Inca City

Día de San Pedro y San Pablo y el Día del Pescador

El "Inti Raymi" o "Fiesta del Sol" era la festividad más grande, más importante, espectacular y magnífica llevada a cabo en los tiempos del Imperio del Tahuantinsuyo, el cual basaba su religión en el culto al Sol. El "Inti Raymi" fue creado para rendir culto al "Apu Inti" (Dios Sol) también conocido en ciertos sectores como “Apu P'unchau” (Dios Día).

¿Cómo se celebra el Inti Raymi?
Para iniciar la Fiesta del Sol, primero se debía espantar a los espíritus malignos con escobas de paja. El Inca, quien es considerado como el hijo del Dios Sol, dirigía dicha ceremonia y elegía el lugar donde se realizaba.

Sacerdotes, curacas, orejones, capitanes, entre otros de los personajes más importantes del Tahuantinsuyo acudían al llamado del Inca y su esposa, la Coya. Todos debían hacer un ayuno de tres días antes del 24 de junio.

La Fiesta del Sol le da un papel protagónico a la mujer

Here are some facts about Peru

The village of Huancaya is located in the province of Yauyos just three hours from the city of Huancayo - Peru. During the trip you will see lakes and beautiful landscapes, as the impressive Canyon of Uchco. In addition you will enjoy the lagoons and waterfalls that give birth to the Cañete River.

The landscapes are dreamlike, as well the Andean wildlife. The first point is the "Abra Negro Bueno", located on the boundary of Lima and Junín. From this point you can see the impressive mountains of the Huaytapallana and its snowy.

Happy New Year 2022

Santuranticuy, Cusco fair in honor of the Niño Dios

It is December in Cusco and the residents know that they must prepare because in a few days one of the most important festivities in this region will be celebrated: Santuranticuy, a traditional festival that dates back to the Colonial era.

The day comes, it is December 24, and thousands of artisans from different parts of Peru come together in the Plaza Mayor to show their best works to tourists. Angels, births, paintings, ceramics, photographs, silverware and jewelry - these last ones related to the crowns or haloes of the saints-, are some of the valuable objects that can be found in this festivity that lasts until Christmas midnight.

Also part of this traditional fair -which has Niño Manuelito or Niño Dios as the maximum expression- are the farmers who offer natural products such as eucalyptus branches, molle, queñua, ferns and ichu bundles, which are unmissable at birth. Furthermore, in a corner of the plaza, visitors can enjoy the best of Cusco cuisine.

The next day, the people of Cusco bless the images of Niño Manuelito, while a group of dancers join the celebration with the Huaylía, a must-see stamp in the celebration of the Niño Dios.

This festivity was declared in 2009 as Cultural Heritage of Peru, for being one of the most striking and significant cultural expressions since the Viceroyalty, and for bring together thousands of tourists who arrive in Cusco at the height of Christmas time.

PEROLNIYOC WATERFALL – A hidden treasure of the Incas Sacred Valley

Perolniyoc is located 40km north of Cusco towards the village of Ollantaytambo. The beginning of the trek is in Socma. It is a small village of 800 inhabitants, at an altitude of 3100m.

The most impressive thing about this waterfall is that there is no entrance fee. You can enjoy it, taking part of the magic and energy that exists in this place.

Thanks to the inhabitants of this area and the Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura del Cusco, this resource today is visited and seen by many people. It played an important role in the restoration of the archaeological center called Raqaypata that is located above the waterfall, a magnificent construction belonging to the Pre-Inka and Inka times.

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT THE RED RIVER IN CUSCO, PERU

So, we know that water is naturally a transparent, tasteless, odourless, and nearly colourless liquid. Well, what if we tell you that in Cusco, Peru there is a river that completely defies this basic description of water? It runs RED. Not trying to be creepy, here. It is true. The Red River is a work of art by Mother Nature and has cherry or brick red coloured water.

Locally known as Pukamayu (In Quechua, “puka” menas red, and “mayu” means river) or Antachaka (Quechua “anta” is copper, while “chaka” is bridge), this is a river that lies in the Canchis Province of the Cusco region which is about 3 hours south-east of the city of Cusco. Originating from Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain valley, it belongs to the watershed of the Huallaga River. The Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain valley along with the renowned Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain makes up a part of Cordillera Vilcanota mountain range. This chain is itself a part of the magnanimous Andes mountain range appearing to be the spine of South America., forming the longest continental mountain range in the world.

