Machu Picchu

When Julie sent out some photos of Peru from her iPhone, her best friend since childhood replied, "You've seen one picture of Machu Picchu, you've seen them all."

While that may be true, I have to say that being in Machu Picchu on a picture perfect day is not the same as seeing photos snapped by someone else.

I think even the llamas who roam among tourists at the remarkable archaeological site there would agree.





Our second floor room in Urubamba

Our morning began with a 4:30 AM wakeup call.  We needed to have our bags packed and outside our door by 5 AM, which is also when we were due back in the buffet room for breakfast so that we could depart at 5:30 AM for Ollantaytambo to catch the first train of the day to Machu Picchu. 

As a result, our tour companions who took the optional trip to Pisac had zero daylight time to appreciate the beautiful gardens and views of our hotel.  I think it is good to remember that rather than trying to do everything, we should always factor in a certain amount of down time to savor the experiences, including lovely accommodations.

     

Entering Machu Picchu

Hiking the Inca Trail may well be amazing, but most travelers take the scenic train from Ollantaytambo to Agua Calientes.  The hike up to the fortress from the last train stop would still be challenging and take several hours if not all day, so our Machu Picchu Express tour included a bus to the entry.  Our guide Adriel suggested making an initial ascent to the highest point we would be visiting and then gradually working our way down, which as the day warmed up definitely proved to be a great plan.



Wes in Agua Calientes by statue of Pachacutec

Hiram Bingham's explorations of Machu Picchu in the early twentieth century as chronicled in National Geographic took that magazine from being an obscure journal of interest exclusively to academics and wealthy patrons to a widespread readership. 

It also sparked interest among the general populace in adventure travel and more general tourism. 

I dare say we never would have had the Indiana Jones movies without Bingham's Peru expeditions, but he didn't so much discover Machu Picchu as focus attention that led to capital being invested to dig the ruins out from under centuries of jungle.

After all, farmers were still cultivating the terraces there, and a farmer, who was busy working other fields, sent his son to lead Bingham to the ruins with no apparent concern of the child's ability to find the ruins or make his way home.  Nonetheless, Bingham did an outstanding job popularizing the romance of re-discovering artifacts and architecture of ancient civilizations.  And Machu Picchu's magnificent ruins improbably sitting among dramatic mountain peaks and steep valleys may have remained overgrown for centuries more had Bingham's natural curiosity not been fed.  As we stood looking down at the structures, Adriel directed us to imagine what this place was like when it was new, when golden straw roofs provided shelter to the wise men and priests who advised the Incas, when the now gray-with-age granite walls were gleaming white, some possibly gilded in real gold, when the finest sculptures and paintings from throughout South America were on exhibit, and when the well-dressed inhabitants wearing the bright colored fabrics of their home regions walked the streets contemplating the great issues of their day. 

While no one knows for certain, Adriel surmised that Machu Picchu was essentially the brain trust of the Inca empire.  It could have also been a vacation home for royals, but we know it must have been the dominion of a privileged few and their servants.  Who else could afford to live in such a remote and spectacular place?

The agricultural terraces, while impressive, could not have produced enough food for the population of Machu Picchu according to Adriel, who as someone who worked his family's farm in the region seems a trusted source on the subject, and Adriel thought perhaps scientists experimented with crops found in newly conquered regions and with alternative agricultural techniques.  Perhaps it was sort of an organic garden for the royal chefs to use in preparing the finest meals.  I thought back to the garden tour at Getty Villa near our home in California, where we learned that in their country estates, Roman senators cultivated species of plants and trees from places they visited, as sort of living souvenirs, just as we today might collect artwork or t-shirts or post photos on facebook or Instagram as proof of our travels. 

Roman Senators would try to influence guests to support their political schemes in Rome by bringing them to their palatial country homes, impressing them with gardens filled with growing proof of their world travels (and presumed broadened points of view) among other status symbols, along with unrivaled hospitality.  I see so many similarities between the Inca and Roman Empires, I have no trouble believing that a similar trophy garden may indeed be the purpose of these terraces at Machu Picchu as it was in Italy's rural estates.  Just like the Romans, Pacachutec expanded his empire by conquering new lands and then letting the new subjects keep their local languages and cultures.  The Incas weren't interested in micromanaging their empire but rather only wanted to collect taxes, although they did institute some laws, structure and improvements.  Just as the official language for government in the Roman Empire was Latin, so did the Incas conduct business in their official language, Quecha.  Many locals of the Sacred Valley, including our guide Adriel, still speak Quecha in addition to or sometimes instead of Spanish.

