Peru 3: The Incan Empire

Before we get to Machu Picchu, I need to relate a short history of the Incan Empire because it is interesting and useful in understanding Machu Picchu. And sadly, it is short. The empire was not yet 100 years old when Pizarro arrived.

The culture lacked a written language, but we know the Incas’ history because Spaniards wrote contemporary accounts during their conquest and because several Incans of the first generation under Spanish rule wrote their history promptly. One author was Garcilaso Inca de la Vega, the son of a conquistador captain and an Incan princess. When we were visiting his remains in the Cuzco Cathedral, Jose told us that de la Vega wrote a history of his mother’s people which was the equivalent of a bestseller in the 17th-century court of Phillip II of Spain.

Another well-known Incan history was written and illustrated in the very early 1600s by a Peruvian native, Guaman Poma de Ayala. I’ll use some of his copyright-expired drawings to illustrate this story.

The first Inca
‘Inca’ means ‘king;’ so technically there was only one Inca at any time. The Incan people believed that their culture was created by the first Inca, Manco Capac, and Mama Ocllo, his sister and wife. The sun god, Inti, sent them north from Lake Titicaca with a golden staff and instructions to build a city where they could sink the staff into the ground.

That place was Cuzco, which means ‘navel.’ The Incan foundation story is accepted by archeologists, who agree that in the 1100s the city experienced rapid growth due to an influx of people from the south. The Incans considered Cuzco to be the navel of the earth, and when you see the topography, you know why. The navel of the world is an innie.

From the founding of Cuzco for the next 300 years or so, the Incan tribe was just one of several regional kingdoms sometimes warring with its neighbors, sometimes living peacefully.

In 1438, a neighboring tribe made the mistake of attacking Cuzco. The eighth Inca, Viracocha, fled but one of his sons, Pachacutec, routed the invaders. Incan myth says the rocks themselves rose up to help Pachacutec win the victory.

I suppose Pachacutec learned from that experience what his little kingdom could do. When he became the ninth Inca, he transformed that kingdom into an empire that extended along nearly all of South America’s Pacific Coast and across the Andes into the jungle.

Governing an empire from Cuzco
The Incas governed their empire using a vast network of roads or trails. Jose stressed that although many understand the term 'the Inca Trail' to mean the trail between Cuzco to Machu Picchu, more than 24,000 miles of Incan trails extended from what is now Ecuador down past Santiago in Chile. Many miles of those trails are still usable.

Developed at least in part by the former Wari Empire, this network allowed runners to carry messages and goods between Cuzco and regional outposts in a manner much like the Pony Express in the United States before the transcontinental railroad. These runners were so good that the Inca in Cuzco could enjoy fresh fish from the Pacific Ocean although Cuzco is about 250 miles from the ocean—and 10,860 feet uphill.

Modern-day hikers on the Inca Trail from Cuzco to Machu Picchu need permits, which limit traffic to 500 people each day. This backpacker was leaving Ollantaytambo for Machu Picchu as we rode by on the train.

Jose spoke from personal experience when he told us about this long-distance running. He once ran from Cuzco to Machu Picchu in six hours though he said the current champion did it in three.

From Cuzco, the Urubamba River (also known as the Vilcanota upstream from Cuzco) flows north and east into the Amazon basin. The Sacred Valley created by the river was treasured by the Incans, who worshiped mountains and placed ritual and symbolic value on the fruits the valley provided, such as corn and potatoes.

Sacred Valley farmland today

Huge, plentiful produce at the Chinchero Sunday market

The building program and productivity of the empire were supported by a well-governed system of collective work obligations, which Jose explained to us while we were at Machu Picchu. This system served the currency-less empire well during its brief life but was another attribute the Spaniards were able to exploit when they gained control.

The young, golden empire
The Incan Empire was coming into bloom while the seeds of its downfall were sprouting in Europe. Christopher Columbus was a little boy in Genoa when Pachacutec started the Incans’ astounding building program, and while Columbus was begging the crowned heads of Europe for his travel funding, the Tenth Inca Tupac Yupanqui was continuing to expand and consolidate the empire.

