The Quechua language — spoken by the Incas is the second most common language in Peru today. Quechua was not a written language in Inca times and therefore there seems to be quite a bit of conjecture about some of the history associated with the Inkan people.
There is no literal translation for the word “friend” in Quechua instead everyone is considered family. The people around you are referred to as “mama” or “papa” and are treated as family members. This creates a very close knit community.
The Peruvians and their Inkan ancestors have a deep connection with and love for the Pachamama (Mother Earth). It isn’t a surprise then that farming is a huge part of both ancient and current life. The Inkas were the first to cultivate the potato in Peru, there are thousands of varieties of potatoes grown in the country and it remains a staple in their diet today.
It seems that everywhere you go in Peru there are remnants of the Inkan history. Remains of towns, agricultural sites, spiritual sites and miles and miles of trails left over from the massive Incan trail system that connected villages and communities. The Incas had a type of postal system where relay messengers ran across rope bridges to deliver communications to the next team. Messengers lived in pairs, with one person sleeping and the other on alert for messages. Since there was no system of written communication the messengers would have to memorize the message and relay it to the next runner. Talk about an advanced game of “telephone”!
Inka mythology worked within three realms: Hanan Pacha (the upper realm), Kay Pacha (the human realm) and Uku Pacha (the inner world, or underworld). Mountains — rising up from the human world toward Hanan Pacha — offered the Incas a connection with their most powerful gods.
As you travel around Peru, particularly in the Andean highlands, you inevitably hear the word apu. In Inca mythology, apu was the name given to powerful mountain spirits. The Incas also used apu to refer to the sacred mountains themselves; each mountain had its own spirit, with the spirit going by the name of its mountain domain.
“Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.” E. O. Wilson
The apu mountain spirits also served as protectors, watching over their surrounding territories and protecting nearby Inca inhabitants as well as their livestock and crops. In times of trouble, the apus were appeased or called upon through offerings. Small offerings such as chicha (corn beer) and coca leaves (also used to combat altitude sickness) were common.
Understandably, the highest mountains are often the most sacred. Smaller peaks, however, are also venerated as apus. Cusco, the former Inca capital and where we stayed for a few nights after Machu Picchu, has twelve sacred apus, including the towering Ausangate (20,945 ft), Sacsayhuamán and Salkantay. Machu Picchu — the “Old Peak,” after which the archeological site is named — is also a sacred apu, as is the neighboring Huayna Picchu.
The apu mountain spirits did not fade away following the demise of the Inca Empire — in fact, they are very much alive. Many modern Peruvians, especially those born and raised within traditional Andean communities, still hold beliefs that date back to the Incas (albeit often mixed in with the Catholic faith).
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” Buddha
Part of our “day in the life” with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) included visiting a local family that brewed chicha (corn beer) – their home was a sort of an informal brewery gathering place for drinking and socializing. The kitchen provided the cooking area (and a home for a family of kittens) where the ingredients were turned into an interesting sour tasting mixture that would continue fermenting all afternoon resulting in a stronger alcohol content as the day progressed. The corn beer was served by ladle out of a big round pot and into large glasses enjoyed by visitors to their home.
In keeping with the Inkan spiritual beliefs, when you are served a glass it is customary before drinking to pour a taste on the ground “for the Pachamama” – a salute to the Mother Earth and then offer drops of chicha by lifting it and flicking it with your fingers into the air. It is believed by doing this you invoke the Apus and in this way through their spirit and their strength they accompany you in your daily activities.
“!Ama Sua, Ama Kjella, Ama Lllulla! – Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t be lazy”. – Quechua greeting during Inca times
The OAT itinerary also included participating in a traditional healing ceremony conducted by a curandero, an Andean medicine man.
This ancient healing tradition has deep roots in Incan culture and is not simply a cure for illnesses, but also a prayer for good health and well being with an offering to Pachamama (remember, a deity associated with Mother Earth).
The curandero used a variety of herbs and healing plants, as well as sacred objects and icaros (chanting). Thought to possess a gift from God to heal the sick, the curandero also sees himself as a front-line soldier in the battle between good and evil on Earth—particularly when patients believe their physical ailments have supernatural causes. Often times people will first go to these healers or try natural remedies for their ailments – much to the chagrin of the doctors if the remedy is unsuccessful and they show up in the doctors office even sicker.
The Inkans were the largest pre-Colombian civilization in the Americas and they used their immense army to continuously expand the empire and conquer new pre-Columbian peoples. They expanded their territories to an immense scale until it sprawled a distance of 3,250 miles or approximately the distance between New York and San Francisco. With millions of citizens the Inkas constructed towns and tens of thousands of kilometers of roads through some of the harshest terrain on Earth and yet they never discovered the wheel.
These lesser-known ancient Inka sites are astounding in their own right, and pairing a visit to any of their ruins with a trip to Machu Picchu provides an enlightening glimpse into Peru’s rich Andean culture.