What is most phenomenal about the Incas is that they basically emerged prominently from regional players to conquerors around the thirteenth century, becoming a dominant military powerhouse and uniting lands from Central Chile to Columbia under Inca rule, only to be utterly destroyed by Spanish Conquistadors in 1572. 

By definition, Inca actually means the main leader of the empire, but historians have labeled the entire empire Incas for simplicity's sake.  To give you an idea of the brief, meteoric rise and fall of the Incas, Pachacutec, their greatest leader, was only the ninth Inca.  He expanded the empire through most of modern day Peru, and then turned over rule to his son Topa.  The empire expanded into Bolivia, Argentina and Ecuador, making it the largest native American empire at the time of the arrival of Columbus far to the north in 1492.

By that time, the Inca Empire was interlaced with a complex highway system through valleys, mountains and jungles, with extensive trade throughout.  We'll never know the exact history of the Incas, because their official records, which had been kept with a series of knots in colored strings called Quipu, were destroyed by the Spanish.  In 1493, Topa's son Huayna Capac, became the last indisputable Inca.  It should be noted that the tall mountain seen towering behind the famous ruins in most photos is Huayna Picchu.  The Incas considered mountains to also be apus, or spirits of ancestors, but I digress.  From the first landing of Columbus in the New World, Spanish military technology including fine swords of Toledo steel, primitive muskets, cannons and strategy soon overwhelmed native Americans everywhere they were encountered.

The primary objectives were to save the souls of "savages" with Catholiciscm and plunder gold and silver for the Spanish government and the Conquistadors themselves.  Francisco Pizarro tried twice unsuccessfully to bring men down from Panama along the West Coast to find treasures in South America.  On the second trip in 1527, Pizarro left two sailors ashore, presumably because one or both were stricken with smallpox or some other deadly Old World disease for which Incas had neither developed immunity nor knowledge for treating.

It seems an unlikely coincidence that Huayna  Capac died unexpectedly that same year.  The transition of Inca leaders had traditionally been quite systematic and smooth, with a council of royal advisors selecting the most competent of the Inca's legitimate sons to take his father's place.  The Inca emperor could have as many wives or concubines as he wanted, and he could have children with all of them, so at the time of Huayna's death, he had 500 sons.  Huayna's favorite son, Atahualpa, was a great general in Ecuador, commanding 40,000 troops, but his half-brother Huascar, who was better known personally in the capital of Cusco, parlayed better political connections into power.

   

According to some sources, Huascar was sort of a playboy in the city, but Adriel disputed this, saying the royal council would never have selected someone less than admirable.  Regardless of Huascar's virtues, Atahualpa decided to claim the title of Inca.  In a move not unlike Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon with his army to claim to Rome in 49 BC, Atahualpa declared war on his brother's forces, and at the conclusion of bloody civil war, capturing and executing him before marching into Cusco to claim his throne.

The Incas picked a bad time to have a civil war, because Pizarro would soon return a third time with 177 Conquistadors destined to overturn their empire.  Fleet-footed Inca messengers brought word to Atahualpa of Pizarro's approach, but the spy reports underestimated the Spanish, claiming the swords were mostly decorative and the guns simply thunderbolts that worked only twice.  They thought the 67 cavalry troops and their horses were useless when the riders dismounted.  They would allow these fools to march to their doom rather than waste manpower bringing them back into as prisoners.   

When the Conquistadors would eventually arrive, Atahualpa planned to make them eunuchs to serve as slaves to their Inca masters, learning about their strange domesticated livestock (including those horses and chickens) just as they had captured that of native Americans.  When the Conquistadors finally settled into Tumbes, an Inca city surrounded by three walls, they requested a parley with the Inca leader, who arrived in the city unarmed as requested. 

Perhaps Atahualpa assumed his overwhelming advantage in sheer number of troops (40,000 to 177) would protect him against the armed Spaniards, but Pizarro, knowing of a similar gambit in 1519 by countryman Hernando Cortes against Montezuma in his conquest of the Mayans of Mexico, took advantage of the situation to kidnap Atahualpa, pulling him from his golden carriage and slaughtering would-be defenders.

The Incas considered their leader a demigod, so they were willing to pay any price to free him.  Eventually they promised Pizarro one room full of gold and two rooms full of silver in exchange for the freedom of Atahualpa, and they fanned out through the kingdom to gather the ransom.  Most likely, they came to Machu Picchu, which in its almost insurmountable mountain location surrounded by a river would have been a perfect place to hide treasures due to being both hidden and strategically defendable high ground. 

Nonetheless, there seemed no limit Pizarro's treachery.  After receiving the ransom, he still executed Atahualpa, garroting him for "crimes against the Spanish state."

