Boogacres: Chinchero Archaeological Site and Sacsayhuaman

Thursday, October 29, 2015

So sorry for the delay in getting my blogs posted. The wifi in Easter Island was almost non-existant. I'll try to get caught up when we arrive in Australia.

I cut things short last night from sheer exhaustion, so this morning, I'll try to catch up. First, a word about our fabulous hotel. Belmont's Hotel Monasterio in Cusco, Peru.

The Chapel at the Hotel Monastery is now used for meetings and special events.

The Hotel Monasterio was formerly a monastery built in 1592. It's now a 5 star hotel and an historic landmark. At the heart of the hotel is a beautiful courtyard with a tranquil fountain and a 300 year old cedar tree, one of the only remaining trees in Cusco. All other trees were cut for timber for building.

When we checked in, we were greeted by monks carrying trays with cups of tea. We arrived too late to have the Cocos tea, which is used to aid in altitude adjustment, because it would keep us awake. The altitude in Cusco is 11,500 feet above sea level. I felt confident that I would not have a problem adjusting to the altitude as I'm used to Aspen's 8600 foot altitude.

Speaking of building, there is construction everywhere in Cusco ... not much of it is "active construction." Our guide explained the mortgage business in Peru. Interest rates for home loans runs 35-45%. Since people cannot afford to carry a loan, their only option is to work all year, save what they can, and at the end of the year, take what money they have to begin construction.

Note the tree branches used for support during construction.

They may have only enough to lay the foundation. The next year, they work and save and perhaps have enough to put up the columns. The next year the walls for the ground floor. The next year, the ceiling or electric and plumbing, and so forth until the house is finally ready. It takes years before the house is inhabitable. But when it's finally finished, they have no debt. Oh, some of the construction techniques are quite interesting, too. For example, they use tree branches and trunks for support. I'll just have to share the photos with you for this to make sense.

Cusco has grown from 100,000 people to over 500,000 people in just 10 years. It has become the most expensive city in Peru because of the tourism industry. Many Peruvians dress in traditional attire, walking the streets in search of tourists, then posing for photos in exchange for tips. One has to admire their ingenuity, except I hate to see the children exploited in such a way. Although, the children were adorable! So were the Llamas and donkeys! Trying to figure out the Peruvian nuevo sol (currency) was difficult. I wasn't sure if I was giving them fifty cents or $50.00. But they seemed very grateful for anything.

Today, we're off to Cinchero Archaeological Site known for it's terraces and Incan fortress. It is attributed to being the origin of the rainbow.

Delicious Peruvian Corn.

This is where I found some of the Peruvian corn that my friend Lilliana told me about. The corn has huge kernels and a delicious sweet flavor. I bought an ear of corn from a local street vendor's boiling pot and shared it with everyone in our car. The corn is garnished with a slice of cheese, which was salty and very tasty. At least I thought it was tasty until our guide said, "Oh, you don't want to eat the cheese. Our cheese processing is very different from yours. It will make you sick." Opps! Too late. Gail and I had already devoured it! I'll let you know later how that comes out! (No pun intended.)

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Oh yes, I did a bit of shopping in Chinchero. I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of this lovely hand knitted and beaded hat. What do you think???

Just a quick word about the Inca. For almost 100 years, they controlled the largest empire ever to exist in South America. They were brilliant engineers. They also developed a method for preserving food for years to feed the population when crops were scarce. Storing dehydrated foods such as potatoes and corn in granaries preserving the food with mint, a natural pesticide, that could keep food fresh for up to 100 years. They could store enough food to feed 27 million people for a period of over 2 years.

We then traveled to Moray, an Incan archaeological site northwest of Cusco on a high plateau 11,500 feet above sea level. These ruins consisted of several enormous terraced circular depressions, the deepest being almost 100 feet.

Moray terraces.

The temperature range varies from top to bottom almost 27 degrees. It is said this area was used as an agricultural experiment station by the Inca. The temperature in the lowest depression was, and still is, identical to the temperature of Machu Picchu.

Weaving Demonstration.

Nat Geo arranged a weaving demonstration by Peruvian ladies and a fabulous lunch at the ruins of Moray.

After lunch, we split into several groups and traveled to different locations. I chose to go to Saqsaywaman (pronounced "Saxi-woman" - or as the locals call it ... "Sexi-Woman." The name originates from a battle between two 200,000 man armies. When the last man fell, 400,000 warriors lay dead. The vultures and Falcons moved in to feast on the remains, thus the name Saqsaywaman, which translates to "Satified Falcon."

Legend says that Saqsaywaman was a fortress. The engineering of this structure was the most amazing of all the "rock piles" I've seen in Peru. The Inca built structures to represent the "deity of the day" so to speak. They studied the sun, moon, stars and Saqsywaman represents lightening, built in a zig zag fashion to resemble lightening.

Hard to see here, but Saqsaywaman is built to resemble a lightening bolt with a zig zag design.

It is hard to imagine how the Inca people could move these huge boulders from the quarries to the fortress. The wall measures 1200 feet long, 60 feet tall AND is earthquake proof. The zig zag design of the wall makes it 43 times more stable. In fact, it sustained an 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 1650 that lasted for 16 minutes and held strong. Spaniards invaded Peru in the early 1500's, they said there was no way this wall was man made. It must have been created by demons and ordered it destroyed. While they succeeded in destroying the buildings, the wall still stands.

In the mid 1900's, the Japanese excavated the wall at Sazsaywaman and discovered the Inca's secret to the it's stability. Compacted dirt covered with gravel and then round rocks form the foundation. They have now used this technology in Japanese engineering for decades and like to take credit for it, when in reality, it came from the Inca.

One of the most notable stones at Saqsaywaman (shown here) has an additional 12 feet of stone below ground.

Note the size of the stone in the middle.

It's measures nine feet in depth and 15 feet wide. Brought from a quarry five miles away and weighing in at 168 tons, I cannot understand how the Inca moved this stone!! There are all kinds of theories such as keeping cobblestones wet while dragging the stone along. But 168 tons! That's heavy!! Here's what I don't get. The Inca people were short, yet they could move a 168 ton stone. So why do the airlines have trouble lifting with my bag???? Wish the Inca were still around to help!

Tonight was "dine around" at local restaurants. We chose a place close to the hotel called Map. This restaurant catered our lunch today at Moray and it was excellent!! However, the dinner version was a bit of a disappointment.

Tomorrow, the moment we've all been waiting for ... Machu Picchu!

Other notable photos are shown below with captions to explain.