Saturday - Sept 30, 2017 Cusco to Ollantaytambo

We were picked up at our hotel at 8am and driven to Sacsayhuaman, where we were transferred to a larger bus for our guided tour of the Sacred Valley. We were very pleased to find that our guide was Puma Sanqo again.

The road north from Cusco climbs up to a pass, undulates across the pampa and then descends dramatically into the spectacular, fertile Urubamba Valley, which is also known as the sacred valley.

Before reaching the pampa, we stopped at a llama, sheep, alpaca farm which had some exhibits about weaving. There were troughs of alfalfa to feed the animals and get them to pose nicely for pictures. The babies were very cute. Two people were very tardy returning to the bus after our visit and Puma read us the riot act about doing what he said.

The Urubamba River that flows through the valley was considered sacred by the Inca’s. The region is dotted with historic sites and archaeological ruins, signifying the importance of the region to both the Inca’s and the conquistadors. The Inca’s built their palaces, religious centers and retreats alongside this giant tributary of the Amazon, including citadels at Pisac and Ollantaytambo, both of which we visited.

The region is considered sacred because of its vital importance to Cusco as a source of food and grain. Quechua legend also holds that when the sun sets it slips through the underworld beneath the Urubamba, where it draws deeply from the chill waters and rises the next morning refreshed. A separate legend claims that the earthly Urubamba is a mirror for the celestial river of the Milky Way, and that the two flow into one another.

Pisac, Quechua for partridge, was built by the man responsible for crushing the last Inca’s. The village, with its traditional Andean markets, sits on the valley floor while high above on a spur stands the citadel, a lofty Inca site set above a series of giant sweeping terraces. A rare intact Intihuatana stands at the ceremonial center of the citadel ruins - a sacred sculpted rock or ‘hitching post of the sun’, the vast majority of which were decapitated by the conquistadors.

The archeological complex at Pisac is made up of groups of terraces and different constructions that are harmoniously integrated with the hillside where they are built, they form the outline of a gigantic condor at the moment of beginning its flight and the whole forms an allegory of the constellation of the Condor.

In ancient times the condor was believed to be the messenger of the Sun and the one in charge of carrying the spirits of the dead on to the world beyond.

After visiting the Condor mountain we stopped at the village for some retail therapy, visiting a silver factory and then poking about the market stalls. I fell in love with an alpaca blanket upstairs at the silver factory, but we were about to set off on the Inca Trail and, even though my duffle bag was 2.4kg below the maximum of 7kg, I didn’t want to burden the porters with something like that. I mentioned this to Puma later when we were wandering through the market and he said he would deliver the blanket to our hotel in Cusco – so we took him up on the offer and went back to the silver factory. The owner got involved in the transaction, and said if we bought something else he would give us a big discount, so I also got a silver Pachamama pendant that had caught my eye.

We then went back to the market with Puma, who was trying desperately to round the group up. All were accounted for except the Russian fellow from Moscow. We all piled on the bus and Puma must have had his spies in the market because down the road we stopped and picked up the Russian, who seemed to be very relieved to be reunited with the group.

We went for lunch at a very large and busy restaurant, with beautiful gardens. The food was delicious and a wedding had just occurred which provided entertainment admiring the dresses and flowers of the wedding party.

Our final stop of the day was the fortress and religious complex of Ollantaytambo. The massive ruins set above a compact town are some of the most striking and impressive in the whole of Peru.

One of the stages in the development of art in civilizations ‘was man’s preoccupation with understanding the celestial universe and with developing systems that allowed him to understand and record its phenomena through means of an oral tradition, as well as a tendency to personify spiritual power and make it material’ (Grieber). This helps us to understand the reason for each of the special characteristics of the complex at Ollantaytambo.

To fully apprehend the monument, it is necessary to climb high above the valley. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the five or six hours it would have taken to hike the continuous ascent to reach the dwelling place of the mountain spirits, at a place called Intipuncu, or Gateway of the Sun.

Instead, when we entered the complex, Puma got a book from one of the vendors and referred heavily to pictures in it to explain the significance to the Inca’s of the religious and astronomical features of the complex.

