lee experiences peru

Notes From Lee – June 21, 2007

I could tell you of the stones, the height, the weather, or about the architecture but
you have already seen that with a touch of a button. In today’s world one can just go by Internet and see, hear, and know all there is to know about a place one would like to visit.

But it is the fact that no machine, camera, or magazine is able to give you, no matter how well done, the interaction one has with the people, which is what really defines your experience.

Alberto

My first personal encounter was with Senor Alberto from Callao whom Jose and
Sheila have become acquainted through his taxi service. Ever since Jose and Sheila first arrived here to Callao, Alberto’s taxi service has been called upon. Day or night at a beckons call Alberto shows up with a smile and his English/Spanish dictionary and away we go. Alberto is the one to help me navigate the maze of people and systems in the Lima airport. When have you ever heard of a cabbie parking his cab and walking you personally thru the systems and placing you on the plane and insuring you that on your return he would be waiting right here in the lobby for you. That is just how Alberto is!

Yudith
Yudith is a young woman native of Cusco in her early twenties and I had the pleasure of dining with her and her sister after meeting them on the Cusco City tour. She and her sister both work in the local factory where they make and sell Alpaca clothing. Even though we had the barrier of language we managed to converse quite well. We talked about our families, our work, her boyfriend and my Sherry.

Ronald
I knew I needed to find a shoe shiner but they found me first. It was during my Sacred Valley tour that we stopped to make adobe mud bricks and my shoes were a
mess. I was promptly ushered over to the nearest park bench on the city square. The shine on my shoes was great and I knew they both worked extra hard on me. Their request for the shoe shine was fifty Sole’s ($17) and they told me the money was for their school. After a bit of negotiating I extracted the name of the school which was
Rosario Elementary and then, after assuring tthhem that I would visit the school before I left Cusco, I slipped them both a dollar for their service.

Jeauvette
Jeauvette was my CTM – Cusco City Tour Liaison. She made sure I was in the right place at the right time. She came to my hotel and personally picked me up and delivered me to the airport in Cusco to the rendezvous points for the tours. As far as I know I was her only client. It was her that I gave the task to locate Ronald’s school.

Rosario Elementary
Jeauvette located Ronald’s school and on my way to the airport she took me there. Meeting the teachers I came to find out that classes are held three times a day
(morning, afternoon, night) so that if a child is needed at home to help in the family’s pursuits, their education would not be compromised. This and most schools are public and they allow religious influence and in fact have a room dedicated for their school’s patron saint. To fulfill my promise to Ronald I made the contribution to the school to support and further education in Cusco.

Rob & Marina; Aldo & Dana
Not only have these multi-cultural couples fallen in love with each other, they have fallen in love with La Punta, Peru. They are new friends of Jose and Sheila who have opened their homes to me. They so badly wanted me to get the full experience of Peru and to know why they have fallen in love with this place that a list of places I must see and food I must taste before I go is so long I cannot possibly experience it all and they found themselves saying, “We’ll do that when you can come back with Sherry”. I don’t know if this will be but for now we will have to settle with me bringing home a local Peruvian cook book and a head full of memories.

Lee Homeward Bound

machu picchu

Notes From Sherry – The last part of Lee’s tour is to the city of Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu-sometimes called the “Lost City”- is a pre-Columbian city created by the Inca located at 7,970 feet (2,430 m) on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley about 44 miles (70 km) from Cuzco, Peru.

Machu Picchu was constructed around 1450, at the height of the Inca empire, and was abandoned less than 100 years later, as the empire collapsed under Spanish conquest. Although the citadel is located only about 50 miles from Cusco, the Inca capital, it was never found and destroyed by the Spanish, as were many other Inca sites. Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle grew to enshroud the site, and few knew of its existence.

It wasn’t until 1911 that Yale historian and explorer Hiram Bingham brought the “lost” city to the world’s attention and wrote a best-selling work about it. Peru is pursuing legal efforts to retrieve thousands of artifacts that Bingham removed from the site. Bingham and others hypothesized that the citadel was the traditional birthplace of The Inca people or the spiritual center of the “virgins of the sun,” while curators of a recent exhibit have speculated that Machu Picchu was a royal retreat. Regardless, the presence of numerous temples and ritual structures proves that Machu Picchu held spiritual significance for the Inca.

The photo on the right shows the Intihuatana (“tie the sun”) and is believed to have been designed as an astronomic clock by the Incas.

It is thought that the site was chosen for its unique location and geological features. It is said that the silhouette of the mountain range behind Machu Picchu represents the face of the Inca looking upward towards the sky, with the largest peak,Huayna Picchu (meaning Young Peak), representing his pierced nose. In 1913, the site received significant publicity after the National Geographic Society devoted their entire April issue to Machu Picchu.

