Nearing the End

We had arrived in Cusco the night before, and today was a Sunday.  We would do a few days of touring around the area before leaving for Lima and then home on Tuesday.  We were supposed to do a city tour in the morning, which included the cathedral, but because it was a Sunday, the cathedral was closed to tourists in the morning.  We did the city tour in the afternoon instead. 

After breakfast at the hotel, there was a bit of free time before heading up to the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman before lunch.  I thought I’d head over to the Cusco central square, the Plaza de Armas, and chill out for a bit.  After all, it was a Sunday so things should be fairly quiet. 

Not so!  These are the scenes I encountered when I got there.

I do not know what kind of event this was, but it was the first time I had ever seen the troops parading. 

An older couple were the honorees.

After hanging around for a brief while, I turned around and went back up the street past our hotel.  When I returned to the Plaza, this is how things looked.  Back to business as usual! 

I have to say that Peruvians love to celebrate, party, and have a good time.  On my previous trips there, there has always been some sort of event with parades, dancing and music.  

This is my last post on the trip to Peru.   Of course, there is much more to tell, but I did not want to make these posts into a travelogue!  Hope you enjoyed my stories and photos.

Orchids

 

I just love orchids.  Between Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, I have documented about 19 different species out in the wild.  It is always a thrill to find a new one. 

The orchid at the top was blooming right at the entrance to Machu Picchu.

Our hotel in Aguas Calientes was situated on a hillside in the jungle.  There were orchids scattered around the property, and they even had a very nice separate area where there were more orchids on display.  We were told that this was not the peak blooming time for them, but nevertheless, I saw quite a few nice ones.  Here they are. 

These orange beauties were in a museum garden near Lima.

These are not orchids, but begonias that were growing out of the cracks in the walls at Machu Picchu.

Apparently this discovery caused quite a stir in the world of botany at the time. 

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is an archaeological site northwest of Cusco and on the edge of the Amazon rain forest.  Whereas Cusco sits at 11,300’, Machu Picchu is about 3,000’ lower, warmer and more humid.  It was discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911.  Excavation and reconstruction began shortly after that.  Here is a link that gives details about Machu Picchu.

Our group spent a few hours there the afternoon after we arrived in Aguas Calientes, and a few hours the next morning.  I had been there a few times, the latest in 2015, but things were quite different this time.  Previously, one rode from Aguas Calientes on the bus up to the site, and purchased an entry ticket there.  Then one was free to wander around at will and take time to look at everything.  Now, all of the tickets must be purchased in town ahead of time.  One is restricted to a 2 ½ hour visit and must use one of 4 pre determined routes around the site.  Most of the stairways that I previously used are roped off.  I had also planned on hiking up to the Sun Gate, which is where the hikers on the Inca Trail enter above Machu Picchu, but that route is now not available to people who want to go up.  It is one way down only. 

Nevertheless, I felt like I was coming home as soon as I got there.  Everything was so familiar.  The weather was lovely with just a bit of rain, and everything was green.  The rainy season had just started. 

Mark Carlotto’s research indicated that the central part of the site at the Temple of the Three Windows was aligned with the Bering Sea North Pole of about 130,000 years ago, and the terraces were aligned with the Hudson Bay North Pole of 20,000 to 60,000 years ago. 

Clearly this site predates the Incas by many thousands of years.  So many styles of architecture are evident there that it may be impossible to determine who built what and when. 

The central part of the site is a white granite outcropping.  The Intihuatana, the Hitching Post to the Sun, was carved out of this granite.   It was used during the Winter Solstice ceremonies all over Peru.  This is the only one that the Spanish did not destroy because they never made it to Machu Picchu! 

Other monoliths in the central sacred area were also carved from this granite.

Here is a chinchilla resting in a crack.  Cute!

This is my final shot of Machu Picchu.

Megaliths

I am crazy for megaliths.  So what are they?  A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones.  Here is an excellent article from Wikipedia on megaliths all around the world.  I have seen many, and they always fascinate me because of the mystery of their age and how they were moved and arranged.  On this trip we visited several megalithic sites, including Ollantaytambo, Sacsayhuaman and Machu Picchu, which I will address in another post.  

I have also come to believe that some of  the very fine megalithic structures in Peru were constructed by a pre Inca society and the Incas just appropriated these sites.   The methods of moving these multi ton stones, carving them and putting them together had been lost by the time the Incas arrived.  I also think that these sites are much older than it is said that they are.  You can reference a book by Mark Carlotto entitled “Before Atlantis, New Evidence of a Previous Technological Civilization” for his research on this. 

According to Carlotto, the Temple of the Sun at Ollantaytambo in Peru was constructed to be in alignment with where the North Pole was about 130,000 years ago in the Bering Sea.  Most of the site was constructed using local stone, but the actual temple consists of 6 megaliths weighing over 100 tons each.  The pink granite was quarried from a nearby mountain top and brought down that mountain, over a valley and up to where they were placed.   

There are also many other pink granite megaliths on the ground there.  No one knows how these stones were transported, carved and then placed. The Temple of the Sun appears to be either unfinished or partially destroyed by some disaster.

Here are some of the intricately carved and placed stones in the walls leading up to the temple. I just love them!

Moving on, Sacsayhuaman is a site above the city of Cusco.  

These megaliths were carved out of local limestone, and some of them weigh upwards to 200 tons.  It is assumed that this site was built by the Incas as a fortress. However, there was probably a preexisting structure there when the Incas arrived. 

This is a photo of the largest monolith at the site.  Many tons!  How did they move it?  It was moved from a quarry 22 miles away.

Here is our group photo while we were there to show the size and construction of the stone walls. 

Even the streets of Cusco are lined with carefully carved and fitted stones.  Some are Inca and some are pre Inca. 

This wall is inside a restaurant in Cusco.  Luckily these walls were not torn down by the Spanish.

Here is the famous 12 cornered stone, found near the Cusco Cathedral..  How did they do that? 

On our final morning in Cusco, I wandered around taking some last minute photos, and captured these snakes and a spiral.  Who carved them, I do not know.