An incomparable luxury: we slept in to 7 am today. Our intrepid tour leader, Pablo, took several of us to walk through rain forest to a small museaum featuring artifacts from Macchu Picchu. The walk itself was a delight, tramping through tall green trees protected by towering steep cliffs. I had the opportunity of walking and talking with Carol, one of the members of our travel group, an intersting and knowledgeable lady from Florida, and we compared observations on the Inca, Peru, Canada and the United States. We both agreed that such things as power, politics, and how nations act haven't changed much over the centuries.
The museum, though small, gave more insight into the greatness of the Inca civilization. Displays showed how extensive the empire was, how well connected, well organized and well constructed it was. Pablo informed us that, prior to the Spanish conquest, the Inca themselves were conquerors, sweeping up smaller aboriginal nations into their empire. Then, rivalry between brothers caused a civil war, weakening them. Pizarro arrived at this time with 200 conquistadors and capitalized on the situation. Then, various factions of the Spaniards began to fight among themselves. There was nothing glorious about any of this. Instead of being a glory, the story of the Incas was a curse.
We trained out to Ollyantamba, then bussed through incredible mountain and plateau territory still inhabited by Quechua-speaking descendants of the Inca and arrived at our destination: the ancient Inca capital of Cusco. This is a fascinating place, a narrow, crowded fusion of Spanish and Inca. We are at 11,000 feet and the attitude is playing havoc on our collective selves. Sleep will be most welcome.
An incomparable luxury: we slept in to 7 am today. Our intrepid tour leader, Pablo, took several of us to walk through rain forest to a small museaum featuring artifacts from Macchu Picchu. The walk itself was a delight, tramping through tall green trees protected by towering steep cliffs. I had the opportunity of walking and talking with Carol, one of the members of our travel group, an intersting and knowledgeable lady from Florida, and we compared observations on the Inca, Peru, Canada and the United States. We both agreed that such things as power, politics, and how nations act haven't changed much over the centuries.
The museum, though small, gave more insight into the greatness of the Inca civilization. Displays showed how extensive the empire was, how well connected, well organized and well constructed it was. Pablo informed us that, prior to the Spanish conquest, the Inca themselves were conquerors, sweeping up smaller aboriginal nations into their empire. Then, rivalry between brothers caused a civil war, weakening them. Pizarro arrived at this time with 200 conquistadors and capitalized on the situation. Then, various factions of the Spaniards began to fight among themselves. There was nothing glorious about any of this. Instead of being a glory, the story of the Incas was a curse.
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