Ruins Near Cuzco and a Mission to Moray

So I have been a bit slow getting this post up here, but here it is.

The first two weeks of classes went very well.  In the mornings we have language classes and in the afternoon it’s lectures on culture, archaeology, architecture, and eco-cultural connections as well as guidance for our independent study projects.  Last week I had a meeting with our advisor and my project is now rolling.  I plan to study the possible connection of the jungle city of Iquitos to the rest of the country by highway. Iquitos is so far only accessible by air or boat.

Saturday the 10th was our group mission to the ruins nearest to Cuzco.  We packed into a bus with our tourist tickets and wound our way up to the top of the city.  First we went to Tambomachay, a series of fountains flowing with spring-water.  The Incas worshipped water there.  From there we walked across the street to Puka Pukara: a hill-top fortress.  That was my first time there and it has a very majestic feeling because of its hill-top position and view of Cuzco below.  It is a very different proposition tramping ruins, feeling rock faces, and absorbing atmospheres in a group of thirty people.  From Puka Pukara we descended the hill a couple kilometers down to the small and cut-in-unmoved-stone Q’enko ruins.  In the caves underneath, we rested on the sacrificial altars.

The expanse of our next stop Saqsayhuaman allowed for solitude and thought.  Despite our administrator’s efforts and massive archaeological wisdom, she could not keep our group together to give us a tour.  This meant we could wander off to the perimeter of the ruins, chew our cud, and absorb the experience.

At the end of this day of ruins we attended a ceremony for the moon and the earth, Killa and Pachamama.  Even with the presence of our pack of camera-bearing brutes, the ceremony was well carried out and very enjoyable.  I brought palo santo and eucalyptus leaves for my offering and we interred the sacred mound.  One must “pagar la tierra.”  Pay the land for what it gives us.

I got up early Sunday morning and decided to strike out alone by bus and foot in the Valle Sagrado and about the surrounding peaks.  The kombis to Pisac from Cuzco are 5 soles and great fun.  I did not climb the Pisac ruins this time but they will be in my next post.

After relaxing there I took a bus to Chincheros and connected to the minute town called Maras.  On one of the mountains near where we stayed in Urubamba are the Inca ruins of Moray: striking, circular, agricultural terraces.  In Maras the taxistas run a luscious cartel.  Tourists get off the bus and need a ride for the 12 kilometers to the Moray ruins.  30 soles round trip for gringos.  6 soles for locals.  Taxista shenanigans notwithstanding, my taxista Roger (Ro-yer) spoke lots of Spanish to me and jibed me in Quechua.  The Moray ruins are very tranquil in comparison with the other ruins that are less obscure/difficult to find.  The tactility of the sky, the snowy peaks (sacred apus), and the mountain-pass silence struck me most on the mission to Moray.