Looking at an aerial photograph of Ollantaytambo, you can see that the whole complex forms the gigantic representation of the Sacred Tree.  At the left, representing the fruit, is the pyramidal construction of the Pacaritanpu, or House of Dawn, which is the site of the Inca’s mythic origin.

Since nothing in the world can be planned without knowing about time, the Inca’s set up landmarks and fixed points to study the movement of the celestial bodies.  Many of these landmarks were mountains which they held to be sacred because they were associated with the idea of being the axis of the world. Such was the case of Pinkuylluna. The sunrise over the peak of Pinkuylluna on the spring equinox is seen distinctively from the Incahuatana (which is high above the terraces at the Ollantaytambo complex and where we should have been to fully appreciate the site) and the Pleiades and the Sun at dawn on the winter solstice is seen from the temple of the Sun.

Tunupa, the pilgrim preacher of knowledge and master knower of time, was represented on the mountain Pinkuylluna, in gigantic sculpted profile. His face looks out over the abyss from the cliff that serves as his body and upon which they drew his hands which seem to support a giant pilgrim’s rucksack. Pinkuylluna is across a valley from the temple complex.

A temple which represented a lama was built on the flanks of Tamboqasa mountain, which is where we spent our visit. In the vast territory encompassed by the empire of the Incas there was nowhere that the army went without being accompanied by thousands of these beasts of burden, under the everlasting presence of their celestial archetype, a constellation located just beneath the Southern Cross.

The ancient and still inhabited urban sector of Ollantaytambo is a city dedicated to corn. A great part of the political and economic power was concentrated here in ancient times because of the high production corn. The oldest corn cobs in South America were found in Peru and in time this grain would revolutionize the Andean societies thanks to the control of its cultivation and the creation of new varieties that were used as tolls for civilizing and controlling. Corn thus became an important element in their religious beliefs and was often used as a special element in the worship of Nature. Chicha, a drink made from corn was used during festivals and ritual acts, and is still important today.

Puma, was very proud of his Quechua heritage. He stressed the impressive and advanced architectural skill of the Inca’s, very evident at the Ollantaytambo complex as well.

When we left, he stopped at the vendor to allow people to purchase the book. I said I’d like one but couldn’t carry it, and he said, ‘just put it in with the blanket and I’ll deliver it to your hotel in Cusco’, which I did.

Our hotel was just down from the square where the bus was parked, so we fetched our bags from the bus and a guide appeared that escorted a number of us to our various hotels. We thanked Puma vigorously for helping us and gave him a tip well in excess of our ‘big’ savings on the blanket and pendant.

We were pretty excited about starting our trek tomorrow, and still full of the big lunch, so we just had some Andean soup for supper and went to bed early.

We stayed at Sol de Ollantay, which is located in the heart of this ancient Inca city, directly on the banks of the Patacancha river. The property had fantastic views of the surrounding mountains and was an ideal spot to stay prior to our trek. This is a picture taken from our hotel of the mountain Wakay Willca (Tear of the Sun), which is said to be the guardian spirit of this part of the valley.

The hotel manager was full of ambitious suggestions on what we could do that evening, but we were pretty tired from climbing all over the ruins at Pisac and Ollantaytambo and thought we better gather some strength for the trek tomorrow.

Friday - Sept 29, 2017 Cusco

Our guided in-depth tour of Cusco was arranged for 1:30pm and our briefing on the trek was set for 7pm at Restaurant Calle del Medio on the 2^nd floor.

The morning was spent walking down to the main square and back up to the hotel twice, and sitting on the outdoor terrace thinking about starting the blog.

Joseph met us the hotel at 1pm and made sure we got connected with the person who escorted us to the organized tour. Joining the tour was accomplished by walking down the hill again to the main square. Our tour guide was Puma Sanqo, a Quechua from Chinchera. Indigenous lore says that Chinchero, one of the valley's major Inca cities, was the birthplace of the rainbow. Puma was very proud of his ancestry.

The tour began at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin, also known as Cusco Cathedral (WHS), located on the Plaza de Armas. It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cusco. Adjacent and joined to the cathedral is the smaller Iglesia del Triunfo, the first Christian church to be built in Cusco, and built around the same time as the cathedral.

The Incas built the temple known as Kiswarkancha on the main square in Cusco. It was the Inca palace of Viracocha, ruler of the Kingdom of Cusco around a century before the Spanish colonists arrived.

