every hilltop we went over.  The Pisac fortress, terraces and settlements were a great place for exploring, following narrow paths around the edge of the steep cliff, up ladders and through small tunnels carved into the mountain.  Around each corner was another fortress, temple or small ruined hamlet.  In the centre of one ruin was a beautiful and precisely constructed religious centre, with smooth granite walls surrounded by sacred rocky outcrops, whose peculiar shapes and angles are thought to have aided in tracking important stars.  A strange function, considering it is called Temple of the Sun.

Engrossed in exploring the ruins, we hadn’t realised that the site had actually closed and the sun was starting to set behind the mountains.  We didn’t manage to see all of the buildings and could have easily spent a couple more hours wandering around the houses and temples, but our time, and light, had run out.  It was dark, and we were shattered, by the time we got back to town.  The market was packed up, all the stalls and tourists had gone, the main square eerily quiet.

We left Pisac over a kilogram lighter.  It certainly had nothing to do with lack of food, because we had found a great restaurant to eat it.  Nor did we have the return of the shits.  Just before we left home, the new Harry Potter book had been realised.  Seeing as J.K. Rowling had kept us waiting so long for book number five we just had to take a copy with us.  It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but when we had both finished reading it, we suddenly realised how heavy and bulky the book really was.  In Pisac there was a reasonably good book exchange where we finally got rid of Harry Potter, therefore taking 1kg off the weight of our packs.  It was a shame to see it go, but Ulrike, the local restaurant owner who had acquired it had been waiting for it to be released as long as we had and certainly appreciated us relinquishing it.

Back in Cusco we re-packed our rucksacks for our trip to Machu Picchu.  Our hotel had moved us to the front room, and we were kept awake all night with endless numbers of pissed people shouting out on the street and ringing the hotel doorbell all night.  When the drunks quietened off, all that remained was cockerels, dogs and beeping taxis every other minute. 

In the morning we were driven around Cusco collecting other members of our Inca group and it seemed to take forever to even get out of town.  An hour after we had been picked up, it didn’t surprise us when we found ourselves parked back up outside the front door of the hostel again.  We wouldn’t have minded so much if we hadn’t missed out on our breakfast because the tour agency insisted on collecting us so early.

After stops for food, petrol, gas, tyre checks etc, we finally arrived in Ollantaytambo, for the second time.  Unlike the beautiful sunshine we had enjoyed only a few days previously we were subjected to freezing cold temperatures and lashing rain..

Article taken from Inca Hoots by Caius Simmons & Vicky Brewis.

Technorati Tags: Inca, Machu Picchu Tour, Peru, Peru Holiday, Peru Vacations, Pisac Peru

From Urubamba we caught a collectivo to Ollantaytambo, a few miles up the road.  Famed for its extensive Inca terraces and ruined temple-fortress, Ollantaytambo marks the lowest end of the SacredValley.  Whilst in use, its function is thought to have been an administrative centre, but following the Spanish “invasion” it was also used as an Inca stronghold after the fall of Cusco in 1536.

The village itself could be referred to as ‘quaint’.  A high proportion of the buildings are built on huge granite Inca foundations, with the distinctive, closely-knit, stonework that we became accustomed to seeing.  The layout of the village still retains characteristics inherited from the Incas, including the notion that if you look at it from the air it supposedly resembles a piece of maize.  Although Ollantaytambo is quite small it is really geared up for the tourists and is full of extortionately priced cafés, restaurants and shops.  It is the nearest village to the start of the Inca trail and it is also a popular place to catch the train from to go to Machu Picchu.  The number of hostels far exceeded those in Urubamba, as did their costs.

A couple of minutes walk from the central plaza we were wowed by an incredible set of grand terraces.  The tall stone terraces probably acted as protection from possible invasions, but their primary function was most likely to have been agricultural.  Like huge steps, they led to a temple/fortress construction on the top.  One of the amazing things about these ruins were the massive red granite megaliths that were located way up the hillside, about 80 metres from the level of the village.  It looked like the Incas had grand ideas for Ollantaytambo and were in the process of building a temple before the Spanish scuppered their plans.  The smoothly cut stone faces imply that the temple would have had a significant religious status – the rule of thumb being, the better the stonework, the more important the building was.  The huge slabs, weighing at least 100 tonnes each, originated from a quarry about three miles from the village.  It would have taken some manpower to move them, but the Incans weren’t stupid and supposedly diverted the river to help them get the slabs across the valley.  How they got them up the hillside to the top of the site was probably not so easy.

On reaching the top of the terraces we sat and enjoyed commanding views of the whole village and up the Sacred Valley.  It was easy to distinguish the smaller terraces along the valley and hillsides, many of which are in very good condition and still in use.  We didn’t get a chance to visit the salt terraces, which are still used today, or the nearby experimental agricultural terraces that form an amphitheatre, but the terraces were enough to show us that this valley was important agriculturally.  The Incans developed complex irrigation schemes, setting up drainage systems and canals to help expand their crop resources.  The highland areas today produce little more than potatoes, wheat and maize, but the Incans added to this list tomatoes, cotton, peanuts and coca among the many crops they grew.

Perched high on the hillside opposite the fortress are even more ruins.  Bearing in mind that prisons during the Incan rule were of no use because their punishment usually consisted of death, the theory that they were used as granaries rather than prisons is more feasible.  In fact the Incas had a particularly violent punishment system.  If someone stole, murdered, or had sex with a Sapa (high priest) wife or a Sun Virgin, they were either thrown off a cliff, hands cut off, eyes cut out, or hung up to starve to death.  “Ama Sua, Ama Quella, Ama Lulla”, “Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t be lazy” was the philosophy of the Inca Empire, where laziness was a capital offence punishable by death.  Funnily enough, this excluded priests and royalty.  This philosophy is still apparent and despite being very poor, begging on the streets was not a common a sight as we had expected.  It seemed to be restricted to very old, wailing women, all of whom were totally ungrateful of any gifts of food or money.

Unemployment was non-existent during the Inca rule, everyone taking part in building roads, fortresses, temples, drainage and agricultural systems.  Rather than paying taxes, each Inca citizen was required to spend 7 weeks in the service of their Lord.

We clambered up the mountainside to try and reach the other ruins, but the main route was mostly impassable as most of it had slumped down the hillside many years ago.

Huge amounts of grain would have been collected from the along the valley and stored in these buildings.  Kept well away from the river would prevent it from getting wet and being so far up the mountainside meant there was little chance of it being stolen either.  From this point we could see back across the village and to the ruins, which looked even more imposing.  Our guidebook suggested that the terracing formed the image of a mother llama, with one of its young.  If we squinted hard enough we could make out some agricultural terraces with a fortress/temple on the top and came to the conclusion that the author may have been under the influence at the time.  This theory was more than possible and our reasoning was not unfounded.

Article taken from Inca Hoots by Caius Simmons & Vicky Brewis.

Technorati Tags: Cusco, Inca, Inca Trail Peru, Machu Picchu Tour, Ollantaytambo, Peru, Peru Travel, Urubamba