by Stephen on March 14, 2010
During my visit to Peru, the most amazing thing I saw were the ancient Inca stone structures present in areas such as Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and of course at Machu Picchu. In these areas the original structures are still standing today, hundreds of years after their construction. This is a tremendous testament to the skills of the Inca engineers since Peru regularly experiences strong earthquakes that score over 7.0 on the Richter scale. In these earthquakes modern buildings are completely destroyed while the Incan structures remain standing.
To build walls, the Incas used a mortarless construction with irregularly shaped rocks that were placed together much like a jigsaw puzzle. In addition to shaping the rocks to fit together on the wall face, they also carved or grinded the rock surfaces that met to have concave and convex surfaces.
This type of construction is very resistant to earthquakes: The lack of mortar allows rocks to move independently during an earthquake and since the rocks were irregularly shaped they would fall back into their proper place as the earthquake subsided.
In constrast to the Inca stonework, the Spanish used a brick and mortar construction. This had the advantage of being much easier and quicker to build, but would fall apart with any major earthquake. For example, in Cusco the Spanish church built on top of Qoricancha was destroyed by an earthquake in 1950. The Incan foundation remained untouched.
Although we can study the completed Incan structures, the method by which they built them is unknown. The Incans had no written language and any knowledge that would have been passed on to their descendents with an oral tradition was lost after the Spanish conquest. Today, researchers can only guess at the techniques they used and there are no definitive answers to questions such as:
- How did the Incas move stone blocks from the quarry to their construction site? At Sacsayhuaman, many of the blocks are huge and weigh over 100 tons. At Ollantaytambo, the quarry was several kilometers away on the other side of the valley.
- How were the stones cut and shaped so that they would fit together perfectly? In the best stonework, the gap is so small that it would be hard to slide a sheet of paper between the stones.
- How were the blocks lifted and placed into position? The Incan’s did not have access to pulleys and the blocks could weigh many tons.
by Stephen on March 6, 2010
Sunrise on Machu Picchu, Peru
- Expect delays when traveling internally by air. During my travels, I had to make three internal flights one of which was delayed by a whole day because of mechanical difficulties and the inability of the carrier to get a replacement airplane. My experience was not unusual and many people that I met had at least one segment of their tour delayed by at least a day. I met a church group who was delayed by a whole day three times while traveling.
- Bring your own toilet paper. In many places, the public bathrooms did not have any. Additionally, usually you should throw the paper in the trash rather than the bowl as they are prone to clogging.
- Carry small change especially in remote areas where large bills can be hard to break.
- Allow yourself enough time to acclimatize to the high altitude if you a visiting areas such as Cusco or the Sacred Valley. The first day I got dizzy while riding a bus. Do not eat large meals or consume alcohol.
- Consider using a reputable tour agency such Explorandes. They are relatively inexpensive and can handle much of the grunt work arranging for tickets and tours.
- The Inca trail can be difficult even if you are in good shape. For example, one of the days involved going from 8000 to 12000ft over about 6 miles of hiking. The highest point on the pass, Warmiwanusca is almost 14000 ft high and even the porters who are used to higher altitudes had difficultly.
- Although the most heavily traveled portion of the Inca trail is only about 20 miles long, most of that distance is either going up or down over rough stone steps which can be tough on the knees.
- On my trip, Lima was the only place where I felt that I had to be concerned about safety. Lima is a very large city and it has many poor areas. The safest place to stay is in Miraflores which is an upscale suburb. This served as my base while I was there.
Peruvian musician playing the zampona and charango. Sacred Valley, Peru.
- You can expect to find many internet cafes, even in relatively remote areas. The cafes are incredibly cheap, just a few soles per hour, so they are good way of staying in touch with friends and relatives not lucky enough to go with you.
- Bring sunscreen and insect repellent. Mosquitos are a problem both in the Amazon and in central mountain areas.
- Don’t count on having working phones in hotel rooms.
- Learn the words “no gracias”. Because Peru is a very poor country many people are very entrepeneurial and try to make a living selling tourists merchandise. Furthermore, in many areas restaurant maitre d’s will follow you while you walk, trying to convince you to eat at their establishment.
- It helps if you learn at least some basic Spanish. At a minimum learn the numbers.
- The airports all have a departure tax. You should find out ahead of time and plan to have enough money to pay for this.
- There are many laundromats in areas such as Cusco which are very cheap to use.
- If you are using a portable hard drive to store your digital images, they will work fine at high altitudes. Just set it on a flat surface and be careful not to bump it while transfering data.
