A bit of History

Yesterday we visited two sites that we had never heard of before planning this trip.

Ollantaytambo

The best way to get my tongue around the name of this place is to use Gaeilge : ollan = wool, then the Irish love a cuppa tay, and the first new word for today Class, is TAMBO. That means a resting place.  So this place was a resting spot for Ollantay, an excellent Inca leader. 

The Inca empire extended from Colombia in the north as far south as southern Chile and Argentina. They had a system of communications that involved runners going 10 to 15km and passing the message to the next runner. Each tambo was a resting place for the runners, but also they grew into villages and towns. Ollantay was a bit of a genius by all accounts. We saw stone storehouses built into the hills at an angle so that the cold wind coming through the mountain pass would always keep the food fresh. That way when El Niño struck their stores of food would be safe. Yes, despite what we think we know about global warming, El Niño was around back in the 14th century.

He also built a Sun Temple, using stone quarried across the valley, and we saw the paths where the stone was carted up. The construction used no mortar; some kind of tenon and mortise arrangement. (Don't ask me!) Also they used trapezoidal arches and window and door frames for stability. I saw a lot of current construction sites using the same design in the windows.

The three symbols of Inca culture are the condor,  the puma and the snake. The condor represents the future, the puma, with its feet on the ground represents the present and the snake is underground representing all things past. (It was a lot to take in in one day, so feel free to do your own research!!)

The temple of the sun had these symbols carved on the stone, but when Pizarro conquered (1532)  he had most of the Inca symbols obliterated. Today Peru has its own blend of Christian and Inca cultures. More later.

Here are a few shots that may illustrate all of the above:

Looking up the Sacred Valley and down on Ollantaytambo Town.

No mortar.

The storehouse structure is about 1/3 way up the mountain. Sorry for poor quality!

You can also get an idea of how high we climbed 😉 

Pisac Archaeological Site

Our next stop, 90 minutes later was the Archaeological site of Pisac. What you can admire here is, besides the view to the valley below, the system of terraces on the hillsides. You'll have seen this phenomenon elsewhere of course, but being in it brings home the scale of the terraces, some of them 5m deep. The function of them was to prevent the erosion of the mountains. Of course the terraces also retained water for irrigation. The main crops grown around here were and still are, corn, quinoa and potatoes. The Irish aren't a patch on the Peruvians in the potato stakes; Peru has >4000 varieties. They're on every menu!

Our guide showed us burial chambers in the cliff, overlooking the dry river. The Inca believed that the soul travels to the next life through the river. Although the people are Catholic, they still retain some Inca beliefs. We were told that in the Cusco region, three days after the funeral, the body is stripped and the clothes are washed in the river, to make sure that any remaining spirit is released.  (I'm only reporting what I was told, don't ask me for details please!!)

At every site we visited there was a small market selling tourist tat, so although a visit to Pisac Market was scheduled we opted to skip it.

Terrace wall.