To give some air of legitimacy, Pizarro installed Manco II as his puppet Inca leader.  You may recall Manco II, having escaped captivity under the auspices of retrieving more treasure for his masters, led his people to their only victory over the Spanish at Ollantaytambo, but the Spanish wave could not be turned back.

The Inca people retreated far from the Conquistadors into distant Amazon jungles where they survived another forty years as what came to be referred by historians as Neo-Incas.  Three sons of Manco II ruled in succession in exile.  The first son was poisoned by his own people, and the second died of a disease possibly brought by a missionary, who was subsequently killed.  After a brave stand against insurmountable odds, the third of his generation to rule, Tupac Amura, and his bravest generals were captured from their last stronghold in Vilcabamba and brought to Cuzco in chains.

The beheading of Tupac Amura in 1572 ended not only the Inca struggle against Spanish rule but the Inca Empire itself.  To this day, however, there are descendants of native tribes in the Sacred Valley.  Our guide Adriel, for example, proclaims his family roots in the area extend far before the Incas, and as such philosophically accepts that the Incas were a blip in history, a conqueror supplanted by a stronger military power.  Whether we like it or not, that is the nature of history and evolution: survival of the fittest, or perhaps we should say militarily and technologically superior.

We can and should honor the past, appreciating the accomplishments of humanity that played their parts well in their time upon the stage.  Thanks, Mr. Bingham, for bringing us here.

Someone said that you cannot see Machu Picchu on your own in two days, but with a good guide, you can do it justice in two hours.  Because we hadn't seen any mention of a guide in our Gate 1 tour description, we assumed we might need to hire one as we entered, but we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Adriel and his assistant John Claude would lead us on our tour, and they did an excellent job. 

By lunch time, we were ready to go back down the mountain to Agua Calientes.  Still full from our breakfast at the hotel in conjunction with reduced appetite caused by the elevation, we broke off from the group, which proceeded to an optional lunch with our guides, and bought a Diet Coke to have with some snack food Julie had stashed in her purse.  We ate on a bench next to the statue of Pachacutec, while nearby Andean minstrels played traditional music.

After lunch, we took the train back to Ollantaytambo, where we walked around the town a bit before boarding the bus for Cusco. 

We took a couple of breaks en route. 

We had a scheduled stop at a chicha factory, where we learned how the low alcohol "beer" is made from purple corn and then sampled this favorite brew of local farmers.  Chicha has the texture of an unrefrigerated pina collada with none of the sweetness.  I wouldn't recommend it as an alternative Pisco Sours or Inka Colas.

As those who wished to participate drank our shot glass sized portions, Adriel took a pint in both hands, and following tradition of spilling a bit on the floor for the Pachimama (earth god) while reciting the proper Quecha phrase, proceeded to down the entire glass.  He encouraged John Claude to do the same.

Behind the tasting room was a barn of sorts, where guinea pigs were kept.  Grilled guinea pig, or cuy as they call it, is a delicacy in Peru.  Having owned them as pets as a child, I know guinea pigs multiply very quickly, so raising them for food certainly makes sense economically.  We didn't try any cuy on our trip, but it supposedly tastes like rabbit (not that I've ever eaten a bunny either).

Adriel said local farmers drink chicha after a long day in the field and then play the toad game, which is similar to darts but with disks thrown at a table with the "bullseye" of a metal frog in the middle surrounded by trap doors of different scoring values, with the loser buying the next round.  Adriel said the bar owner would often give the first round for free, and that, as an skilled toad game player, he (Adriel) often drank the entire evening without paying. 

Many of us gave the game a try.  John Claude did a good job with the game, but after a short ride on the bus, he had to get off to purge the chicha from his system, so I'd guess his system isn't as accustomed to it as Adriel's.

At an unscheduled stop, Adriel jumped off the bus and returned with a white beetle in his hand.  He asked if anyone knew what it was before crushing the bug, producing a bright red beetle juice.  Not that it made much of a difference to the beetle at that point, but it is not beetle blood, which would be clear.  Beetle juice has been used as the basis for red lipstick for 3,000 years, and it continues to be used in cosmetics today.
 

By the time we reached Cusco, it was dark.  The hotel again turned out to be a modern 4 star property.  Adriel recommended Valentina, the restaurant immediately across the street, for dinner, and now being hungry after having a light lunch, Julie and I followed his advice.  The waiter brought us small Pisco Sours, which are similar to Margaritas, as complimentary welcome drinks.  My Trout Pisco from the Urubamba River was excellent, as was the Cusquena Negra cerveza.  A band dressed in traditional clothing played local music for us while we dined, and it proved to be a lovely way to cap off a very full day in Peru.

