Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Welcome to the Sacred Valley of the Inca. It's easy to understand why this valley was sacred. Not only is it beautiful, but it features a remarkably broad floodplain that contains some of the world's most fertile soil. Just driving through it on a bus keeps one glued to the windows, being on a flat plain, surrounded by massive, cloud-tickling mountains. Take away the history, take away the people, and this valley still has powerful appeal.
The day's tour started out by bus, with our guide, Percy, giving us background history and amusing anecdotes to prepare us for what we would see today. What we would see would be all the ruins I could manage to look at. This made me happy. Our first stop was Pisaq, a mountaintop city more impressive than Saqsaywaman had been, which was no small feat. The first thing that strikes you about Pisaq is the massively impressive terracing. Those Inca sure knew their terracing. These photos inadequately communicate the scale of these structures.
In the next photo, right about in the middle of the frame, is a city. It is dwarfed by the massive terraces below it.
Here is another section of the city, perched on a lower mountaintop.
Not a place for those afraid of heights.
There's a debate in archaeology around whether the Inca built their terraces primarily for agriculture, and secondarily as retaining walls to prevent erosion, or if they were primarily retaining walls that just happened to also be handy for agriculture. I say, who cares? They obviously served both purposes nicely.
Here is the well preserved religious center of Pisaq. The round building in the center is the temple of the sun, which houses the sundial. It is set up to measure the winter solstice, June 21 below the equator, which was the most important date of the year for the Inca.
Here's a closeup of the Temple of the Sun. Compare it to the Temple of the Sun from Machu Picchu, which I will post in my next installment.
High Inca masonry features trapezoidal doors, windows and alcoves. Also, the walls angle inward. This is all to add to the stability of the structure. Even without mortar, these structures are practically earthquake proof. Pisaq's stonework, unlike that of Saqsaywaman, and as you'll see later, Ollantaytambo, is much more similar to modern masonry, with regular horizontal lines, and similarly sized and shaped stones. The differing styles seen at these sites, as well as those of later sites such as Machu Picchu and Choquequirao, is often attributed to different artisans brought in from different parts of the empire.
In fact, as I would learn in my travels, about the only real constant, architecturally, of the major Inca sites, is the amazing terracing. Notice the built in staircases.
We breezed so quickly through Pisaq, I was left feeling as though I could've stayed there much longer. We were back on the bus and on our way to our next ruined city. First, we stopped for lunch at an awesome, and randomly located in the middle of nowhere, buffet restaurant called "Hacienda". After a great meal, many of the group made very enthusiastic use of the extremely nice, clean and modern bathroom facilities. This was an enormous luxury after days without running water, with only a hole in the ground to use. Conversation inevitably centered around the state of everyone's bowel movements. Some celebrated having solid waste (raises hand), others lamented the opposite, still others complained of no waste at all (Jon's visit to the facilities was unproductive). I was just delighted to have Jello. mmmm, jello.
But we still had another major Inca site to take in today, Ollantaytambo. Legend has it that top Inca general, Ollantay, who was a favorite of the emperor, came to the emperor one day to ask a favor. After praising the emporer, and thanking him for the great many things he'd done for him over the years, he said he had only one favor to ask. The emperor told him that he had served him so well, and done so much for him and the empire, that he needn't worry, any favor would be granted. Ollantay then asked for the emperor's daughter in marriage. The emperor tried to dissuade his friend, noting that they were of different stations, he couldn't possibly marry his daughter. Ollantay wouldn't be dissuaded however. The emperor had no choice but to refuse his offer, and exiled his loyal general from the capital. The general, and his own considerable following, came to this place and built their city. Supposedly, years later, after the death of the emperor, Ollantay encountered the new emperor, son of the former emperor. He asked him if he remembered him, to which he replied "of course I do!" Unaware, the new emperor asked why Ollantay had been away from the capital for so long. Ollantay confessed his love for the new emperor's sister, and the new emperor promptly granted permission for Ollantay to marry her. And they lived happily ever after. Of course, ever after was only a few years, because then the Spanish arrived and conquered the Inca.
