On my way to Machu Picchu, more than a
century after Hiram Bingham rediscovered
the “Lost City of the Inca” in 1911, I fell in love with Cusco and the Urubamba Sacred Valley,
where the legacy of Inca civilization resides and their ancient Quechuan language is still
spoken.
Once the capital of the Inca Empire, Cuzco is
the oldest continuously inhabited city in South America. High in the Andes mountains (altitude 11, 316
ft), it provides magnificent panoramas and a wonderful introduction to Inca
heritage. At
the
Centro de
Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco, Inca traditions are maintained and
explained. Here, I learned that dark alpaca wool, silky soft to the touch, is
washed white in a plant-based “soap” before being dyed using natural materials,
such a purple corn. At one point, our hostess picked a small black parasite, no
bigger than a grain of pepper, from a nearby cactus plant. When she suddenly
crushed it in a clap of her hands, she revealed the source of the color red. All
the stages are here: raw wool, drop-spindle spinning, yarn dyeing, back-strapped
looms for weaving and finished products: hats, scarves, bags, available in the
gift shop.
Authentic souvenirs
are abundant, too, at Chinchero (12,375 ft), called
the birthplace of the rainbow. Locals, dressed in their native attire, welcome
shoppers with handmade products.
This valley is also home to Moray and Maras, two
historically significant villages. Incredibly, the Inca conducted agricultural
experiments for their potato crops, which numbered more than 400 varieties.
Looking like contemporary environmental art, the concentric circles at Moray served
as outdoor laboratories, testing climate, soil and altitude conditions. The
Salineras of Maras are equally
fascinating. These evaporation ponds have been used since the time of the
Incas. Water flows over the rocks, naturally washing minerals into waiting
pools, where sun and time evaporate the liquid, leaving pink salt crystals that
are today sought after by the gourmet centers of Europe.
To reach Machu
Picchu (7,970 ft), we boarded a Vistadome train at the Sacred Valley's Ollanta
Station and headed for the site designated by UNESCO as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. In addition to the 2500 tourists
allowed entrance each day, scientists are
visiting to determine how ancient engineers managed to construct their earthquake-proof,
mortarless stone walls. The terraced palace ruins progress in accessible stages
to such areas as the Temple of the
Sun or the Priest’s House. Views
are breath-taking. As
the poet, Pablo
Neruda wrote, “Machu Picchu is a trip to the serenity of the soul, to the
eternal fusion with the cosmos; where we feel our fragility.”
Back in Cusco, I visited La Cathedral, where the spirits of Spanish Conquistadors mingle
with those of their conquests. Begun in 1560, and completed nearly a century
later, the Renaissance church sits victoriously on the site of an Inca palace.
Its Baroque interior, lavishly decorated with colonial gold and silver, houses more
than 400 paintings from the famed “Cusco School.” This important artistic movement grew out of
the Spanish desire to convert a mostly illiterate population to Christianity by
means of imported Renaissance paintings. The result was art by native artists,
influenced by European works, but still fundamentally Peruvian. The most
striking example is a large painting of the Last
Supper by Marcos Zapata showing Christ and his disciples at a table set
with the Inca delicacy, roasted guinea pig, as the main course, and drinking chicha
(corn beer) from Inca cups. The colorful tapestry of this area is woven through
with Inca threads.
Photos by Bruce A. Mellin