Cusco’s Red River is formed due to the soil erosion from different mineral deposits present in the vibrant layers of the Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain. The ‘Red’ colour is we see is the because of the presence of red sandstone full of iron oxide. This mineral-rich sedimentary rock gets washed off the hillsides when it rains and turns the water a distinct red or pink hue (the exact tone depends on the volume of rainfall). Now since the colour is visible by erosion (which is caused by rain run-off), this so-called red or pink river can only be visible during Peru’s rainy season months. During the rest of the year, the river’s water level is much lower than during monsoon and its colour is, therefore, kind of muddy-brown.

Usually, the tourists take a brief stop en-route tour the nearby Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain to see the red river. While taking this trip to Cusco’s countryside, you can also check out the fascinating Q’eswachaka Inca rope bridge, the classic Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain and the majestic ruins of Waqrapukara.

The Pucayaquillo Waterfall is located in the district of Shapaja just 22 km south of the city of Tarapoto (Peru). The journey follows the bank of the mighty Huallaga River surrounded by beautiful landscapes. In addition, the spectacular confluence of the same Huallaga River with the Mayo River can be seen along the way. To get to the waterfall you walk for 45 minutes.

This tour is highly recommended for nature lovers who want to hike through the forest to disconnect from the stressful environment of the city and breathe fresh air that nature provides.

Recommend:
✅Light and change of clothes, swimwear.
✅Hiking shoes, sandals or water shoes.
✅Towel, insect repellent, sunscreen and other personal hygiene and use.

The Sacred City of Caral or Caral-Supe is the capital of the Norte Chico Civilization of Supe located in the Supe Valley, 200 km (124 miles) north of Lima. The Sacred City of Caral is the earliest known civilization in the Americas, it dates to the Late Archaic period. Radiocarbon analysis performed by the Caral-Supe Special Archaeological Project (PEACS) dates its development between 3000 to 1800 B.C.

It is believed that this civilization started by the merging of small villages based on trade of agricultural and fishing products. Its importance rests on the success of techniques of domestication of cotton, beans, potatoes, chilli, squash among other products. Success in agriculture was due to the development of water canals, reservoirs and terraces. They used guano, bird excrement, and anchovies as fertilizer.

There are 19 settlements along a 40 km zone in the middle and lower Supe Valley. Each one of them has pyramidal shaped public buildings with sunken circular plazas and dwellings. Of that group of settlements it is Caral that stands out. Caral is larger and its buildings are architecturally more complex.

The design of the Sacred City reflects the values of the Caral residents and their world view, specifically their religion, political and social systems.

The Sacred City of Caral was built on 66 hectares with two distinct zones. The main zone or nucleus on the north of the complex has the largest public and residential buildings of the city, including seven monumental buildings, two circular sunken plazas, two open spaces and residential dwelling for officials. The largest temple is the Templo Mayor which is 150 meters long and 110 meters wide and 28 meters high.

The southern part of the city or marginal zone includes smaller buildings such as the amphitheatre, a circular altar and a smaller residential area.

Caral was abandoned by its residents for unknown reasons. War was ruled out as there are no signs of destruction. Historians believe it was abandoned because of drought; its population migrated to more productive lands.

© Discover Peru
© Cultura Andes Peru

Huaca Pucllana is a great adobe and clay pyramid located in the Miraflores district of central Lima, Peru, built from seven staggered platforms. It served as an important ceremonial and administrative center for the advancement of the Lima Culture, a society which developed in the Peruvian Central Coast between the years of 200 AD and 700 AD.

With the intended purpose of having the elite clergymen (who politically governed several valleys in the area) express their complete religious power and ability to control the use of all the natural water resources (saltwater and freshwater) of the zone, a Great Pyramid was constructed in the Huaca.

As a whole, the structure is surrounded by a plaza, or central square, that borders the outer limits, and by a large structured wall dividing it into two separate sections. In one section there were benches and evidence of deep pits where offerings of fish and other marine life took place in order to attain the favor of the gods. The other section is an administrative area. This area contains various small clay structures and huts made of adobe–with some walls still standing–whose function seemed to be to act as the courtyards and patios of the enclosure which is over 500 meters in length, 100 in width and 22 in height.

The Questionnaire of Travelling

Would you sleep in this glass capsule hanging over a cliff in Peru?

It is located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, in the province of Urubamba, district of Ollantaytambo, in a small town called Pachar.

That's just the idea behind the spectacular Skylodge Adventure Suites, glass rooms precariously perched on the side of a cliff in Peru's Sacred Valley of the Incas.

If you're brave enough, these glass capsules are only accessible after climbing 400 meters from the rock surface or hiking a challenging trail with a network of zip lines.

Once you're settled in and ready to spend the night, you'll enjoy breathtaking panoramic views of the wild valley and, at night, the Milky Way.

