Day 8: The Sun Route

After Lake Titicaca, our next destination was Cusco, Peru.  Instead of flying, we decided to take a tourist bus, called Wonder Peru, along the Inca Sun Route. It's called the Sun Route because, from the perspective fo the Incas who lived in this region, the sun would rise by Lake Titicaca and set in Cusco.  It's a 10 hour bus ride which goes by quickly due to numerous stops to see Inca ruins along the way.  

First Stop: Pukara
Pukara, which means fortress of spirit ,was a pre-Incan community from 300 BC.  They were among the first civilizations to build the 3 level stepped pyramids that are common in Inca culture.  According to our guides, this is what the steps mean:

Levels
1
2
3

World
Heaven
Earth
Underworld

Totem
Condor
Puma
Snake

Affirmations
I Love
I Work
I Live

Rules
Don't be lazy
Don't steal
Don't lie

We saw these levels depicted throughout pre-Incan and Incan ruins and it's the basis for the Inca cross which combines two of these 3 step pyramids to represent balance (similar to ying & yang) and the circle of life. 

Inca Cross

Another important animal to the people of Pukara was the otorongo or jaguar. The otorongo would regularly eat their most valuable animal -  llamas. So they made the otorongo a god and prayed to it regularly in hopes it would leave their animals alone. 

Sacrifice & Cannibalism in Pukara:
They had many different gods - most with very long names I can't remember. One god that was very important was Pachamama or Mother Earth, often represented by the moon.  The people of Pukara regularly made animal or human sacrifices to Pachamama. They usually sacrificed their best alpaca, llama or the most beautiful maiden in the village. This was their way of thanking the Mother Earth. They also thought that by sacrificing only the best animals and most beautiful maidens they would please Pachamama and she would bring them good weather and harvest in return. 

The people of Pukara were cannibals. They would eat their enemies because they thought it would make them stronger and give them more power. We saw many ancient statues depicting the executioner holding a knife in one hand behind his back and the enemy's head in the other hand, in front of his body. 

Astronomy:
The people of Pukara also used a bowl of water as a mirror to map out the stars in stone. We saw a typical bowl they used for astronomy as well as some of the early carvings of the stars. They used these carvings as maps to help them find their way to different parts of the sacred valley. The Incas adopted this method, and we learned later at Machu Picchu how important astronomy was to this culture. 

Pottery:
These people were excellent potters. In fact, we saw many original pieces still in tact and they were quite beautiful. These people would make  clay llamas - one male and one female - and place them on top of their roofs for good luck. When the Spanish conquered this land, they introduced bulls to the natives and soon the clay llamas became clay bulls. Now you can see 2 clay bulls on top of most homes in the Cusco region. 

These clay bulls are on most homes in the Cusco region. They are supposed to bring your family good luck.

fancier bulls lined the gate to the church

After visiting Pukara, we stopped at Raya Pass which is about 4,300 meters (14,000 feet) above sea level. The highest point during our time in Peru. Here are a few pictures from Las Rayas:

Raya Pass

Meet Mariela (baby llama) and Choco (mama llama)

Raya Pass

We then stopped in a small town for a buffet dinner. After dinner we sat outside in the sun near a couple of alpacas.  Chris walked near the dark alpaca and the alpaca got very defensive, stood up immediately and glared at Chris, threatening to charge. I quickly snapped a picture and then Chris ran over to the other side of the lawn!

Llama is NOT happy with Chris. He is ready to charge.

yawning before Chris startled him

After lunch we stopped in Raqchi to see the ruins of the temple of Wiracocha. It was built by the Inca king Wiracocha to honor the Superior God of the Invisible. 

Temple of Wiracocha. The round cylinders used to be columns and the thatched roof extended over the columns. The temple was divided in two - one side for women the other for men.

These huts were used for storage.

Last, but definitely not least, was a church built by Jesuits in the town of Andahuayalillas. The church is called San Pedro Apostol de Andahuayalillas and it's been called the Sistine Chapel of the Americas due to it's  excessively decorated interior. The inside of the church is impressive. Every inch of the church is covered in frescoes, gilded symbols and medallions, mirrors,  giant gold frames of renaissance style oil paintings, gold statues of Saint Paul, Saint Peter, and Virgin Mary.   It is certainly a feast for the eyes. 

Aside from the art, this church is interesting because you can see how the Jesuits incorporated the traditional Inca religious symbols into the Catholic church to make it easier for the natives to convert.  Here are a couple examples:

The church was build over an Inca temple and the floors are the original floors of the Inca temple. This is very common in Peru. When the Spanish came they burned down the native temples and erected churches in their own style to replace them. 

In this church they have a giant gold sun hanging above the altar and they also have an Inca cross on the ceiling of the church. A sun is not something ou normally see in a Catholic church and you definitely don't see Inca crosses! However the Jesuits were clever, and knew how important these symbols were to the natives so instead of denying them familiar symbols, they incorporated them into their religious practice. 

This church is not far from Cusco so many people come here to get married. 

San Pedro Apostol de Andahuayalillas

We were not allowed to take pictures inside but you can see the interior via Google image search.  After 10 hours of sightseeing (and sleeping on the bus) we arrived in beautiful Cusco! 

10 hours later...Cusco!