Near to the Kiswarkancha was the Suntur Wasi, an armoury and heraldry centre for the Inca royalty. When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Cuzco, they decided to take down the temple and build their Christian cathedral in that prominent site.

The cathedral's construction began in 1559 on the foundations of Kiswarkancha. It is shaped like a Latin cross. The location of Viracocha's palace was chosen for the purpose of removing the Inca religion from Cusco, and replacing it with Spanish Catholic Christianity. Because 1559 was only 26 years after the conquistadores entered Cusco in 1533, the vast majority of the population was still of Quechua Inca descent. The Spaniards used the Incas as a labour workforce to build the cathedral.

Most of the stones from the building were taken from Saqsayhuaman, an Inca holy and defensive structure located on the hills above Cusco. Due to its large size, much of Saqsayhuaman remains intact. Just as the temple of Viracocha was removed and the holy stones of Saqsayhuaman were employed to build the cathedral, the intentional desecration of Inca religious architecture, once the Spaniards learned that the very sand spread on Cusco's main plaza was considered sacred, they removed it and employed it in the cathedral's mortar. Building was completed in 1654, almost a hundred years after construction began.

The Cathedral, in addition to its official status as a place of worship, has become a major repository of Cusco's colonial art. It also holds many archeological artifacts and relics.

Puma pointed out to us how the Quechua people incorporated their inca beliefs into the art of the cathedral. For example, the women represent mountains through the addition of hats, the baby Jesus is absent from statues of the Virgin Mary, to portray Pachamama, and serpents, condors, pumas and hummingbirds can be found in the paintings.

Next we viewed some Inca walls, built to withstand powerful earthquakes.

Then we visited the Santo Domingo and Coricancha Temple. Cuzco was laid out on a grid plan in the shape of a puma, a sacred mountain lion. The pre-Inca site of Sacsayhuaman, on a plateau near the northern edge of the city, forms the head of the puma and the Coricancha temple forms the center of the grid.

The Coricancha was the centerpiece of a vast astronomical observatory and calendrical device for precisely calculating precessional movement. The Inca took over an earlier sacred site at the center of the city, upon which they constructed their primary temple and astronomical observatory. The Inca used the Coricancha in conjunction with standing stones positioned on the horizon of nearby mountains for determining the dates of the solstices and equinoxes, as well as monitoring the passage of precessional time. The great temple also incorporates a prominent solar alignment using a nearby peak called Pachatusan as a sightline for the June solstice. The elliptical exterior wall of the temple may have served as a model of the celestial ecliptic.

The Coricancha temple (meaning literally, "the corral of gold") was primarily dedicated to Viracocha, the creator god, and Inti, the Sun god. The Coricancha also had subsidiary shrines to the Moon, Venus, the Pleiades and various weather deities. Additionally, there were a large number of religious icons of conquered peoples which had been brought to Cusco, partly in homage and partly as hostage. Reports by the first Spanish who entered Cuzco tell that over 4000 priests served the Coricancha, that ceremonies were conducted around the clock, and that the temple was fabulous beyond belief. The wonderfully carved granite walls of the temple were covered with more than 700 sheets of pure gold, weighing around two kilograms each; the spacious courtyard was filled with life-size sculptures of animals and a field of corn, all fashioned from pure gold; the floors of the temple were themselves covered in solid gold; and facing the rising sun was a massive golden image of the sun encrusted with emeralds and other precious stones. All of this golden artwork was quickly stolen and melted down by the Spanish conquistadors, led by Francisco Pizzaro, who then built a church of Santo Domingo on foundations of the temple. At the center of the Coricancha, marking a place known as Cuzco Cara Urumi (the ‘Uncovered Navel Stone’) is an octagonal stone coffer which at one time was covered with 55 kilograms of pure gold. Major earthquakes have severely damaged the church, but the Inca stone walls, built out of huge, tightly-interlocking blocks of stone, still stand as a testimony to their superb architectural skills and sophisticated stone masonry.

After that we went up the mountain to visit the archeological site Saqsayhuaman. The size of the stones here have left historians massively impressed but utterly at a loss for an explanation of how Sacsayhuaman was constructed. This led the way for theorists such as Eric von Daniken who was convinced this was the work of visitors from outer space.