 

Getting Ready For A Great Vacation

A great vacation doesn't begin with boarding a plane or cruise ship.  It doesn't even begin when you step out of your home to make your way to your embarkation point.  It begins with planning your sojourn.

If you've worked with a knowledgeable travel agent, you can be fairly certain your trip objectives will be met, but to get the most out of every destination, take time to learn about where you're going.

In preparation for a trip to Machu Picchu, for example, I began reading articles and watching related videos.  Different items would pique my interest, including travelogues, Inca legends, Spanish conquest and even UFOs, and I would follow interesting items down different trails.   

At the library, I did a search and found Turn Right At Machu Picchu, an adventure travel book that follows the rapid rise and fall of the Incas, the early-1900s explorations of Hiram Bingham (who many consider the inspiration for Indiana Jones and who brought an international spotlight to the region), as well as the modern day re-tracing of Bingham's trail by the yuppie author and his rugged guides.  It was a good read that I'd recommend whether or not you plan to visit Peru.

 

Between it all, I stretched my mind into that vacation mode where we begin to see the world anew, away from the daily routines that can limit our thinking.  The mysteries of Machu Picchu provide ample depths to plumb.

Since Bingham "rediscovered" Machu Picchu in 1911, the world has wondered what Machu Picchu is.  Was it the Lost City of the Incas where they fled to escape the conquering conquistadors, or a shrine for worshippers to visit a tomb or golden idol for the greatest Inca leader, Panchacuti, who is assumed to be its architect?

 

Maybe, like many who have come after him including Mad Ludwig of Bavaria and Royal Caribbean of the Seas, Pachacuti did it because he simply wanted to build an incredible structure from which to appreciate a gorgeous natural setting.  Could the Inca Trail, ending at this magnificent city in the clouds be a Mesoamerican Disneyland?  It certainly seems to still attract a lot of tourists.

Like many others, I am also left wondering where the Inca story really began. 

Legend says their leaders were ancestors of the Sun God who emerged from Isla Del Sol in Lake Titcaca, but perhaps due to latent memories of an SRA story about Thor Heyerdahl and his boat Kon-Tiki that I read back in Miss Lindsey's class in sixth grade, I found myself wondering if instead they came from Polynesia in the same manor the Maori had arrived in New Zealand.

Could the rise and fall of Easter Island have been an intermediate step for the Incas? I found an article that isn't exactly that theory but does make it seem plausible.

I doubt I'll solve these great archaeological mysteries during my brief visit to Machu Picchu, but it will certainly influence how I see it.

We all glean unique perspectives from travel, and the journey itself may be destined to reveal to you what you need to know, regardless of your preparation, as what seemed to happen to me in Scotland, but learning about distant lands before you arrive essentially stretches your vacation to make it begin before you leave home.  Why not begin your vacation today?

 

You can search this blog for a topic of interest, and then follow hotlinks embedded throughout to new threads.  It's free to dream.  As my dad always said, be careful what you think about, because you'll probably get it.

Better service leads to better trips.

Miami Express

Imagining a dream South America cruise, we knew we wanted to add Machu Picchu to one end of the trip.  We were surprised to learn a Machu Picchu excursion from a cruise runs over $2000 per person, or about as much as the enture fare for the two week cruise itself. 

One of my vendors, Gate 1, sent me information about the Machu Picchu Express from Miami, which came in at about $1000 per person, including air from Miami, for a four day vacation in Peru including the Sacred Valley, Cuzco and Machu Picchu. 

Too bad we don’t live in Miami, I thought, but then again we had already learned that flying from LAX to Peru frequently routed through Miami.

Upon hearing the Gate 1 deal, Julie immediately proclaimed, "Let's do it." 

Flying into Miami a day early allowed us to lock air to Miami for only 12,500 air miles plus $5 per ticket, giving us a chance to enjoy a day in sunny Miami rather than enduring a long airport layover.

It didn’t occur to either of us that we would be arriving in the hottest destination for college students during Spring Break. After settling into the airport-close Best Western Premier Hotel, which has a free shuttle from MIA, we headed to South Beach and partied until dawn, hip hopping and drinking Cristal Champagne with P. Diddy, Shakira and beautiful fashionistas from all over the world.

Actually, we walked to Burger King for dinner and then settled into our room for a sparkling evening of television accompanied by a fine bottle of Sutter Home Red Moscato, circa 2013, and if I’m not mistaken, the flavor belied a bit of frost on the morning of the grapes’ harvest.