Just three decades after Columbus bumped into the New World, Spaniards exploring the northern coast of South America heard tales of a fabulous city of gold farther south. The mammoth walls of Koricancha, Cuzco’s Temple of the Sun, were encrusted with gold. Inside, Jose showed us walls with marks that suggested where metal plates had been attached and with recesses that likely held embedded jewels.

The smooth, dark walls of Koricancha were either capped or covered completely with gold plates.

The rare crack in the wall behind Jose happened during an earthquake and revealed that thieves had dug a tunnel trying to get into the church.

Jose made sure we noticed this wall, where an opening had been knocked out. You can see that the exact Incan stone-fitting goes all the way through the wall.

Sacsayhuaman was a monumental installation near the city of Cuzco, which most likely was used for large ceremonial gatherings among other purposes. This was the only part of our trip where rain made it hard to take photos and notes.

The largest stone in this photo is about a third of the size of the largest ones we saw at Sacsayhuaman. And still, you cannot fit a blade of grass in between them. I am not surprised that the Spaniards were spooked enough to believe that evil spirits had helped the Incans construct these monuments.

Sacsayhuaman covers 7,645 acres and had several tall towers and buildings before the Spaniards used it as a quarry when constructing their own churches and cathedrals. The foundation boulders, I suppose, were simply too big for the Spaniards to move.

In 1526 during the reign of the Eleventh Inca Huayna Capac, Pizarro’s explorers made contact with some of the Inca’s subjects. The natives’ fine clothes and confirmation of abundant gold in the Incan cities piqued their interest.

Taking a few willing natives with him who served as translators later, Pizarro returned to Spain to get royal authorization and funding for the conquest of the Incan Empire.

While he was gone, European germs reached the Incan Empire. Inca Huayna Capac died of smallpox around 1527 without ever meeting the Spaniards he’d heard about.

Deterioration of the Incan Empire
When Pizarro returned in 1532, he found the empire weakened by sickness and strife. Before his death, Huayna Capac unwisely divided the empire between two of his sons, Huascar, who was made Inca of the south, and Atahualpa, who became Inca of the north. The brothers rapidly started a civil war. Many of the tribes ruled by the empire had tired of their Incan rulers and were willing to help the Spaniards.

Another fatal weakness of the empire, Jose explained, was their extreme hierarchical political structure. The Inca was everything. If the Spaniards captured or otherwise controlled that one man, the rest of the empire was theirs.

These conditions set the stage for rapid Spanish success when Pizarro returned with only three ships, 180 men, and 27 horses. For comparison, our archeology lecturer, Guillermo Cock, reminded us that Custer had 700 mounted soldiers at Little Big Horn.

At their first meeting, Pizarro's priest offered Atahualpa a Bible, telling him it contained the words of God. Atahualpa put it to his ear, heard nothing, and threw it to the ground. Pizarro then pulled the Inca from his litter and a chaotic fight broke out between the unarmed Incans and the mounted, sword-bearing Spaniards. Atahualpa was taken prisoner.

Pizarro had the Koricancha stripped of its gold to pay Atahualpa's ransom. The Spaniards killed Atahualpa anyway, charging him with the murder of his brother, and installed a puppet Inca in 1534, who did not live long.

A native named Manco Yupanqui then negotiated with the Spaniards to become Inca. They agreed, and a brief period of peaceful cooperation followed. But within a year, the Spaniards were holding him prisoner. In 1535, he escaped from Cuzco to the jungle and rounded up a force of 200,000 Incan warriors. In 1536, Manco Yupanqui marched on Cuzco.

The Battle at Lima
The Incans managed to retake Cuzco for a few days and to beseige Lima, where Pizarro was residing defended by natives who had taken the Spaniards’ side.

The battle at Lima was fierce. Cock, who had excavated a massive burial ground near Lima, told us about the forensic work done to determine how the thousands of people buried at the site had died. He showed us pictures of bones to illustrate the difference between the injuries inflicted by native clubs and the injuries of an Incan warrior "killed several times over” by mounted soldiers wielding guns, lances, and swords made of steel. This comparison brought home to us how very futile the Incans’ resistance had been.

