Page 108 - ESCARPMENT MAGAZINE | Winter 2013

Back in Cusco we took more anti-altitude medication (Cusco is
even higher thanMachu Picchu at 3,400 meters or 11,200 feet),
and checked into a lovely modern hotel which was complete with
hot water, heat and oxygen masks everywhere. The next day we
visited the most impressively beautiful cathedral we have seen
anywhere in the world. Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire
in the 13th century and when Francisco Pizzarro and his Spanish
conquistadors arrived in 1534 they made it the center for Spanish
colonization and the spread of Christianity. Not to be outdone
by the Incas, the Spanish built a massive ornate cathedral on the
ruins of an Inca palace and covered it lavishly with looted gold
and silver. You can look, but not touch and no photographs of
any kind are allowed.
A few miles from Cusco is another fantastic Inca site at an even
higher elevation. Sacsayhuaman stands at 3,700 meters and cov-
ers several acres. Once again no one is sure when it was con-
structed, how it was made or how it was used. But this doesn’t
prevent it from taking your breath away. The remains stand 2 to
3 stories high and are made from thousands of huge granite
blocks fitted together without mortar and so tightly put together
that you cannot insert even a piece of paper between them. Some
of the blocks are as large as 27 feet high, 14 feet wide, 12 feet
thick and weigh in excess of 200 tons. How the Incas managed
to cut, transport and build with these stones remains a mystery.
Archeologists estimate
that it took 20,000
workers 80 years to
build the complex and
that it was built by volun-
teer labour. The large
plaza area, capable of
holding thousands of
people, was designed
for ceremonial activities
and many of the large
structures at the site may
also have been used
during rituals. Early ac-
counts about the site in-
dicate that the complex
held a great number of
storage rooms.
Pedro Pizarro (Francisco’s cousin) described storage rooms within the
complex which were filled with food stores and military equipment.
After the Spaniard captured Cusco they began to use Sacsayhuaman
as a source of stones for Spanish buildings. Within a few years a great
part of the complex was demolished and was used to construct new
government and religious buildings and the houses of the wealthiest
Spaniards. Only the stones that were too large to be easily moved re-
main at the site but this in no way diminishes its impact.
After wandering about Sacsayhuaman with the other tourists, we re-
turned to the city stopping off at a large craft shop that specialized in
alpaca and vicuña clothing. It was lovely, soft, warm and pricey.
We looked on in
wonder as several
of our fellow tourists
all but melted down
their credit cards.
I`m not sure
whether it was acci-
dental or carefully
staged, but on the
hillside outside the
shop we encoun-
tered several al-
pacas and a
charming young Pe-
ruvian girl tending
the animals and her
baby.
Our trip toMachu Pichuu and Cusco was part of a 28 day tour of South
America during which we visited Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Peru with
a group of 20 other Canadians. Normally we travel on our own, but
for our first time in South America the opportunity to have someone else
take care of the hotels, sightseeing, transportation and luggage had a
certain appeal. It was a wise decision as our travel alone involved 11
flights, several boats, trains, buses and a cable car. We covered a
huge area of the continent, got a good impression of it and arrived
home exhausted but glad that we had gone. We’ll plan our own itiner-
ary when we return. |E|
ESCARPMENT ESCAPES | mysterious machu picchu...
108 Escarpment Magazine Winter 2013