The SkyLodges are well located to allow guests to admire the valley from above for a day or two before venturing down to Machu Picchu.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Wear long pants
walking shoes or running shoes
Bring a thermal jacket and warm clothing.
Bring your personal hygiene items (toothbrush, toothpaste); remember that there are no showers.

Cumbemayo or Los Frailones de Cumbemayo is an archaeological area considered among the oldest in the American continent. It is made up of an aqueduct, petroglyphs and a forest of rocks beautifully carved by erosion. Located only 19 kilometers from Cajamarca at an altitude of 3500 meters above sea level.

The aqueduct has an extension of 8 kilometers, it collected the water from the rains and distributed it on its way to the Pacific, being a fundamental element for the control of nature and the development of crops. It is calculated that they were built 1500 B.C., and it is a sample of the genius and development of the society present at that time and of our cultural heritage.

However, one theory about its creation points to its functionality as a ceremonial and religious act, given that the Cajamarca area does not suffer from water problems, but it was a water cult, as is the case with Qenko, in Cusco and Saywite, in Apurimac.

In its surroundings you can visit the petroglyphs that are in the caves. But one of the most impressive aspects are the so-called Frailones or Rock Monks, an incredible work of nature, where the volcanic rock has been patiently sculpted by the action of water and wind.

Facts
What does Cumbemayo mean?
The word "Cumbemayo" possibly comes from the Quechua, "kumpi mayu," meaning "well-built water channel," or "humpi mayo," meaning "narrow river."

Do not be confident, be careful with the altitude
Cumbemayo is at 3500 m.a.s.l., so be careful with the altitude, hydrate yourself and take coca or muña tea, as well as keep warm. The best time to visit is in the morning hours.

The Manseriche Pongo is located on the Marañon River, in the district of Santa Maria de Nieva in the province of Condorcanqui, in the department of Amazonas, northwestern Peru. It is the best known and the most extensive of all the pongos that exist in the country.

In their journey these watercourses have faced the conditions of the relief and have formed, depending on the circumstances, from wide riverbeds to deep canyons. Occasionally, when the force of the slope allows a river to cross the eastern mountain range, it forms what in Peru is called a pongo (a word derived from the Quechua punku, which means "door").

The Pongos are very useful because they are usually the water channels that connect two basins. In this way, following their waters, it has been possible to integrate territories, sometimes disparate.

This is the last obstacle that the Marañon River must face in its attempt to reach the Amazon plain. In its journey from west to east, the Marañon receives contributions from different rivers, especially from the northern tributaries, but the most important is the great Santiago River. Before Manseriche, the Marañon has a channel whose width varies between 250 and 400 meters, but as it begins to cross the twelve kilometers of mountain range, it begins to narrow until the almost vertical walls of the pongo appear, obscuring the channel in the four kilometers of the central part of its course.

At this point, the width is only 35 meters, which makes it especially dangerous because of the whirlpools or muyunas that usually form. When the Santiago River (a tributary of the Marañón at the beginning of the Manseriche pass) increases its flow due to rainfall in the headwaters of its basin, the flow of the Marañón also increases, making it very dangerous to cross the pass. On the rocky walls at the beginning of the pongo, there are marks painted by the locals indicating how far it is safe to cross.

Nowadays, the ponds are not synonymous of difficulty and danger, but also indicate a potential energy development by taking advantage of the falls and the force of the waters, which allows, at least in theory, to convert this hydraulic energy into electric energy. There are several examples of this in Peru, where the waters of the Mantaro River have been used by the Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo hydroelectric power plant, and the waters of the Santa River have been used by the Cañón del Pato hydroelectric power plant to generate the energy needed, respectively, in the central and northern regions of this country.

© Wikipedia

Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca Trail.

To talk about the Qhapaq Ñan means not only discovering the high level of organization that the Incas possessed, but also understanding how through routes and roads they could expand over one of the most rugged geographies in the world. Thanks to this "great Inca trail" (translation from Quechua to English), the empire was able to exercise commerce and administration of its domains.

This road network linked the entire Tahuantinsuyo through the current territories of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, crossing deserts, agricultural areas, mountain ranges and swamps. All the routes started from Cusco. The most important of them is the one that went towards Quito, today’s capital of Ecuador.

The tambos, places that were used as shelters and warehouses, were arranged along the roads to allow travelers to rest and store their belongings. They were generally rectangular in shape and divided into several independent spaces. There were tambos of different sizes: the largest had residential environments, plazas and storages, and were used to house the Inca and his entourage. The smaller ones served as a hostel for the chasquis, who were messengers from the Tahuantinsuyo.