After a good night's sleep, we checked our bags with the front desk clerk and headed out in early morning to take the bus into downtown Miami.  By the time we reached Little Havana, it was standing room only, with Spanish as the primary language among working class people.

There’s not a direct connection to a bus heading to South Beach, so we exited in downtown and walked a few blocks until we caught another bus, on which the demographics became college-aged people in bikinis and board shorts.  Once again, most people were speaking languages other than English, with accents from Western Europe and the Mediterranean.

Dropped on a South Beach street corner, we immediately headed over to see the aquamarine water along the beach, a sharp contrast to the gray to dark blue of California's Pacific Ocean.  The wide, white sand beach along the gorgeous water is quite inviting, and the 70-plus degree water adds to the temptation.  No wonder college kids flock here to escape cold winters.

We were still quite a way from the Art Deco district where most of the revelry would be found, so when we walked past Tequila Chicas, we noticed several open tables under palapas.  While the sand berms along the beach walk (presumably defense against hurricanes) obstruct the ocean views of most beach side restaurants in South Beach, our restaurant certainly had a pleasant setting with sea breezes and great people watching.

My breakfast burrito and Julie’s hamburger were both great, but the service was terrible. Our waitress was only moderately surly, but her ability to always be nowhere doing nothing was what really made it annoying to see the mandatory 18% tip on the bill.

We spent the day lazily walking along the beach and past the art deco buildings, circa 1920s and 1930s, which have been lovingly restored thanks in large part to efforts begun in the disco era by the Miami Design Preservation League.  There's a free art deco museum that features great poster art for the area.

Several historic hotels boomed with hip hop from rooftop decks and pool areas crammed full of college kids partying.

 

Sidewalk cafes were filled with beautiful people, and the beaches packed with sunbathers, doobie-smokers and Frisbee flingers.

 

Some young men played catch with a football in the turquoise water, while others had soccer games between trash cans in the sand, while nubile young ladies in bikinis did their best to distract them all.

If you’re young and heading on a cruise from Miami, you should definitely spend a night or two in South Beach rather than dealing with a daily commute from a cheaper hotel near the airport, but everyone should make a point to at least see it.

At the end of the day, we settled into Finnegan’s Way for Happy Hour.  Beers were half off their normal $5 for domestic and $6 for import, and the Guinness, delivered in a proper pint glass, was the best I’ve had outside Ireland and the U.K.  When our bearded Russian waiter brought the bill, I was amused to see the price was $2.75 per pint, so apparently they consider Guinness somewhere between a domestic and import in this Irish bar.  Julie and I split the early bird dinner of barbecued ribs and fries for $9.95, and it was terrific.  This being South Beach, the people watching from our padded seat at our table on the sidewalk was terrific.  I highly recommend this place.

Our bus drive back from South Beach included free entertainment.  Drunk college kids tried to carry on conversations, and then one lady started yelling into her phone at the top of her voice in Spanish, frequently including the F-word or some other expletive in English for emphasis.  Whoever she was talking to in New York needs to watch out the next time she catches up with him.  Julie and I kept wondering why the other person stayed on the line. 

 

Then again, maybe this woman had Tourette’s Syndrome and used the cell phone as a prop, but she was the poster child for prohibiting free cell phone usage on planes. 

Can you imagine a six hour flight listening to someone like that across the aisle?

Back at the hotel, we picked up our bags, giving the desk clerk a reasonable tip, and changed clothes in the wash room before taking the complimentary shuttle back to the airport for our long flight to Cusco, Peru.

Q'enqo

"In the rain forests of Peru, an ancient manuscript has been discovered.  Within its pages are 9 key insights into life itself - insights each human being is predicted to grasp sequentially, one insight after another, as we move toward a completely spiritual culture on Earth." 

 

A growing number of people believe a pre-Columbian paradise existed for indigenous people of the Americas.  They believe that before Europeans arrived, North and South America nurtured Gardens of Eden where hunter gatherers lived in harmony with nature and in peace with neighboring tribes.

Trail from Cuzco

In Peru, the Incas had reached the First Wave of civilization, the development of agriculture, so they were no longer a nomadic culture depending on migration to find food.  Among their advanced techniques were irrigation and the terracing of steep mountainsides into tillable tiers like we saw at Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu.  With their system of roads that crisscrossed the empire, connecting mountains to jungles, they instigated trade routes which fostered a type of specialization of resources and labor that increased overall prosperity.

