All kinds of Inca Stuff!!

Hi Everyone! It´s been a while since we last had an update, and wow is there a lot to talk about this time! It´s been all about Inca ruins and Quechua culture, as we´ve been exploring Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu!

Cuzco is beautiful and so full of history! As soon as we got off the bus the city fascinated us with its fusion of colonial-Spanish architecture built on top of ancient-Inca foundations. We went to el Museo Inca (ironically situated in an old Spanish Church) where we learned Peru´s story of conquest. It started with the Chilca´s 18000 years ago and has since been reconquered and inhabited by dozens of other cultures such as the Limas, Nazcas, and Incas, until the Spanish showed up in the 1500s. The Spanish have left since then and the Inca descendants (called the Amayara and Quechua) now proudly live independently. They even have their own flag (it looks just like the Gay Pride Flag) and try to respect their traditional values, rituals, and ways of life. After the Inca museum, we explored some local ruins just a Taxi ride outside of Cuzco. The Inca baths at Tambomachay still had water that was originally irrigated from the Andes over 1000 years ago running through them! What craftsmanship! Puka Pukara was possibly an old hunting lodge, and Q´enqo had some great tunnels to explore as well as an old sacrificial stone (where they sacrificed Chicha a highly alcoholic sacred corn beer). Sacsayhauman, by far the most impressive of the four locals, hosted one of the final Spanish battles. Massive stones, some 4 times the height of a man and equally wide, created huge zig-zags on a ridge high above Cuzco. The stonemanship was so precise that if you closed your eyes and felt the rock, it would be hard to determine where one started and another stopped! There were also a huge arena, some thrones carved out of solid rock, and some scary tunnels, which we navigated piecewise by camera flash! After spending two hours exploring the massive complex (of which the Spanish spared only 20%) we walked back to Cuzco via an ancient Inca road.

The next day we met up with our good friend Mimi from Santa Cruz so we could all conquer the next and most amazing part of the Sacred Valley together! We began our journey to Machu Pîcchu by taking a couple taxis to Santa Teresa. There we walked down river to indulge in some quaint- and very hot-springs to prepare ourselves for the long journey to come! The next morning we started our trek to Aguas Calientes, the little (crappy) town at the base of Machu Picchu mountain (whatever it was called). Our first mission: to cross the river. We had heard about a ¨scary cable car ride¨ we´d have to take to get across. We were surprised to find out it was self-operated. We each took turns getting into the basket and pulling ourselves, hand over hand, across the roaring river! Once on the other side together, we walked... far. It was amazing seeing the scenery change from a sparse high-dessert to a lush jungle throughout the day. Towards the end, we were surrounded by jungle sounds, butterflies, and avocado-bearing trees. We had an early night in Aguas Calientes to rest ourselves for our early start the next day to ..... drum roll ..... Machu Picchu!!!
We woke up at 4 that morning to begin our trek. For about an hour, we followed a long line of people climbing the thousands of Inca-stairs in the pitch dark to get to the entrance. Once inside, we were totally in awe. All the buildings were still so intact that it felt like people could have left yesterday! We climbed to a nice spot to watch the sun rise, bringing the whole place to life! After that, as if part of some torture ritual, we began climbing Wayna Picchu, the tall peak the originates at the ruins and continues up for another 1000 or so feet! Another million steps later, we were rewarded with great views of the whole ancient city and a nice rest. We climbed down and really started exploring the complex. They had everything here! First we saw an impressive drawbridge that was basically 10 stories of piled rocks on each side with a plank of wood in between. We weren't allowed to walk across. Then we went to the observatory, which housed a carefully carved calender rock. Depending on the time of year, shadows would fall along different lines that corresponded to the solstices and equinoxes to tell when seasons started. There were also some irrigation channels and baths that still functioned, quite a few temples, and all kinds of living quarters. A lot of our time was spent chasing llamas around through all the buildings, almost getting spat on a few times, in order to snap the perfect facebook photo. After 9 hours of ruins we ran back down the 1000s of steps (in only 20 minutes!) to take a shower and catch our train back towards the Sacred Valley.

The next day was really special. Kim had been wanting to learn how weave in the incredible way that the Inca descendants still do today. We heard that the town of Chincero offered some classes, so we went there directly from the train. Luckily, that night we found the Weavers Association of Chincero, where the nice Quechua women let us stay the night and use their kitchen. We spent the whole morning the next day learning how to weave! I didn't do too well, but Kim and Mimi were practically certified indigenous-women by the end! (Well, not even close I must confess. It normally takes the experts 3 weeks to weave one single cloth, but the girls got the hang of it pretty well!) After getting our weaving fix (I was quite frustrated by the end), we headed back to Cuzco. We got some well deserved rest and some amazing massages with hot rocks!

Now we're off towards Lima! Our time in South America is coming to an end, but there's still lots to do before we fly to Panama! Keep reading and we'll keep going! Hope everyone is having a great time!