Our first stop was the Chinchero Inca site which had essentially been a food store and consisted of limestone walled terraces and store houses. Crops like cereals, potatoes and vegetables were stored here by the Inca. Now there is a preserved section and another part where the walls form the foundations of a Catholic Church (Spanish colonial style) and other buildings.
From there we visited a small community of about 10 families where we met the community leader Daniel & several women. Outside the community enclosure was a valley, lake, eucalyptus woods and terraces where the community grow food. We helped dig & collect "Lisa", a type of small yellow potato-like tuber. These were sorted into tubers for eating, future seeds, tubers for drying and animal feed. The community gave us lunch while we were there – quinoa soup followed by shredded "Lisa" and rice and finished with mint tea. After lunch we were shown how they dye wool for clothes & other items and how they spin and ultimately how they weave the items that they sell.
About an hour from there was the Moray Inca Site. This is shaped in concentric terraces that were built into a natural depression in the hillside. Analysis of soils on terraces revealed that this was experimental garden with different microclimates – there was a range of 15'c from top to bottom and it faced east to absorb heat and prevent frost damage.
The Sacred Valley (El Valle Sagrado) is a steep sided mountain valley with a flat bottom which was and is used for farming. The main town here is Ollantaytambo (pronounced Oyan-tay-tambo and known to locals as Ollanta), a rustic town with narrow dusty cobbled streets. This is the best surviving example of Inca city planning and the town has apparently been continuously inhabited since 13th century.
The following morning we visited the Ollantaytambo Ruins which consists of huge steep terraces and an unfinished ceremonial centre. This was one of the few places where the Spanish lost a major battle. The site was built (though never finished) as a temple – some fine stonework & well-engineered walls are found at the ceremonial centre at the top of the site. The stone for this was quarried on the adjacent mountain 6km away, across the Rio Urubamba. Moving the blocks to the site was a huge feat and the Incas built ramps down to the river. Rather than crossing the river, the Inca created parallel channels which they drained when they needed to move the blocks over them. The area is at the intersection of three valleys and so was chosen as an important administrative centre for the area.
After a few issues with a de-railment causing delays, we took the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes. Also known as Machu Piccu Pueblo (town), Aguas Calientes is like the Blackpool of Peru. It was very touristy, but the nice bit about it was that there are no cars and a railway line ran down what would be the High St. The hotels and shops on this main street looked like they were poised on the railway platform. Although the town wasn't that exciting, the area in which it was situated was in a deep gorge below the Machu Picchu ruins, where it is enclosed by towering walls of stone cliffs and cloud forest.
At 5am the next day, we were up and heading to a very early breakfast so we could catch one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu. It was worth doing as we virtually had the site to ourselves for the first three hours which allowed us to concentrate on the guided tour around it.
There are many theories about the reason or reasons that the site was built – as a Royal Retreat (most popular) although from its position it (5 sq. km enclosed by high mountain forests / cloud forests), it is also believed by some to have been a very important economic, social, military, religious and administrative complex. The location provided a defensive location in the case of a surprise attack. Its many cultivation terraces in the agricultural sector would have allowed the growing of crops year round whilst the industrial sector of skilled tradesmen would have been busy producing metallic objects as well as day to day pottery and ornamental ceramics etc. The city was made up of more than 200 houses, squares, granaries, palaces, temples and observatories. Connected by a network of aqueducts and steps, the terraces are 3.5m tall by 3.2m wide. There is much that I can say about the site, but no doubt the ones reading this who have already been will recall these things and everyone else, I recommend reading up on it if you are interested (try visiting http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/machu-picchu-mystery/ and http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/machu-picchu/ for starters).
After the tour and to avoid the hordes of visitors descending on the site (about 2,500 people a day for a site that was built for around 500 people!), we did some of the trails around the site. The first was to Puerto Inka (the Inca drawbridge or Inca Bridge) and then we hiked a section of the Inca Trail to Intipunku (the Sun Gate). After 8 hours on site, we headed back to Agua Calientes to catch the train to Ollantaytambo and a bus back to Cusco.
Yesterday we visited two museums in Cusco – the Inka Museum and Machu Picchu Museum. The Inka museum was displaying mainly ceramics / pottery from pre-Inca civilisations through to the Inca period & some Spanish displays. The Machu Picchu museum showed us the history of Hiram Bingham's scientific "discovery" of Machu Picchu and what has been determined from the information already available. A lot of the artefacts collected up until 1997 were also on display.
Today we had a somewhat eventful journey getting from Cusco to Lima. The flight was delayed and so we didn't get to Lima until mid/late afternoon. We went out with some of the others for a "last supper", as the first two from the group were flying out tonight. Dinner was ceviche with Pisco Sour. Ceviche was very nice but spicy, the Pisco sour helping to sooth it somewhat. Ceviche is a chilled concoction of just fish in my case, but in others fish, shrimp, octopus, squid and possibly other stuff, marinated in lime juice, onions and chilli peppers (which gave it its bite) and served with sweet potato and boiled corned / maize.
Tomorrow is souvenir shopping and our flight home.
So, until the next exciting adventure.
Adios,
Kath & Andy
