Pachacuti’s Country Estate at Pisaq

Niagara — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:15:08 +0000

The prevailing theory seems to be that Pachacuti had Pisac (and Ollantaytambo) built after he defeated the Cuyos (and Tambos) in the Vilcanota (or Sacred) Valley. They were his private estates, designed to both protect the valley from attack and to provide food and other resources necessary to support his family and descendants. (MacQuarrie, p. 439)

Pisac is huge. The ruins here are unique in that there are four distinct building areas: P’isaqa, Qanchiracay, Intihuatana, and Q’allaqasa for the elite, agricultural, religious, and military inhabitants of the complex.

I like the following view because it gives the viewer an idea of what the terraces looked like before and after restoration following about 400 years of non-use.

Look carefully at the slopes in the background. It looks as if the terraces extended almost to the peak. Given all the easily accessible good farmland in the valley, the amount of land cultivated on the mountainsides during the time of the Incas would appear to be unnecessary unless there were a whole lot of people living here.

Not all of the terraces were for farming. More than 3,000 burial places stud the hillside.

Ransacked burial sites at Pisaq

And here’s a view from across the valley.

Each of the “villages” has its own character with the religious sector having the finest architecture and the Intihuatana or Sun Temple having the best of the best.

Pisaq religious sector

: The Intihuatana and other temples

Like the Intihuatana in other locales, it is the building with the curved walls encasing a natural stone outcrop.

Intihuatana or Sun Temple

Also note the crude stone building to the right of the Intihuatana in the middle image. It seems very out of place, but if there is a theory about its purpose and location, I haven’t found it yet.

Rough stone building in religious sector

Compare the workmanship to these buildings.

The Q’allaqasa or military citadel sits strategically above the confluence,

: Q’allaqasa or military sector at Pisac

while the elite lived lower down on the hillside at Pisaqa.

Pisaqa

The peons had the crudest building works, at least as reconstructed.

A rebuilt structure at Qanchiracay

Qanchiracay

Given the reconstruction and restoration of all but the best walls that have withstood the tests of time, it is hard to know where the reality of the 16th century has been usurped by the imagination of the 20th. For example, look closely at the steps in the following image. Rarely did any of the thousands of steps on the Inca Trail look this even or of such uniform height. Obviously, some changes have made made for visitor safety, but once one begins to question, one doesn’t know where to stop.

Was this really what it looked like around 1500?

This dilemma on the part of both the caretaker and the visitor is not unique to Incan ruins. I’ve encountered it time and time again in the American Southwest where the National Park Service (and other custodians of American Indian ruins) struggle to make places like the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park both safe and true to the past when starting with not much more than a pile of rocks and no written records.

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

On Top of the Andes with the Aid of Some Coca

Niagara — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:52:14 +0000

The high-light of the trip from Arequipa to Chivay is the Mirador de los Andes at 16,066′. To prepare one’s body for the ascent, the guides recommend chewing coca leaves. They even stop at a mini-market on the outskirts of the city to give you a chance to purchase a bag of leaves (or coca candy). Then, when you are back on the bus, they demonstrate how to pinch off a tiny bit of ash, role it up in about a dozen leaves, and then stuff the wad into your cheek. You then mash it in place for a half hour or so to release the alkaloids in the leaves, one of which is a form of cocaine. (For a more in-depth discussion of coca and its role in Andean culture, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca.)

Coca tea is generally tauted by the guidebooks as being helpful in altitude adjustment, and it is readily available in tea bags in most hotels and restaurants. Several of the hotels I stayed in had bowls of loose leaves available next to their hot water urns. I’d been drinking it since my arrival in Peru; it was way better than Lipton. I also bought a bag of leaves and with my guides help, settled in for a half hour of masticating the wad while the van climbed ever higher on a wide, well-paved road. Later on, I used some of my leaves when ascending the highest pass on the Inca Trail. Since it is illegal to bring the leaves into the United States, I gave the remainder to my porters at the end of the trek.

At the mirador, the van stopped so we could take pictures. The view was, of course, fantastic, but it was difficult to enjoy for long as it was cold and the wind chill made it feel very cold, indeed. It was also difficult to capture the immensity of the view.

: The Andes from a height of 16,000′

The guidebooks all say this pass is one of the highest motorable passes in the world. But, is it? Currently, the highest is believed to be Semo La in Tibet at 18,258′. Estimates of the Marsimik in India are rounded to 18,300′. For many years, the Khardung La (17,580′) in India was thought to be the highest, but modern GPS readings debunk that claim. There probably are others in the Himalayas that also surpass the Mirador de los Andes by over 1000 feet.

The exact altitude of Mirador de los Andes is also questionable. Encarta places it at only 14,660′.

And how does this pass compare to those in the American Rocky Mountains? Two of the highest passes I went over, admittedly in a 4WD vehicle, were Imogene at 13,114′ and Black Bear at 12,840′.

Imogene Pass at 13,114'

One difference between 13,000′ and 16,000′ is the presence of some form of vegetation.

The Rocky Mountains from 12,840'

A more interesting difference is in people’s feelings and behaviors when reaching such lofty heights. The following scene was taken directly across the road from the Andean lookout.

Apachetas at Mirador de los Andes

There were literally thousands of these apachetas covering the hillside. Some were just a few rocks piled up like a cairn; some were several feet tall; some were very artistic and created silhouettes of animals. Most were probably created by tourists who knew nothing about what apachetas mean in Peruvian culture, but how they felt standing in this place looking at the apachetas already in place motivated them to do something.

An apacheta is a stone cairn or mound used to designate or “link up” to a place of power that is infused with refined energy. (Matt McGee, Peruvian Shamanism, The Pachakuti Mesa) For a detailed discussion, including their meaning and how to build one, see Build Your Own Apacheta.

On the other hand, we witnessed the following scene near the top of Black Bear Pass in Colorado.

An American Apacheta?

Trails and Treasures » Colorado

Pachacuti’s Country Estate at Pisaq

On Top of the Andes with the Aid of Some Coca