According to the archaeologists, the urban sector of Machu Picchu was divided into three great districts: the Sacred District, the Popular District, and the District of the Priests and the Nobility.Located in the first zone are the primary archaeological treasures: the Intihuatana, The Temple of The Sum and The Room of the Three Windows. These were dedicated to Inti, their sun god and greatest deity. The Popular District, or Residential District, is the place where the lower class people lived. It includes storage buildings and simple houses to live in.

In the Royalty Area, a sector existed for the Nobility: a group of houses located in rows over a slope; the residence of the Amatas (wise persons) was characterized by its reddish walls, and the zone of the Ñustas (princesses) had trapezoid-shaped rooms. The Monumental Mausoleum is a carved statue with a vaulted interior and carved drawings. It was used for rites or sacrifices.

All of the construction in Machu Picchu uses the classic Inca architectural style of polished dry-stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, called ashlar, in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together tightly without mortar. Many junctions are so perfect that not even a knife fits between the stones.

The Incas never used the wheel in any practical manner. How they moved and placed enormous blocks of stones is a mystery, although the general belief is that they used hundreds of men to push the stones up inclined planes. It is unknown if the Incas left behind any documentation about that process because the writing they employed, called khipus, has not been translated.

The space of Machu Picchu is composed of 140 constructions including temples, sanctuaries, parks and residences – houses with thatched roofs.

There are more than one hundred flights of stone steps – often completely carved in a single block of granite – and a great number of water fountains, interconnected by channels and water-drainages perforated in the rock, designed for the original irrigation system. Evidence has been found to suggest that the irrigation system was used to carry water from a holy spring, to each of the houses in turn, the order being dictated by the perceived holiness of the inhabitants.

The view looking down the terraced steps to the Urubamba River.

View of Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu showing the Hiram Bingham Highway used by buses carrying tourists to and from the town of Aguas Calientes.

Machu Picchu is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage site. As Peru’s most visited tourist attraction and major revenue generator, it is continually threatened by economic and commercial forces. In the late 1990s, the Peruvian government granted concessions to allow the construction of a cable car to the ruins and development of a luxury hotel, including a tourist complex with boutiques and restaurants. These plans were met with protests from scientists, academics and the Peruvian public, nearly half of which is indigenous. Critics worried that the proposed facilities would not only destroy the beauty of the site but would enable far greater numbers of visitors, which would pose tremendous physical burdens on the ruins.

There are a growing number of people that visit Machu Picchu (400,000 in 2003, Therefore some are concerned that the site is being damaged. For this reason, there were protests against a plan to build a further bridge to the site and a no-fly zone exists in the area. UNESCO is considering putting Machu Picchu on its list of endangered world heritage sites.

A llama overlooking the city of Machu Picchu.

about the inca empire

Notes From Sherry – Here is a little history of the Inca Empire that Lee has  been surrounded by for the past few days.  I took this from Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia.

The Inca Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The empire was divided into four Suyus, or regions, whose corners met at the Inca capital, Cuzco, the administrative, political and military center of the empire. The Inca Empire arose from the highlands of Peru in the 13th century and between 1200 and 1535 AD the Inca population lived in the part of South America extending from the Equator to the Pacific coast of Chile and included rainless coastal deserts, mountain ranges towering more than 22,000 feet, and steamy rain forests. On slopes rising four vertical miles, climates in the Inca Empire varied from tropical to polar. Although hundreds of local languages were spoken, the official language of the empire was Quechua (pronounced Chichequwa). The Inca were warriors with a strong and powerful army. Because of the fierceness of their army and their strict hierarchical organization, they became the largest Native American society. The height of their reign in the 15th century came to a brutal end in 1535 when the Spanish conquistadors took over their territory.

Inca cities and fortresses were mostly built on highlands and on the steep slopes of the Andes Mountains. In scattered areas on these slopes, both at high and low elevation, the Incas terraced and irrigated the land and produced abundant food for the twelve million or more subjects. The architecture of the Inca cities still amazes and puzzles most scientists. Stone steps lead up to the top of the cities, which consist of stone houses and religious buildings. The blocks of stones weigh several tons and they are fit together so tightly that not even a razor blade can fit through them. The central city was mainly used for government purposes, while the citizens occupied surrounding areas. Their homes were made from the same stone material and had grass rooftops.

The Inca society was arranged by a strict hierarchical structure. There were many different levels with the Sapa, high priest or ruler, and the army commander at the top. Family members were counselors to the Sapa and even women had authority in the Inca hierarchy. The temple priests, architects and regional army commanders were next. The two lowest classes consisted of artisans, army captains, farmers, and herders. Farmers provided most of the subsistence for the rest of the population. They had to pay tax in the form of gold, which were distributed to the higher classes.

