Hiking in the Andes, Part IV - Machu Picchu

We spent about 5 hours exploring Machu Picchu, with JuanCa educating us about Incan life, culture, religion, and beliefs. In no way can I recall all of what he talked about, but here are some interesting tidbits:

- Machu Picchu literally translates to 'Old Mountain'. The real name of this Incan city is unknown.

- All ancient cities connected by the network of Inca trails were separated by about 30 km, a day's distance of travel for the Inca.

- Choquequirau (Cho-kay-kira-oo) is another city that is apparently just as impressive as Machu Picchu, but not nearly as popular a tourist attraction. The individual that discovered Machu Picchu (Hiram Bingham, anthropologist that studied South American history at Yale) was looking for a city that had been described as built of 'white rock'. Bingham first found Choquequirau, but was not satisfied that any of the edifices fit the description of the magnificent 'white rock' that he was pursuing. So he chose to explore further and stumbled upon Machu Picchu. Although the edifices at Machu Picchu are no more grand than those at Choquequirau, he decided that Machu Picchu possessed that impressive 'white rock' he was searching for and identified Machu Picchu as the last Incan stronghold. Perhaps he was convinced that Machu Picchu was it, perhaps he was just tired of hiking (it certainly is a haul). But had he gone to Machu Picchu first and then Choquequirau afterwards, Choquequirau could be known as 'The Lost City' instead of Machu Picchu.

- Incan society was polygamous - multiple women, one man. Catholicism from the Spanish conquerers was integrated into Incan religion because Incan women came to appreciate the one woman, one man practice.

- The Incans worshipped the sun, and were very advanced astrologists. The priests and noble classes used their knowledge of astrology to 'predict' the seasonal changes and harvest. To the peasant population, sun worship was their religion and they believed that the priests communed with God to bring harvest.



- Machu Picchu contains a sundial and a 'Temple of the Sun' that demonstrates Incan knowledge of astrology and identification of the winter solstice.


- The architecture at Machu Picchu is quite advanced, with earthquake-resistant structures and water drainage.

- The acoustics at Machu Picchu are also advanced. A clap from one end of the central area (believed to have been used for massive gatherings and ceremonies) can be heard at the other end with ease.

- Quechua is an onomatopoeic language. The word for 'door' or 'gate' is 'punku', the sound that the Incans ascribed to a shutting door or gate.

- We were unable to hike directly to Machu Picchu from our route because the bridge that the Incans built collapsed in a landslide.


There is so much more to Machu Picchu, and JuanCa was a very knowledgable guide. The magic of this place was worth the pain to get there, no doubt.