To bring about this trade network, however, the Incas had militarily conquered their neighbors with battles and threats of violence, and some consider their subjects working together in their local tribes to produce their crops or craftworks to have been little better off than slaves.  They had a somewhat utopian approach similar to the Marxist credo, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need," within their own regions, but like the Russian Politboro under the communist system of the USSR developed centuries later, the Inca rulers definitely enjoyed a more privileged lifestyle than their subjects, who paid their rulers 10% of their total production.

I would surmise that the Incas probably earned their tax by increasing the overall economy through their trade network, and the attitude of the tribes may have been like Scottish clans, where the sharing may have been just as compulsory as for USSR satellite states but with at least a more pronounced illusion of freedom and tribal autonomy.

Even today, Peruvian farmers in the Andes like our guide Adriel's family, have a similar tribal commune system.  Adriel and his ten siblings all abandoned the farm to pursue the potential greater prosperity of the city, and the communal land they farmed is now worked by a different family.  Productively using the land essentially dictates ownership, and apparently these mountain farmers manage to work within that system.

The farming tools of the Incas were primitive, because that civilization had not reached an age of forging any metals into useful tools for any purpose.  They apparently even used harder rock hammers to smooth huge boulders that could be fit together perfectly without mortar in order to construct their massive rock temples and fortresses.  How impressive it is that these structures were built when they still literally lived in the Stone Age, as opposed to the Bronze or Iron Age?

And the sad truth is that native Americans frequently treated each other and the environment as brutally as their European conquerors, and possibly more so. 



Q'enqo

Before the birth of Christianity, the Bible speaks of blood sacrifices to appease God.  Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, crucified for the "sins of the whole world," and thank God we Christians need not be involved in such blood thirsty rituals. 

Despite some obvious virtues, the Incas were not flower children living in the Garden of Eden.  They were primitive pagans who practiced blood sacrifice of llamas and other animals on a regular basis.  Human sacrifice was required to appease dozens of gods and to accompany to the afterlife Inca rulers when they died.  There were two major ceremonies requiring human sacrifice.

"Itu" was conducted at times of great joy, such as a royal marriage, or due to a disaster like an earthquake or epidemic, hoping to escape that doom with blood offerings. 

"Qhapaq Ucha" was to worship Inti, the sun god, and Wiraqocha, the creator, also reinforcing the belief in the lineage of Inca leaders to the gods from whom they received their right to rule.  These were drunken celebrations that continued for many days.

A boy and girl child were brought from cities throughout the kingdom to Huaycaypata, the central plaza in Cuzco that now bears the Spanish name Plaza de Armas, to participate.  The children would parade around in fine clothes of the colors associated with their home regions, as if they were married couples.  The Hunger Games comes to mind, although it seems these Inca children were only about ten years old and didn't have a chance to possibly win and move to Victors' Village.

Outdoor Altar at Q'enqo

In Quechuan, the native tongue of Peru, Q'osco (usually spelled Cusco or Cuzco) means "Navel of the World," a fitting title for the city from which the Inca Empire grew.  From this navel, the celebration spread to the four quarters of the kingdom as priests led processions in four directions, until they reached markers 500 leagues (about 1250 miles) away, which was considered the edge of civilization.  Because Cuzco is less than 300 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the west or south, these could not have been the four cardinal directions in which the parties departed, but they were direct routes straight over natural barriers like mountains and ravines which would pass holy places called "wak'as." 

As the parties continued through regions, local people would bring treasures like objects made of gold, silver and shells for the Inca rulers, who traveled on the royal road and would meet up with the devotees at shrines.  At the most "exalted" locations, children would be sacrificed. 

Q'enqo was the largest of the wak'as in the Cuzco region.  It is only about 4 miles from Cuzco (which undoubtedly seems a lot further when walking uphill over rocky terrain), so you can imagine how many stops must have been made to sacrifice children and collect donations. 

Sacrifice Altar is cold to the touch

Q'enqo means zigzag in Quechuan, and the site is a labyrinth of carved tunnels within natural rock formations.  There is a flat slab of stone where animals and humans were sacrificed.  The stone table in a dark cave is always ice cold, even when it is blazing hot outside.

Observing human sacrifice for these specific celebrations or to please random pagan gods on other occasions would certainly have been as appalling to the Spanish Catholics in the 1500s as to our civilized world 500 years later, and most of us would agree that nothing could justify such brutality.  For me, that puts Catholic saving of souls into a more practical and humane perspective.

A long time ago I read a James Michener novel in which he spoke of the Mesoamerican hero of a soccer-like game being sacrificed to the gods, so that the young man could go to paradise at the peak of his earthly life as a fit offering.  Similarly, the Incas sacrificed their most beautiful children believing they were being delivered to the gods to live in the afterlife.  It was considered an honor.