Cock also told us of bony evidence that the Spaniards had dug into the dead Incan bodies to recover the metal from their spent bullets. One does what one has to do, I suppose, when you’re fighting for your life and your resupply system includes a year’s journey.

The one Incan victory
After the battle in Lima, the Incans retreated to the fortress of Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley, where they achieved their one decisive victory of the whole conquest.

The temple of the sun at Ollantaytambo was built up the side of a mountain.

Manco Yupanqui's army lured the Spanish soldiers to the base of this hill, from where we started our climb.

The Incans waited at the top.

The Incan defenders then tumbled boulders down onto the Spanish forces. Some are lying around today.

Most of our group accepted Ali Mama's invitation to be 'goats' and climb to the top. Penny is in the lead here.

Thoughtfully, Jose stopped us for several short lectures on the way up. Here, he gave us our best explanation of how the Incans fit stones together so well. It may have had to do with the knobs you see in this photo.

Jose also explained how the Incans might have moved the boulders up this hill. The quarry was on a mountain on the other side of the river! Notice the background to see the elevation at this site.

And notice the background in this photo to see that the Incans built higher still!

What's left of one wall of the Sun temple at the top of Ollantaytambo, after the Spanish dismantled it. Notice also the family visiting the site. I was impressed that the Peruvians brought even young children to these sites, who mostly (unlike this one) seemed happy to be there.

 Here are a few more photos. Keith and I got a lot of good ones at Ollantaytambo.

Even though he’d repelled the Spanish at Ollantaytambo, Manco Yupanqui understood the odds against his people and ordered a strategic retreat to a more isolated sanctuary, Vitcos, which became the new Incan capital.

Guerrilla skirmishes continued between the Incans and the Spaniards for the next several years until Manco Yupanqui was murdered in 1544 by Spaniards he had befriended, in front of his sons while playing a lawn game.

The last sacred city
After he witnessed his father’s murder, Tupac Amaru became the last Inca. Tupac Amaru retreated to a jungle site known as Vilcabamba. Still in possession of the mummies of previous Incas and the jeweled, sacred gold icons of the Incan religion, the remnants of the Incan Empire survived in the jungle for another few decades. In 1572, the Spaniards again found them, confiscated the treasure, and beheaded Tupac Amaru.

The lost cities
No one ever lost track of Cuzco’s location—it is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Western Hemisphere.

However, Europeans forgot the locations of Vitcos and Vilcabamba, both of which were emptied and burned as the Incas fled.

It was those cities Yale historian Hiram Bingham was seeking in 1911 when, after asking locals for directions to any interesting ruins, he had his face turned toward Machu Picchu.

Next post: Machu Picchu

Peru 5: Incans and Spaniards: A Merger of Cultures

As Jose showed us the cathedrals and other sights in Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, he repeatedly pointed out evidence not of a Spanish conquest but of a merger between two cultures. Standing before the urn in the Cuzco Cathedral containing the ashes of historian Garcilaso Inca de la Vega, he told us that Garcilaso was the son of one of Pizarro’s captains and an Incan princess, granddaughter of Tupac Yupanqui, the Tenth Inca.

Garcilaso, in turn, married the daughter of Francisco Pizarro and another Incan princess, sister of Inca Atahualpa. When Garcilaso and his wife, Francisca, moved to Spain, they were accepted into the court of Phillip II and given titles. These mestizos, Jose pointed out, were fluent and respected in both cultures.

When asked how many pure natives are left in Peru, Jose told us it was hard for him to say, because

We are all mixed up. The Incan religion, the church, the rites, the language—everything, all mixed up. The Incan Empire never died. It was not wiped out from the map. No; it’s still going on. It just evolved into what we are nowadays. What we believe, what we do, what we eat, what we believe, what we think—everything.

I am so dismayed that the Lima and Cuzco monastery and cathedrals neither allowed photography nor sold postcards of their impressive interior sights. This is a mighty shame, because the architecture, decor, and icons in the cathedrals were phenomenal, and my words will not be able to conjure them.

The workmanship is everything you would expect from devoted religious hand-craftsmen. The wood carving in particular is both intricate and monumental.