Their comprehension of how irrigation can benefit agriculture is evident by the expansion into the highland areas. They developed drainage systems and canals to expand their crop resources. Potatoes, tomatoes, cotton, peanuts and coca were among the many crops grown by the Inca. Llama were used for meat and transportation. There was more than enough resources available for everyone. Increased subsistence levels led to a growth in the Inca population.

Since population was increasing and the organization of the Inca became stronger, the need for protection became necessary. They built enormous fortresses on top of steep mountains that enabled them to see their enemies and defend themselves. One of the most famous Inca fortresses is Sacasahuman (pictured), located in Cusco, the Inca Empire capital.

Even though the Inca never had access to the wheel, they built a 14,000 mile sophisticated network of roads, some as wide as 24 feet, to connect the villages within the Inca domain. Parallel trunk lines, connected by lateral roads tracing river valleys, followed coast and highlands. The roads were paved with flat stones and barriers to protect the messengers, or chasqui, from falling down the cliff. Four main highways entered Cuzco, the heart of the empire.

The highest point in an Inca village was reserved for religious purposes. This point was the closest to the sun, which represented their major god, Inti, the Sun God. The six major gods of the Inca represent the moon, sun, earth, thunder/lightning and the sea. Pachamama is the earth god, who is the mother of all humans. The Inca had shamans who believed in animal spirits living on earth. Heaven was depicted by the condor, the underworld by the anaconda, and the brother who resided on earth was the puma. The Sun Temple, located in Machu Picchu, Peru, was a religious calendar that marked the winter and summer solstices.

The Inca were not only fierce conquerors but they also had a violent punishment system. If someone stole, murdered, or had sex with a Sapa wife or a Sun Virgin, they were thrown off a cliff, hands cut off or eyes cut out, or hung up to starve to death. Prisons were of no use because punishment usually consisted of death.

Gold to the Incas was “The sweat of the Sun” and Silver “The tears of the Moon.” Inca’s love for precious metals was aesthetic only, for neither Incas nor their subjects needed to buy anything. The twelve million or more worshipful people rendered their tribute to the Incas and paid their taxes in work: a billion man-hours a year to build temples, fortresses, agricultural terraces, and roads – all for the grandeur of the empire.

About four centuries ago a priest penned the following: “The riches that were gathered in the city of Cuzco alone, as capital and court of the Empire, were amazing and incredible, for therein were many big gold houses and enormous palaces of dead kings with all the imaginable treasure that each had amassed in life; and he who began to reign did not touch the estate and wealth of his predecessor but…built a new palace and acquired for himself silver and gold and all the rest…”

the sacred valley of the incas

Notes From Sherry – Today Lee will tour The Sacred Valley Of The Incas.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas is located in the Andes Mountains of Peru about 10 miles north of Cusco. It was formed by numerous rivers which descend through adjoining valleys and gorges and contains numerous impressive ruins, archaeological remains and villages. The valley was appreciated by the Incas due to its special geographical and climatic qualities. It was one of the empire’s main points for extracting natural wealth, and the best place for maize (corn) production in Peru.

This entire region, highlighted by Cusco, was the heart of the Inca civilization from the 14th to the 15th centuries. Many of the villagers in this valley today live life much the same as they did prior to the Spanish Conquest in 1532.

 

casa andina – cusco, peru

Notes From Sherry – June 16, 2007

Lee has arrived in Cusco, Peru and will be staying at the the Casa Andina as his base during his 4-day tour. He will take a city tour of Cusco at 1:30 and then will be on his own for the evening.

Here is the link to the Casa Andina Website:

Casa Andina

off to machu picchu

Notes From Sherry – Lee has embarked on a 4-day, 3-night tour of Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru. His tour began this morning with a one-hour plane ride to Cusco where he will get a room. From there he will tour the surrounding area of Cusco and Machu Picchu for the next four days.

I called the Jeanneau Residence on Thursday morning and spoke with Lee. Other than having an urge to get up in the middle of the night to check the boat, he had had a good night’s sleep in a real bed and a hot shower and Sheila has been pampering them with her good cooking since they walked in the door. I heard about a pork roast on Wednesday evening with Peruvian potatoes and fresh salad; and when I called on Thursday they had just finished a breakfast that included French toast and bacon.

So it seems that Lee is well-prepared for this next adventure. Then on Friday June 22nd, Lee (aka Walleye Pike) will make his way back to this side of the world.

THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY HAS LANDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just received word from Sheila that Lee and Jose have arrived safe and sound in La Punta. Sheila reports that she left home to do some errands at 8am and when she returned at 11:00 the 2 weary sailors were at the door. She was never so surprised as their ETA was to be around midnight tonight, but that was all part of an anniversary surprise (10 years tomorrow) that Jose had cooked up for Sheila. The Sea Of Tranquility is currently docked at a yacht club that is about a ten minute walk from Sheila and Jose’s home. A bunch of paperwork needs to be filled out before the boat can be moved to its permanent home at the Navy club.