At Q'enqo, there's also another type of zigzag, carved crevices in a stone where oracles would pour a liquid (some say chicha or holy water, but I would guess most likely blood) and predict the future based on which path it took.  Possibly these oracles, in a manner similar to fortunetellers in other places and times, made vague predictions about a great emerging empire that the Inca assumed must portend their victory over the pitiful 168 Conquistadors rather than the imminent doom of the Inca Empire.

In the 21st Century, many would like to believe in a perfect world that existed before the arrival of the "white man," but the truth must be told.

The quote at the top of this page is from the cover of The Celestine Prophecy, a novel that I happened to find in the used book section of the library.  Having just returned from Peru, the quote piqued my curiosity, especially since an old friend had several times recommended the book to me.  To say the author, James Redfield, takes liberties with history is a considerable understatement, but he does make some interesting, thought-provoking conjectures.

In essence, he advances the idea that we each come into this world to a unique set of circumstances in order to learn what is necessary to advance the evolution of the world.  We select our parents before birth and grow essentially to be the average of our two parents in some ways and a counterbalancing force to them in others, and then we progressively follow seemingly coincidental introduction to people and circumstances to evolve into a higher state of consciousness that advances all of humanity.

It is potentially the never-ending improvement of humanity and civilization.  Rather than believing the best is behind us, we should appreciate how far we have come and optimistically move into the future.



Should I mention that Redfield makes a rather huge leap at one point in The Celestine Prophecy to say the Mayans (for some reason he has them in the jungles of Peru) had become so in tune with the cosmic vibrations that they had vanished into a higher consciousness, leaving places like Machu Picchu completely deserted?  Nah.

From Cuzco to Cruise Co

Most travelers don their most authentic Indianna Jones-chic apparel for a trip to Machu Picchu, despite not actually doing any kind of intense adventure tour involving multi-day hikes along the Inca Trail or traversing jungles.

As we snaked through one of our trip's most harrowing ordeals, a long check-in line at the Cuzco Airport, we encountered a group of authentically dressed adventurers carting tons of gear to a dedicated check-in line.  These obviously were not your typical tourists on holiday.  Their safari-wear wasn't freshly pressed, instead sporting wrinkles and discolorations that belied exposure to rigorous outdoor conditions. 

The fact that a musty smell that can accumulate on camping gear did not accompany these intrepid explorers indicated great care and professionalism in maintenance of the equipment they lugged to the counter.

There were excited whispers among the family in front of us in line, and the mother of two tween-aged boys eventually approached a handsome man in the rugged group.

"Are you Joe Teti?"

He acknowledged the truth of his identity with a gracious smile.

"We love Dual Survival.  It's my boys' absolute favorite show, and we all love to watch it together."

Joe immediately consented to have his photo taken with her sons, who beamed to be alongside their muscular hero, who at about 5'9" was surprising not that much taller than those big boys.

When they noticed Coty, his partner from the previous season, wasn't with the entourage, they tried to find out who Joe's new partner would be for the upcoming season.  Joe said that was a secret.

Of course, we felt obliged to watch the season premiere when it aired a couple of weeks later, and if I'm not mistaken, his new partner Matt had been smiling modestly in the background.  Julie and I had seen "Dual Survivor" a couple of times in a prior season and found it interesting, but now it is on our DVR series recording list.  You might want to check it out.

We happened to be in the right place when the "Dual Survival" crew arrived because our Gate 1 transfer bus picked us up 4 hours before our flight.  We saw no point in rushing to be the first ones to check our bags, and actually turned out to be the last, which put us in the right place at the right time.  Even after an hour in that line, we were through security 2 1/2 hours early, knowing we had a short hop to Lima where we faced a 4 hour layover before our redeye flight to Miami.

When we finally received a gate assignment, Julie and I proceeded to the next waiting area, where we met two pretty American graduate students who were studying abroad in Ecuador and taking advantage of their weekend to explore Peru. We learned the girls had met in graduate school, and upon finding their mutual love of travel, proceeded to take a series trips around South America together. They were so sweet and vivacious, we wished our son Jay and nephew Brooks could have been there to meet them. 

In Lima's airport, we met up with the father and son who were both named John from our tour and shared a meal in the airport diner.  We should have stuck with McDonalds fare.  I ordered two tamales. 

How can you go wrong with tamales in South America? 

At worst, the cook could have opened a can and microwaved them without taking the individual wrappers off, or so I thought. 

These "tamales" were square, slimy pieces of mushy cornbread with a trace of some mystery meat hidden within the bland mix.  Nonetheless, we enjoyed an interesting conversation with the Johns.

When the bill came, we noted the tab had been bumped up another 30% or so.