Because of the timing of its construction, and strategic location, Ollantaytambo was never completed before the Spanish arrived. That didn't stop it from becoming an impressive edifice, even in it's incomplete state. Much of the common portion of the city, in the valley below, has been incorporated by the modern town of Ollantaytambo. Many of the houses and stores in the town have Inca foundations. The fortified administrative district on top of the nearby mountain, however has remained uninhabited, and is in much the same state as it had been since the Spanish conquered the area. When entering the administrative district, you are confronted by an escalating series of terraces that has the appearance of being a stairway for giants. Fortunately, there are smaller stairways for normal sized people built into it, as well, so we could ascend to the top.
Ollantaytambo was a city that spanned both sides of the valley, stretching up the opposing mountainside, as well.
Here is the modern city, nestled in the valley below, surrounded by the remnants of the Inca empire on all sides.
This site features the best examples of the high Inca, irregular stonework that we'd see. It also features the most massive megalithic construction in all of the Inca empire. Here you can see just how perfectly fitted these massive stones are.
Nowhere else in the Inca world were there such massive stones used in construction. Each of these weighs 40-70 tons.
As with most Inca sites of significance, Ollantaytambo is also situated near one of the great Andean snow capped mountains. These mountains were considered sacred, and most major cities were built within view of one.
It's pretty obvious to me that humans have become increasingly lazy with every advance in technology. Imagine this: To build this city, the Inca quarried the stone from the far opposite side of the valley pictured above. They transported it to the edge of the river by dragging it, using rollers and ropes. Keep in mind it weighs up to 70 tons. They then diverted the river to an alternative channel they had cut, moved the stones across the now dry river bed, then diverted the river back to it's original course, then continued on their way. For many miles. Straight up hill. Dragging 70 tons. And I thought my hiking pack was hard to drag uphill...
We traveled from Ollantaytambo by train to Aguas Calientes. The train ride was quite scenic and relaxing, giving us plenty of time for our conversations to diverge, at least momentarily, from the state of our bowel movements on to other things, such as American politics, movies, and music. It inevitably degenerated again, which left me with the opportunity to stare out the window. Aguas Calientes, translated into English, means "Hot Waters". I am left wondering why they chose to name a town after the very thing that it lacks. It may have been a side-effect of 11 people jumping into the shower simultaneously, but the result was: No Hot Water to be Found. We had all been looking forward to a hot shower for days, and we were going to have to make do with a painfully ice cold one. I wouldn't take no (hot water) for an answer. I turned on only the hot water, which produced nothing. While I cursed the plumbing, a trickle appeared. A hot trickle. I jumped in the shower stall, and proceeded to attempt to wash myself under this trickle. I got my body washed alright, then got my hair wet and lathered up, then, it actually got too hot, this trickle. So I turned on a bit of cold to mellow it out a bit, and continued. Then it went cold. Ice cold. With my hair full of shampoo. Then it got warm again, then cold. It alternated. So I kept scrubbing my hair, while sticking one foot under the trickle to monitor it's temperature. Then I got shampoo in my eyes. I laughed, picturing myself here in the shower, head full of shampoo, blind, hopping on one foot, waiting to cram myself up against the wall under this trickle to rinse my hair. I actually thought how funny that would be to write in my blog. That's one thing this blog has done for me. It allows me to take things into perspective, even more than I already did, and appreciate how funny they can be when retold later on. But I digress...
One thing the traveler will note immediately about Aguas Calientes, other than the fact that it fails to live up to it's name, is that it is chock full 'o pizzerias. They're everywhere. They love them some pizza in this town. So we went out and got some, what else, pizza, then headed to bed early. Because, what Aguas Calientes is most known for, after all, is being the closest city to one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World" , Machu Picchu, which we would be visiting first thing in the morning. You'll see it yourself in my next installment.