From the simple perspective of construction techniques, this is probably one of the best examples of masonry in all the Pre-Columbian Americas.

The quarries for the stones are located 9 miles and 20 miles away, on the other side of a mountain range and a deep river gorge. Within a few hundred yards of the complex is a single stone that was carved from the mountainside, moved some distance, and then abandoned. The stone contains steps, platforms and depressions, probably intended as a part of the fortifications. It now sits upside-down, the size of a five-storey house.

The largest stone blocks at Sacsayhuaman (some of which are over 28ft high), are regularly estimated to weigh over 120 tons, while more enthusiastic estimates place the largest stones at 300 to 440 tons . So precise was the masonry that one block on the outer walls, for example, has faces cut to fit perfectly with 12 other blocks. Other blocks were cut with as many as 36 sides. All the blocks were fitted together so precisely that a thickness gauge could not be inserted between them.

The Spanish nicknamed the site ‘the Fortress’. However, current research suggests that it was more likely to have been a temple. The layout of the site makes it likely it was used as a sanctuary and a place to worship the sun. Puma says it was a temple, a fortress, and an astronomical observatory.

Next the bus took us to a spot where we walked about 200 meters up a gravel track to Tambomachay, which translates as ‘Inn Cave’, but is more frequently referred to as ‘The Inca’s Baths’. The carefully cut stones frame and channel a fresh water spring which issues from high on the slope above the site and is channeled from one terrace to another, vanishes underground and re-emerges in twin cascades. The precise purpose of the site is unknown but it was likely used in the worship of water.

The next site we visited was Q’enqo. It is a large limestone outcrop, the name of which translates to ‘zigzag’ or ‘labyrinth’. It has many designs cut into it, some of which are very detailed.  The site is a sacred site and many of the carvings have special significance. A llama, a condor, and a snake have all been identified. Channels and rivulets have been cut into the stone and may have been used to course chichi during ceremonies.

At the front of the site, a standing stone enclosed by a finely sculpted niched wall has also been identified as casting a shadow shaped like a puma’s head when the sun rises on the winter solstice. Inside the sacred site is a tunnel that leads to what appears to be a beautifully sculpted altar.

There was also a wonderful view of Cusco from high above the city.

Finally, we stopped at a Vicuna store where we had an opportunity to purchase llama and alpaca sweaters, etc.

I was getting a bit concerned we would be late for our briefing on the trek, but we got to the appointed meeting place at virtually exactly 7pm. One other couple was also on the trek, Mike and Sue-Anne from Sydney Australia. Mike had good experience trekking at high altitudes, having hiked in the Himalayas on two occasions. It was the first trek for Sue-Anne but she was very fit looking and younger than the rest of us. Our guide Carlos was a bit late arriving, a reputation he had no trouble living up to.

Carlos was 27 and had been a porter/guide for the last ten years. He had a thick crop of curly black hair and instantly instilled a feeling that we were in good hands. He said we were a family on the trek, and would all stick together. There were going to be 12 porters accompanying us, including a head cook, and a head porter.  The porters were only allowed to carry a maximum of 20kg each. Our duffle bags were not to exceed 7kg. He ran through the essentials of what we needed to bring. We were all staying in different hotels in Ollantaytambo tomorrow, but we were to be ready to be picked up in our hotel lobby at 8:30am on Sunday, to be driven to the trail head at km 82.

The meeting lasted about 20 minutes. The four of us chatted for a few more minutes after Carlos left and then we parted ways. Russ and I hadn’t had supper yet, and decided to go to one of the two restaurants Joseph had recommended, that was close to the main square where we had just had our meeting. Mike and Sue-Anne had eaten there and said the food was excellent.

Russell had an Alpcaca curry and I had a beef tenderloin curry – both excellent. We hadn’t been drinking alcohol because apparently it wasn’t good if you were acclimatizing to a high altitude, but we broke down and each had a glass of wine. Unfortunately we had to walk up that big hill to get to our hotel after dinner, but we survived. Tomorrow we are off to the sacred valley.  One more day until we start the trek!