The Cuzco cathedral's interior sings of the abundance of gold and silver in the area. Around two-story-high altars of gold or solid silver, they arranged mirrors in interesting shapes and sizes, as if the gleam of the precious metal is not enough!

The color and style are just as giddy and flamboyant as you could hope from a merger between the intricate Spanish artistic heritage and bright Incan dyes. Many of the double- or triple-life-sized statutes are lovingly dressed in recently made satin and velvet robes, adorned with metallic embroidery, sequins, and beads.

Jose pointed out many examples of the blending of religious icons and beliefs, known as “syncretism,” in modern Peruvian Catholicism. However, I noticed that the two religions had plenty in common even before any blending.

For example: Christopher Healy, in Cradle of Gold, (on the reading list that AHI helpfully provided before the trip) wrote that in 1572, a Spanish search party returned from the jungle to Cuzco with:

…a fabulous treasure of emeralds, silver, and gold, including the Punchao, the golden sun icon once worshipped in Cuzco’s Temple of the Sun. It was filled with the ground-up hearts of deceased emperors and was the golden berth of the history and religious heritage of the Incas, their ark.

Healy wrote that the Punchao then “disappeared into Spain.”

Before we arrived in Peru, I’d seen the drawing in which de Ayala depicted the Spaniards parading the captive Inca Tupac Amaru and the confiscated Punchao through the streets of Cuzco.

So when we entered a chapel in the Lima monastery and I saw something a lot like the article below on the altar, I immediately thought, “Hey! It wasn’t stolen or destroyed! It’s right here!”

Available at www.catholicsupply.com

However, members of our group knowledgeable about Catholicism told me that the Punchao-like object was a 'monstrance,’ which holds the consecrated host (body of Christ) on Roman Catholic altars.

 I felt more like a Protestant tourist in Catholicism than an American tourist in Peru as I kept noticing other similarities:

• Incan temples had niches on the walls to hold religious icons; the Spanish churches do, too.
  
• Near the Koricancha in Cuzco, the Incas built the Acllahuasi as the residence for their Virgins of the Sun. When the Catholics took over the town, they turned it into the closed Convent of Santa Catalina for their nuns.
• Incans mummified their dead emperors and maintained them in their houses and shrines, to be consulted as oracles. I was reminded of Catholicism’s affection and respect for saints’ relics.
  
• Incans occasionally took their deceased emperors’ mummies out for colorful ceremonies and parades, in much the same way that European Catholicism has long celebrated saints’ days.

Jose pointed out actual examples of syncretism, in which Catholic icons and practices were altered to incorporate specific native religious references. For example, Cuzquena Madonnas are almost always depicted with huge triangular skirts or capes. This is in reference to Pachamama, the Incan earth goddess, who is associated with the mountains worshipped by the Incans.

Another example of syncretism was on nearly every residential rooftop. A pair of clay bulls, sometimes with little jugs for water or chica (corn beer) are placed on the roof when a house is completed as a blessing to ensure fertility and prosperity. The bulls are a native symbol and are often now accompanied by a cross and a ladder, with reference to Jesus and a pathway to heaven.

I was moved by another thing that Jose pointed out, in support of his contention that the native culture did not die, but was merged into modern culture.

Do you ever eat potatoes? Corn? Avocados? Lima Beans? Green beans? Pumpkin? Cucumbers?

When we do, Jose pointed out, we are enjoying the influence of the South American native culture.

Next: The Natives of Lake Titicaca

Peru 6 : The Natives of Lake Titicaca

Unexpected fitness camp

I had placed Garth Brooks’ Ain’t Going Down ‘til the Sun Comes Up near the top of my exercise playlist because I like it, not because I could keep up with its 170 beats per minute. Before we left for Peru, I would do it at half time on our elliptical trainer.

The first time I exercised after we got back, that seemed far too slow. I spun those pedals at full speed for two minutes and felt fine doing it. Later that day, when I got back from running errands, we had a new inch of snow on the driveway, and I had it shoveled before my ears got cold.

This is even more surprising because I spent the last two weeks before we left with my foot in a cast, avoiding even light exercise in the hopes of quickly healing an untimely Achilles’ tendon injury. I should have been completely out of shape.

