Well it´s about time I mentioned something about the Incas, Cusco and the sacred lost city of Machu Picchu!

The Incas are by no means the oldest culture in South America but perhaps the most famous. Previously among others the Huari´s ruled.

The Incas worshiped the sun and moon. There is one theory as that this is one of the reasons they never used the wheel as the shape is similar. For such an intelligent people they were of course aware of it´s existence as archaeologists have discovered wheels on children’s toys.

Another theory is that they just had no use for it as almost all of the terrain was dense jungle combined by steep mountains. Also they had no ” pulling beasts ” as it was not till the 1540´s when Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro invaded South America with horses that the Incas became aware of them.

There are reports of the Incas being shocked and mesmerised by the charging Spaniards on horseback. The Incas believed the strange four legged creatures to be from another planet. Some of the roads I am running on now were probably narrow walking tracks laid by the Huari´s or Incas.

They used sheer numbers, perhaps hundreds of thousands of men, women and children and took decades to raise some incredible giant slabs of rocks up mountains using planks and tree trunks.

They were then sculptured and placed with such preciseness that even a blade of grass could not pass between the slabs.

Many of their ingenious engineering and craft skills are unknown as there was no written word.

Peru has always been a seismic disaster zone with major earthquakes coming as often as every fifteen years. The Incas designed their buildings and structures to be earthquake proof by not using mortar. This way a building can rattle and move and resettle without collapsing. Their doors and windows were designed the same way. Even today I see some mud and stone blocks just placed on top of each other without mortar, just some mud between the blocks.

The Incas were relentless in their recruitment drives. Everyone had to serve. Those that refused had to pay serious taxes in the form of barter. Those that protested, often whole communities were uprooted from their safe environment and transplanted to areas far away. The lack of survival skills then led to their demise.

There were few animals, except for an ancient breed of Peruvian, bald and black dog, the three sacred Inca animals the snake, puma and condor. The significance is that one is below us, one on the same level and the other above us. There were no cows or pigs either, just sheep and llamas.

Milk was gotten from the super food quima, though rich in nutrients. The quima crop was so powerful that it raped the soil of future growth till it recovered after fresh nutrients were spread.

The invading Spaniards plundered much of the riches of Peru and most of South America, shipping their gold and treasures back to Spain in ships that were so laden that they were almost sinking. It was Spanish ships that the sea pirates targeted. As one man said to me… Why would they pirates attack the English ships coming from North America, for they only discovered Indians?

It is amazing that the Spaniards never discovered the lost city of Machu Picchu… In fact this is proved as Machu Picchu was found unplundered after the Incas abandoned it in 1572 as perhaps the Spaniards were closeby. I took them a year to get to a close location but still they never knew of Machu Picchu, Peru´s number one tourist attraction.

It is suggested that most of it´s inhabitants died from smallpox.

The Incas chose the site as the mountains around hold a very high religious value to them, and also because of it´s inaccessibility to outsiders.

The city is saddled between two mountains Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu, with a commanding view down two valleys and a nearly impassable mountain at it´s back. It has a water supply from springs that cannot be blocked easily, and enough land to grow food for about four times as many people as ever lived there. The hillsides that lead to it have been terraced, not only to provide more farmland to grow crops , but to steepen the slopes which invaders would have to ascend. The terraces reduce soil erosion and protect against landslides. Two high-altitude routes from Machu Picchu go across the mountains back to Cusco, one through the sun gate and the other across the Inca bridge. Both could be blocked easily, should invaders approach along them. Regardless of it´s original purpose, it is strategically situated and readily defended.

The world did not know of the sacred cities existence till 1911 when a local 11 year old Quechua boy led American historian Hiram Bingham to the site. Bingham was working for Yale University as a lecturer. As many as 4,000 of his finds were removed to Yale for ” safe keeping ” Today controversary exists as Yale still holds some of these treasures. In recent years there has been talks of the treasures being returned to the Peruvian government.

In 2007 Machu Picchu has been voted by a world-wide internet poll to be one of the New Seven Wonders of The World.

Due to continual economic and commercial forces which threaten the area UNESCO is considering putting Machu Picchu on it´s World Heritage In Danger List.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2012 at 4:24 am and is filed under jogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.