Located only 30 miles from Cusco, the Tipón ruins are some of the most impressive, architecurally, in the Sacred Valley. They are located away from the other main Sacred Valley highlights, on the Cusco to Puno road, leaving them tranquil and relatively tourist free. This Inca citadel is well hidden in the mountains above the valley and town below.
Tipón is beautiful sight of well-preserved Inca terracing, fountains and finely designed water channels. Here it is clear that the terraces were constructed for agricultural purposes. The water channels feed the whole site with fresh water, harnessed from a natural spring near the top of the site that is still flowing to this day.
The American Society of Civil Engineers put the complex covering 239 hectares on its List of International Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks, a list that also features the Eifel Tower and the Washington Monument.
While in Cuzco a visit to the massive Sacsaywamán fortress, the Inca empire’s masonry marvel, set on a hilltop overlooking Cuzco is also a must see.
With a Quechua name that means ‘Satisfied Falcon’, Sacsaywamán is indeed satisfying to the eye. The stones of the zigzag walls that form the three-tiered complex overlooking Cuzco are stacked with a precision unseen at any other archaeological site. Constructed during the reign of emperor Pachacútec, the mid-15th century masonry of these ruins is another example of the Inka engineering phenomenon.
Its double-zigzag wall is said to symbolize a puma’s teeth, and at one time, there were three immense towers and a labyrinth of rooms large enough to garrison 5,000 Inca soldiers. Much of the original structure was removed over time to be used at other building sites before they recognized the historical importance of the site and created a park to protect and interpret what remained. The immense size of many of the stones is a testament to the ingenuity and building skills of the Inkans.
Sacsaywamán was the site of an immense battle between the Incans and the Spaniards and this conflict eventually led to the near disappearance of the Inkan culture and the takeover by Spain. It is difficult to imagine how this takeover happened and it can easily be said that the Spaniards got very lucky in that they arrived at just the right time to tip the scales in their favor.
“I know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.” – Queen Elizabeth II
In 1532, Spanish conquistadors first made contact with the mighty Inca Empire and within 20 years, the Empire was in ruins and the Spanish were in undisputed possession of the Inca cities and wealth. Peru would continue to be one of Spain’s most loyal and profitable colonies for another three hundred years. The conquest of the Inca looks unlikely on paper: 160 Spaniards against an Empire with millions of subjects.
The Inca had skilled generals, veteran soldiers and massive armies numbering in the tens or hundreds of thousands. The Spanish were greatly outnumbered, but their horses, armor, and weapons gave them an advantage that proved too great for their enemies to overcome. There were no horses in South America until Europeans brought them: native warriors were terrified of them and at first, the natives had no tactics to counter a disciplined cavalry charge. In battle, a skilled Spanish horseman could cut down dozens of native warriors. Spanish armor and helmets, made of steel, made their wearers practically invulnerable and fine steel swords could cut through any armor the natives could put together.
Up until 1528, the Inca Empire had been a cohesive unit, ruled by one dominant ruler, Huayna Capac. He died, however, and two of his many sons, Atahualpa and Huáscar, began to fight over his empire. For four years, a bloody civil war raged over the Empire and it was at the end of the battle, when the Empire was in ruins, that the Spaniards showed up: they were able to defeat the weakened Inca armies and exploit the social rifts that had caused the war in the first place.
When the Spanish arrived and Christianized the Andes, the Catholic Church was not completely successful in inserting its dogmas into a people who had their own religion and their own way, although not for lack of trying. The Inkan people considered the earth as their great mother, and the Apus as mothers and fathers, the guides or day-to-day destiny for people. Even though the Church tried to hide the sacred stories, what people often call myth, as well as the Andean legends within or beneath saints, processions, and popular feasts in order to build a new form of religiosity, this quest failed. The religion in Peru today seems to be based on a melding of the two cultures, half Andean and half Christian and you can see the influences of both throughout the country.
“Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force – that thoughts rule the world.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Incas had an impressive governing structure which included government imposed taxes on the population that were exacted in the form of labor and crops. Vast warehouses stored incredible volumes of food, which was then distributed in times of famine and during harsh seasonal weather fluctuations. They lived by a system that our local guide often referred to as “reciprocity” described as a way of trading goods and services for the benefit of the entire community.
The best way I can find to explain the term in relation to the Peruvian life is a giving back to the community, but it is more than that, community members are expected, and in some cases required to contribute to the overall good of the whole. This can be from participating in projects like the rebuilding of bridges to contributing to feeding those that are in need. Quite literally it is living life for the good of the whole rather than just for ones-self.
Perhaps there is something to be learned from this countries culture and history and they are these fundamental concepts:
- Divided we are much weaker
- We should care for each other and the world around us
Likely as not, this is how we will all prosper and survive.
“If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Hi Dana;
Thank you for your photos and interesting and well researched commentary. Many of your comments and photos remind me of a memorable trip I took to Peru in November 2017 – Amazon to the Andes. Had a great time. Keep up the great postings.