November 2, 2011
Wednesday morning I had my coffee and then headed down to the "monumento Pachecutec" which I was already at a few days ago but it was closed at that time and I wanted to go inside since it was all about the main Inca emperor who started the whole Inca empire and ruled between 1438-1472AD. We was the "Alexander the Great" for South American history. He was the 9th Inca emperor.
His real name was "Cusi Inka Yupanqui" when he was a prince and when an invading tribe (The Chanka's) were looking to expand their empire for resources etc... his father "Viraqocha" (the King) and brother co-governor "Urko" (the kings successor) fled the city of Qosqo (Cuzco) and left it unprotected and Cusi Yupanqui decided to stay and defend the city and beat the Chankas and chased them down killing and wounding them for 2 leagues (I don't know how far 2 leagues is) as the Chankas desperately retreated from the onslaught.
After that battle he became the 9th Inca emperor and changed his name to "Pachakuteq Yupanqui Capac Inti Chury" which means "The son of the Sun, the world's reformer". He was not only good at warfare but was a visionary and planner that expanded the Inca empire with great technological feats in all areas. Many of their technologies in metallurgy, agriculture and architecture were received from older cultures that they had conquered.
He was very spiritual and believed everything had life and designed his cities in the shapes of animals. Cuzco is built in the shape of a Puma (see photo) and every section of the body had its own function in the city. They built the infrastructure and improved the Inca roads so he could deploy the labour force to certain areas easily. He was the one who built the ruins of Machu Pichu.
Of course the Incas never had a written history and much of this was passed down orally until the spanish arrived and it was written down in the mid 1500's.
Inside the monument it also listed what elevations each crop grew the best at. I don't know how the Incas knew the elevation of each area unless it was all trial and error for each area. Potatoes grew best at 3600-4000 meters above sea level, and corn at 2700-3400 meters, and coca plants at 400-1000 meters etc...
Yesterday on our train back from Aguas Calientes, Sur-gay was giving me some advice for my visit to Bolivia and said La Paz is the highest city in the world at 4050 feet above sea level and for altitude sickness I should buy some "Sorojchi" pills. I remember when I was in Lhasa Tibet 5 years ago and not listening to the guide and 4 of us walked around town all day and for the next 4 days we were all sick and bed ridden. Once he mentioned the name of these pills I am seeing signs for them everywhere (see photo). They are a bit pricey at just under $1US per pill and I am suppose to take 3 per day.
One thing that Franco and Paula from Chile had mentioned to me as big differences between Chile and countries like Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador is that they say in Chile drivers are respectful and always stop for pedestrians and said it is not the case here where drivers honk and never stop. The locals seem nervous about crossing the road. I have only had a couple people honk at me as I cross the street even though I felt safe but they never slow down and I usually look back at them for a couple seconds as if to use the old Eddie Murphy line "Something wrong with your horn Motherfucker?? Something is gonna be wrong if you don't stop making that sound!!". I have a theory that once a country becomes a 1st world country and everyone has enough money they start being respectful to others etc...and no need for rushing around and honking at people. Chile and Argentina are 2 of the most developed countries in South America. So now the honking and not stopping doesn't bother me as I see it as part of the "evolutionary process" unfolding before my eyes and probably in another 50 years they will out grow it..
After the Pachacutec monument I went to a museum that is below the old Inca fortress in Cuzco. Down there they had information on the history of Peru. I didn't know they had brain surgery where if a person had serious head trauma from battle or an accident they would give the patient coca leaves to relieve the pain as they opened up his head with their obsidian rock knives and removed the broken bone of the skull and 65% of the patients survived. The Inca elites believed that deformed skulls were prestigious and showed an evolved being where they would wear strange head wear and for their babies to develop the strange skull shape (see photo). They had some on display and they look like alien skulls with the back of the skull protruding much farther than normal.
I went back to Havitush tours and this time Percy was there who Pilar had recommended and I booked a 2 day tour for Lake Titicaca with the bus included and I will be leaving at 5:30am Thursday for Puno and should get there at 12:30pm and meet my guide "Alvaro" and then get the 2:30pm tour to Sillustani and check out some old inca ruins there. The next day I will take the boat out to the floating islands of Urus and then to Isla Amantani where I will stay with a family there over night and the next day to the island of Taquille and return to Puno for another night and head to Bolivia the next day to Copacacabana and then check out those islands (Island of the Moon and island of the Sun) since everyone says they are much better that the Peruvian side.