Back at the hotel, we carefully arranged what we were bringing in our duffle bags on the trek and what we were leaving in our suitcases at the hotel in Cusco. Our bags ended up being much less than the maximum of 7kg. Mine was 4.6kg and Russell’s was around 5.5kg (he had the trail guide etc.).

Thursday - Sept 28, 2017 Cusco

We had been told our suitcases would arrive in the morning, and we were anxious for that. I was waiting for the bags before having a shower, so we went for breakfast, but when they weren’t there by 9am we decided to give up on them for the time being and showered and went up to the San Blas Cathedral Square.

Very quickly we were approached by a student artist peddling his wares. They were very impressive. I particularly liked his paintings which displayed the symbols of the old cultures of the Andes and the Inkas’ holy animals. He explained their meanings to us and it was very fascinating.

The Inca religion is an admixture of complex ceremonies, practices, animistic beliefs, varied forms of belief in objects having magical powers, and nature worship which culminated in the worship of the sun, which was presided over by the priests of the last native pre-Columbian conquerors of the Andean regions of South America.

Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes.  In Inca mythology, Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting, embodies the mountains, and causes earthquakes. She is also an ever-present and independent deity who has her own self-sufficient and creative power to sustain life on this earth. The four cosmological Quechua (indigenous peoples of South America) principles - Water, Earth, Sun, and Moon - claim Pachamama as their prime origin, and priests sacrifice llamas, cuy (guinea pigs), and elaborate, miniature, burned garments to her.

The Inka Cross or Chakana

is a strong symbol of the old cultures of the Andes and is considered the most complete, holy, geometric design of the Inkas. This symbol is often found in old places and holy centers in the Andes in Peru and in Bolivia. The Chakana has had, and still has, a considerable meaning to the Inkas and it also represents many meanings in its design.

The word Chakana is based on the word “chakay,” which means “to cross” or “to bridge”. It derives from the ancient Inkan language, Quechan, still used today. Traditionally, the Chakana (Cruz cuadrada means a four-sided cross in Spanish) represents the constellation of the Southern Cross which is seen in the southern hemisphere. According to the opinion of the old Andes population, this was the centre of the Universe and was easy to find when they looked up in the sky at night. When the Chakana is used for meditation or for training/teaching, it is said to bring mental balance and a deeper insight at many levels of consciousness.

The Meaning of the Inka Cross, sides, levels, top, bottom, middle:

At the top to the left

Future
Present
Past

At the top to the right

Hana Pacha – Heaven
The upper world, light sophisticated energy. The stars, divine creatures, and gods

Kay Pacha –The earth
This world, light and heavy energy, here and now, Mother Earth. People’s lives.

Uqha Pacha –The Underworld
Heavier energy, but not Hell, may be lucky, beautiful things. Death.

At the bottom to the left

Peace
War
Intelligence

At the bottom to the right

The holy animals:
Condor/eagle: represents the upper world in the sky
Cougar: represents powerful land animals
Snake: represents the lower world

Center / “hole”

Represents the Inkan capital Cusco, the center for the Inka Empire or the people who lived in the middle of the 3 lives, in the 4 elements and the middle of the universe.

The four sides

The four most important corners are supposed to symbolize

·         North, South, East and West,

·         the 4 elements, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and

·         the 4 big stars in the Southern Cross.

12 corners

The 12 festivals / The Inkan calendar.

The Inkas had a calendar, composed by twelve months, each of 30 days. Each month in the Inka calendar had its own festival (meaning month). The twelve outer corners mark the twelve corners of the year and an achievement of awareness.

The Inkas’ Holy Animals

The Trilogy

The Inkas have three primary holy power animals called The Trilogy. The Condor, The Cougar, and The Snake.

They also have a fourth one, the Hummingbird, which also belongs to the holy power animals; the Hummingbird is often illustrated together with the three others. To some degree, The Hummingbird belongs to The Condor since it is also a symbol for the upper world

The Condor (the Eagle):

Condor – helps you to see visions and unlimited possibilities and helps us to realize them

Element - Water

Cougar (Puma/Jaguar):

Cougar (Puma) symbolizes courage and inner strength

Element - Earth

Serpent (snake):

The serpent helps us to shed our limitations, as the serpent sheds its skin

Symbolizes intellect and knowledge.

Element: Fire.

Hummingbird:

The hummingbird, which brings us the sweet things in life, is brave and persisting. Helps us to follow the call of our heart.

