Our first stop was a small market area. I wasted no time in finding a weaving that I couldn't leave without. We also got our first taste of choclo - the mega big corn on the cob that is everywhere. It is a real treat with a bit of aji (salsa made from chiles).
Next we made our way to Pisaq, a rather large area of ruins about 25 km from Cusco. We caught sight of some of the terraced farm land that the Incas developed and that is still used today. Quite a sight to look up into the mountains and see these uniform horizontal lines.
Pisaq has a bit of everything - the agricultural, military, residential and religious construction. What separates residential and religious buildings depends on what is between the stones. If there is mortar then the buildings are just regular living or storage spaces. If there is nothing between the stones then it was a religious building. (More pictures of that later.) We got a small amount time to check things out on our own during which we were able to finally get a picture of all 4 of us together.
It was at Pisaq that we began to understand the extent of Fredy's fear of heights. He wasn't pleased about having to take a plane earlier in the day and his mood did not brighten at the prospect of some of the sudden drop offs and staircases that seemed to lead to nowhere. That and Eduardo and Fredy were too cute in basically matching outfits....
Next we got to see Ollantaytambo, a town that is home to another set of ruins where three river valleys intersect. We challenged our hearts and lungs to a climb to the top of some stunning terraces to check out the large sun temple that was never completed.
The location of the temple relates entirely to the movement of the sun through the valleys. On June 21, the longest day of the year, the sun comes over one of the mountains at a point that appears to be an eye of a face in profile. The spot of light that appears lands right at the sight of the temple at the top of these terraces. Rory saw the face a little bit lower than the rest of us, but you can make out the profile towards the top of the mountain. This picture also shows some of the storehouses that the Incans used. They knew they needed a cool, dry place to keep their produce and the winds coming off the valleys made these locations perfectly ventilated for their needs.
Though it was raining when we visited, we could get the sense of the immensity of the task of building something so sacred in this location. Along side the partly constructed temple there was clearly a ramp made of earth that lead down the mountain. Our guide, Marco, told us that on the other side of the mountains across the valley from us there are places where you can clearly see where the Incans mined the rocks. There are continuing excavations happening here at the base of the mountain so I am sure there will be much more to learn from the area.
Our last stop took us too our highest altitude, about 3800 meters. We were all a little light-headed, wet and cold as we took in the last sight on our tour, Chinchero. Upon arriving we were treated to a demonstration of the yarn making and dying techniques of local craft/artist families. We were taken through a process similar to the one we saw in Teotitlan in Oaxaca. First the washing, then the combing, then the spinning (by hand), then the dying. Rory got a shot of our demonstrators doing some quick dying, all with local plants and some molds.
Chinchero was also the site of an Incan town that was destroyed by the Spanish upon their arrival. It seems the Spanish and the different religious orders that followed them were eager to completely dismantle the Incan culture, along with the buildings. They largely and brutally completed their task. What does remain, in many places, are the foundations of many Incan buildings that were concealed by other constructions. Chichero's main church was a prime example of this. The Incan stone work was covered and painted, it's original purpose erased. Many of the building we saw around Cusco also had bits of Incan stonework along the base.
2 comments:
I love that big corn. There is one restaurant in Madison that serves it and it's always such a treat. Are the cobs extra-large, too?
You would think they were extra large, but they are regular, normal-sized cobs.
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