Athletes train at high altitudes because in thin air, our lung capacity expands and our bodies manufacture more red blood cells and capillaries. Steve, one of the doctors in our group, told me that it takes a few months to adapt fully to high altitude. But I’m guessing that the adaptation is rapid at first. The first night we were in Puno, I woke every half hour gasping for breath; the second night, I slept soundly.

Here’s how high we were: the Federal Aviation Administration recommends pilots use oxygen when they fly at 10,000 feet for at least 30 minutes and requires them to use oxygen at 12,000 feet. The elevation of Cuzco, where we spent four nights, is 10,860 feet. At Puno, where we spent two nights, it’s 12,461.

I’m not making this up. The hotel lobby in Puno had complimentary tea and oxygen for its guests. Right there in the lobby: a big tank with a mask and a friendly staff person to show you how to use it.

I hope the effects don’t wear off as fast as they came, now that I’m back at an elevation of 863 feet.

Climbing to the altiplano

As our train, the Andean Explorer, climbed out of the Sacred Valley to the Andean high plains, the countryside began to remind me of southeastern Idaho's Snake River Valley.

Lake Titicaca and Island of Taquile
Lake Titicaca is the world’s highest-elevation navigable lake and the largest freshwater lake in South America. It is believed to be ancient--three million years old--and it contains 214 cubic miles of water. None of that adds anything to the views.

We were served lunch by the natives of the Island of Taquile, who also danced on the beach to welcome us.

Ronald, our guide for Lake Titicaca, was a Peruvian partisan. The border between Peru and Bolivia cuts through Lake Titicaca, he explained, "But the best part is in Peru. We have the Titi and they have the Caca.”

Later, Ronald explained that the lake has no outlet to any ocean, but loses water only to evaporation. I asked why it has not become salty during its three million years. He then told us Lake Titicaca does in fact drain to another lake at a slightly lower elevation, which is getting salty. Lake Poopo.

Yes, Titicaca drains into Poopo.

They can see Bolivia from their house!

The Uros People and their floating islands
I will never look at lake weeds the same way again.

The totora reed is used for food.

The totora reed is used to make decorations.

The totora reed is used to make furniture.

The totora reed is used to make houses.

Notice the solar panel. One of the boat crew took pains to inform me the solar panels were there because of the hard work of President Fujimora.

The totora reed is used to make boats.

The totora reed is used to make entire habitable islands.

The islands are made of layers and layers of cut reeds on a floating bog. The smell of decaying reeds was noticeable, but not objectionable. Walking on it felt like a very firm mattress or several layers of plush carpet.

Ronald translated from the native language, Aymara, as they explained how to create a reed island. A cutaway view is shown here. First, you cut part of a bog away from the shore. Tow it to where you want it, and anchor it with ropes and rocks. Layer reeds on it until you've got a good surface. As the reeds decay, you add more. I think he said you have to start over every 50 years or so.

A saw used to cut through bogs.

As our boat pulled up to the second island, these two plopped down and started an animated debate, pointing to the boat's propeller. I think they had different ideas about how it works.

I will admit to mixed feelings about our visit to the Uros Islands. Of course, I was impressed by the people’s ingenuity and self-sufficiency. But their lives, oddly, reminded me of England’s royal family. They do not merely live in a museum; they are a museum. Their careers, their lifestyle, their ambitions, even their choice of mates is constrained not by what they can imagine, achieve, or become, but by their family heritage and business.

As pleasant as it must be to live and work floating on a man-made island in a bountiful lake, they are not free to change in any noticeable way, because they have come to depend on tourism, which demands authenticity. Nor are they free to leave, because to do so would end their long heritage.

If the Uros people are as trapped in their traditions as the British royal family, this little one is their Sarah Ferguson.  No way are they keeping her on a leash after she turns eighteen.

She ran circles around the boys and climbed on our boat several times to explore. She was lifted or scolded off each time, only to be back again in a few minutes.

By the time our boat pulled away, she'd been swatted on the bottom and given a time out in one of the houses.

Next post: Lima and modern-day Peru