Even though the hummingbird is not directly included in The Trilogy; it is often pictured together with it because it belongs together with the Condor and is linked to Machu Picchu.

The hummingbird delivers the news that endurance and persistence are important elements in our lives.

Element: Air

From the 16^th century onwards the Inca religion was displaced by Roman Catholicism as the conquistadors steadily converted the local population. Although the vast majority of the population today claim to be RC, the reality is that few attend regular church services and a large proportion of these practice a form of Pagan Catholicism, whereby Catholicism is fused with a series of indigenous, animist beliefs such as the worship of dieties from the natural world, including mountains, animals and plants. Viracocha (the creator) is often thought of as the Christian God and Pachamama (the earth mother) is represented by the Virgin Mary.

I told our student artist that we liked his work but wanted to shop around first. He explained he had to leave to go to school soon and wouldn’t be back for several days, etc., etc. I was thinking we were at the main square and could trust him, so we bought two of his works. One displayed the symbols of the old cultures of the Andes and the Inkas’ holy animals, and the other was the Inca calendar. We took them back to the hotel, and then realized we hadn’t been at the main square. It was in the other direction down the hill from our hotel. Over the next couple of days in Cusco we had lots of opportunities to view the works of other artists, but I liked his the best. I am also convinced that he told us the truth about the materials he used in his art, which some of the others didn’t (even some of the artists at the main square).

We took our new art purchases back to the hotel, and then we headed to the main square to take a city tour, even though we had a guided tour on Friday, because Joseph said it would be different. When we got there we were instantly offered numerous city tours. I asked if they were in English, and we went with the one who said yes.

We were sitting in the top of an open air double decker bus, and the guide was talking on a PA system. It was very hard to make out what he was saying, and it sounded like it was all in Spanish to me. At one of the stops I said to the guide that I thought the tour was in English, and he said it was in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Who would have known?

Even though we didn’t know what we were looking at half of the time, it was still interesting to see the various sights. We drove high up into the mountains and had a wonderful view.

We stopped at the Cristo Blanco, erected on Pukamoqo hill, a vantage point high above Cusco. Cristo Blanco is a large statue of Jesus Christ that can be seen across the city. Towering some 8 meters high the white structure was a gift from Arabic Palestinians who sought refuge in Cusco after World War II. The statue depicts Christ extending his arms outwards, very similar to Rio´s Christ the Redeemer, but in miniature format.

According Inca legend Pukamoqo Hill was a spiritual location for the Incas. Local myth says that the hill holds soil samples from all the 4 quarters of the Inca Empire or what the Incas called Tawantinsuyo.

Cristo Blanco offers panoramic views across Cusco´s main square – Plaza de Armas, the entire historic centre of the city and as far as the residential district of San Sebastian.

Another one of our stops was at an indigenous community where a Shaman performed a cocoa leaf burning ceremony to Pachamama. 

Payment to Pachamama is a sacred ritual of healing, protection, blessing and flowering. During the ceremony a very special bond is opened between this world and the other. In this way we show the spirit of the earth our infinite respect and gratitude through a ritual of offering to receive in return health, prosperity and well-being.

When we got back to Cusco we went for lunch and then wandered around the old part of the city surrounding the main square visiting shops and the market.

When we got back to the hotel around 5pm our bags had still not arrived. Investigation revealed that Avianca, the airline that had our bags, did not have any arrangements with United Airlines, the airline that failed to deliver our bags to Lima when we arrived, and as a result, Avianca refused to deliver the bags to our hotel – we had to go get them. Luckily for us, Joseph was at the hotel to escort two men from the US to the airport. We had been sitting in the lobby talking to them for about an hour while the receptionist at the hotel tried to track down our bags. Very interesting guys. We had managed to talk to them for about 45 minutes before Trump even got mentioned. They weren’t supporters.

We got a ride there with them, but had to pay for the cab back. Joseph told us to go after United to pay for the cab. We’ll just wait until after United gets us back to Ottawa to do that!

I was just happy to have our bags so we could change our clothes and get on with separating out what was coming on the Inca Trail and what was staying at the hotel in Cusco.

We had supper at the hotel again. Another delicious and authentic Peruvian meal.