Wednesday morning I had my coffee and then headed down to the "monumento Pachecutec" which I was already at a few days ago but it was closed at that time and I wanted to go inside since it was all about the main Inca emperor who started the whole Inca empire and ruled between 1438-1472AD. We was the "Alexander the Great" for South American history. He was the 9th Inca emperor.
His real name was "Cusi Inka Yupanqui" when he was a prince and when an invading tribe (The Chanka's) were looking to expand their empire for resources etc... his father "Viraqocha" (the King) and brother co-governor "Urko" (the kings successor) fled the city of Qosqo (Cuzco) and left it unprotected and Cusi Yupanqui decided to stay and defend the city and beat the Chankas and chased them down killing and wounding them for 2 leagues (I don't know how far 2 leagues is) as the Chankas desperately retreated from the onslaught.
After that battle he became the 9th Inca emperor and changed his name to "Pachakuteq Yupanqui Capac Inti Chury" which means "The son of the Sun, the world's reformer". He was not only good at warfare but was a visionary and planner that expanded the Inca empire with great technological feats in all areas. Many of their technologies in metallurgy, agriculture and architecture were received from older cultures that they had conquered.
He was very spiritual and believed everything had life and designed his cities in the shapes of animals. Cuzco is built in the shape of a Puma (see photo) and every section of the body had its own function in the city. They built the infrastructure and improved the Inca roads so he could deploy the labour force to certain areas easily. He was the one who built the ruins of Machu Pichu.
Of course the Incas never had a written history and much of this was passed down orally until the spanish arrived and it was written down in the mid 1500's.
Inside the monument it also listed what elevations each crop grew the best at. I don't know how the Incas knew the elevation of each area unless it was all trial and error for each area. Potatoes grew best at 3600-4000 meters above sea level, and corn at 2700-3400 meters, and coca plants at 400-1000 meters etc...
Yesterday on our train back from Aguas Calientes, Sur-gay was giving me some advice for my visit to Bolivia and said La Paz is the highest city in the world at 4050 feet above sea level and for altitude sickness I should buy some "Sorojchi" pills. I remember when I was in Lhasa Tibet 5 years ago and not listening to the guide and 4 of us walked around town all day and for the next 4 days we were all sick and bed ridden. Once he mentioned the name of these pills I am seeing signs for them everywhere (see photo). They are a bit pricey at just under $1US per pill and I am suppose to take 3 per day.
One thing that Franco and Paula from Chile had mentioned to me as big differences between Chile and countries like Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador is that they say in Chile drivers are respectful and always stop for pedestrians and said it is not the case here where drivers honk and never stop. The locals seem nervous about crossing the road. I have only had a couple people honk at me as I cross the street even though I felt safe but they never slow down and I usually look back at them for a couple seconds as if to use the old Eddie Murphy line "Something wrong with your horn Motherfucker?? Something is gonna be wrong if you don't stop making that sound!!". I have a theory that once a country becomes a 1st world country and everyone has enough money they start being respectful to others etc...and no need for rushing around and honking at people. Chile and Argentina are 2 of the most developed countries in South America. So now the honking and not stopping doesn't bother me as I see it as part of the "evolutionary process" unfolding before my eyes and probably in another 50 years they will out grow it..
After the Pachacutec monument I went to a museum that is below the old Inca fortress in Cuzco. Down there they had information on the history of Peru. I didn't know they had brain surgery where if a person had serious head trauma from battle or an accident they would give the patient coca leaves to relieve the pain as they opened up his head with their obsidian rock knives and removed the broken bone of the skull and 65% of the patients survived. The Inca elites believed that deformed skulls were prestigious and showed an evolved being where they would wear strange head wear and for their babies to develop the strange skull shape (see photo). They had some on display and they look like alien skulls with the back of the skull protruding much farther than normal.
I went back to Havitush tours and this time Percy was there who Pilar had recommended and I booked a 2 day tour for Lake Titicaca with the bus included and I will be leaving at 5:30am Thursday for Puno and should get there at 12:30pm and meet my guide "Alvaro" and then get the 2:30pm tour to Sillustani and check out some old inca ruins there. The next day I will take the boat out to the floating islands of Urus and then to Isla Amantani where I will stay with a family there over night and the next day to the island of Taquille and return to Puno for another night and head to Bolivia the next day to Copacacabana and then check out those islands (Island of the Moon and island of the Sun) since everyone says they are much better that the Peruvian side.