John Senior, a retired executive based in Connecticut whose generally cordial manner and conservative views reminded me of my Manhattan Beach friend Bill Bundy, politely asked our surly server if this amount included the tip.  The waiter snarled, "The tip has not been included," with no explanation for the padding beyond the tax.

I read the menu, and at the bottom in small print it said there would be airport tax and service charges.  "Isn't this service charge the tip?"

It became a heated argument between the normally sedate John Senior, an experienced business traveler who had certainly eaten many airport meals, and the waiter, who never explained what the service charge was if not for service bringing the food to the table. 

Julie and I ended up leaving a tip, but it certainly was not merited.  We didn't want to leave Peru with a bad taste for Americans, even if I was leaving with the taste of bad tamales (after days of outstanding food) on my palate.

After a night of occasionally nodding off while watching videos in flight, we arrived in Miami in the morning, cleared customs and picked up our luggage we had checked in Cuzco.  We had already garnered a full vacation of memories, but that afternoon we would depart from Ft. Lauderdale on a Panama Canal cruise.

Julie had thoroughly researched how to take the Tri-Rail from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale, so when we asked an airport guide for directions that turned out to differ from what she had learned, we ignored him and headed for the shuttle bus stop, which we finally found after asking a couple of airport workers outside.  The scheduled time came and went, and we began to wonder if perhaps the guide inside had been correct in saying we could head directly to the Tri-Rail station rather than taking a bus trip, despite the sign that indicated we were indeed in the right spot.

About 20 minutes late, however, a full-sized bus showed up, and the harried driver apologized for being delayed, saying something about it being a bad morning.  There was only one other rider, and the bus had the vague smell of marijuana in the air.  Her day didn't get any better when our plump driver missed our offramp, indicating this might not be her normal route.  We knew we had plenty of time to reach the train station, and we had chosen to ignore the whole "hurry up and wait" stress long ago in Cuzco, so we arrived at the train station in good humor on a typically sunny Miami day.

The train was clean, and the ride to Ft. Lauderdale smooth.  It sure beats the alternative long expensive cab ride, but once in Ft. Lauderdale, we had to take a taxi the rest of the way to the port. 

Taxis seem to always have peculiar smells unique to each vehicle, or maybe it's the driver.  This was no exception.  Our driver was on the phone throughout the fifteen minute drive, speaking jovially in some language we didn't understand on a social call for our entire ride. 

As an aside, I recently booked a European land tour for some folks, and for one transfer in Germany, a driver who spoke the "local language" actually cost more than an English-speaking driver, so it seems no matter where you go, you are likely to encounter primarily foreign-born taxi drivers, just as we do in the USA. 

We made pretty good time, but when we arrived at the cruise port, the last fifty feet resulted in three money clicks on the meter.  Julie was sure our driver, still chatting on the phone, was milking the fare, but I know these guys probably have strict guidelines on where they may drop customers.  The short taxi ride did, however, cost twice as much as the $10 total we spent to cover the 27 miles from MIA to FLL.

In any case, we had made it to Port Everglades, where we breezed through check-in as a result of our past-guest status (you can get the same preferential boarding by upgrading to a suite) to board the beautiful Island Princess.

Yes, we survived the transit.  Traveling always provides opportunities to meet interesting people, and if you're open to the possibilities, they make the necessary transits that could be drudgery into something you'll learn to love.

Peru In the Rearview Review

At lunch at the Crab Pot on Long Beach Marina yesterday, Julie's cousin Darlene and her husband Rick, whom we hadn't seen for over a year, asked how our South America trip went.

Julie shared a few of the logistical details of the trip, and I immediately thought of my theory that the Incas may not have come from Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca but rather from Polynesia by way of Hawaii and then Easter Island, but we were soon on to other topics of conversation.

I sent them a link to a search of my blogs on Peru, informing them that they had made the mistake of asking me about South America, which encouraged me to go back through those articles myself this morning.  I found it very much like going on vacation again, and I decided to make a dedicated page to share the links in a somewhat more than random but certainly not chronological order. Keep in mind that any time you want a better look at photos within an article, you can click on one and then flip through larger versions of all pictures in the article quite easily. 

Also, you'll note a lot of linked words and phrases, which as always have been placed there by me in order to elaborate on the concept highlighted.  If you have the time, watch the videos, most of which were made by me during this sojourn.

Q'enqo

Cusco

Machu Picchu

Getting Ready for a Great Vacation

Arriving in Peru

Urubamba and Oyantaytambo

Tambomachay

Saksaywaman

From Cuzco to Cruise Co.

Miami Express