The Incas were not the only ones who built roads to unite their territories. Many of the routes that they used and integrated into their road system were built by the cultures that preceded them. According to researchers, these paths were exclusively local and linked sacred centers or huacas with small towns.

The best known tourist section of the road system is the one that leads to the citadel of Machu Picchu. The route generally starts from Qoriwayrachina, an old town whose ruins are in the Vilcabamba district. The road covers a distance of approximately 45 km and it takes four days and three nights to follow.

The second day is the most intense, because you have to cross through Warmihuañusca, a valley located 4200 meters above sea level. That is the highest part and the one that requires the greatest physical demand. There are also other routes that shorten the distances and make possible to reach the famous citadel in two or three days.

The natural scenery is impressive: a landscape full of tropical forests, desert cliffs and imposing snowy mountains like Salkantay or Humantay, tunnels up to twenty meters long and various archaeological complexes, including Intipata, Runkuraqay and Intipunku.

© Peru Travel
© KmCero

The “Baños del Inca” (” Inca’s Bath” or “Inca Baths”) are a set of natural hot springs located to six kilometers of the city of Cajamarca in the north Andean zone of Peru to 2667 meters above sea level.

This recreational and historical complex is composed by several gardens and pools. The average temperatures of these hot mineral springs is around 70ºC (158ºF) and according to the popular belief, the thermal waters possess therapeutic properties for treatment of bone and nervous system disorders; as well as bronchial and rheumatic sufferings.

The steaming liquid emerges from the volcanic rock of the subsoil, reaching temperatures between 65ºC (149ºF) and 75 ºC (167ºF). There are many testimonies of people who say have been cured of their disease thanks to these hot springs.

The place is composed by a great numbers of pools, most of them constructed recently; therefore, they are very comfortable. Nevertheless, there are also some ancient pools, fountains and old canals, which date from the Inca period.

One of these old pools is the “Poza del Inca” (pool of the Inca), which is 4 meters length, 4 meters wide and 1.7 meters depth. According to historians, this was the pool used by Atahuallpa to relax after the battles.

The historic registers indicate that Incas were the first to use these hot springs for recreation. They named this place “Inti Puquio” that means “Sun Fountain”. Incas constructed several structures around the hot spring to enjoy the relaxed environment of the place.

According to the tradition Atahuallpa and his entourage were in this place when Spaniards leaded by Pizarro arrived to Cajamarca and took prisoner to Atahuallpa in 1532.

In 1959 by decision of the Peruvian National Congress, the small town around the hot springs became a district, named “Baños del Inca”.

© 7wonders
© Peru Inca Magic Adventure

Lagoon of the Condors is an archaeological site located in Leimebamba, in the province of Chachapoyas in the Amazonas Region of Peru, excavated by the archaeologist Federico Kauffmann Doig. The site is called "Laguna de los Condores" because the people that found the lagoon would see these birds soar near the lagoon and it also obtained the name " Laguna de las Momias" because of the findings of the mummies around the area. The Chachapoyas were an old civilization that was located in the northern forest in the time of 900 a.c. This culture had been unknown by archaeologist for hundreds of years until the mummies appeared.

Each funeral deposit is constituted by a mummy in seated position, wrapped in both flat and decorated textiles. In the lake of the mummies there were ceramics and other artifacts found that are traced back to the Incas. When excavating the lake of the Mummies in group one there were six mausoleums found each consisting of cubed shaped enclosures placed right next to each other in a row. The tombs were housed in caves that contained paintings on the walls that were related to the mausoleums and contained symbols that were indecipherable. The enclosures were built with only three walls the fourth being the rock wall. The enclosures had two floors and on the top level a window was found. The purpose of the window was to renew the air to prevent the mummies to corrupt by the moisture. The mummies found in the tomb were placed in a seating position. The mummies have unique coffins that contain a human faced stitched on it. Based on the size of the funeral it appears that they were of small creatures. The mummification process of the tombs were done with sophisticated techniques in order to preserve the bodies due to high humidity in the Amazon Andes. In the tombs there were various cultural objects found such as pottery, textiles, wood carvings the size of statues, clothing, silver, personal ornaments, and even ceremonial objects used in their rituals.

The mausoleums of the Lagoon of the Mummies were still replete with funeral deposits, approximately two hundred. In the mausoleums personages were buried of high rank and. During Inca domination of the region, there were officials from Cuzco, the Inca capital, who resided in Cochabamba. Although the robbers were later arrested, the end result was that many of these mummies were destroyed and others damaged.

© Wikipedia

The Leymebamba Museum, inaugurated in June 2000, houses more than 200 mummies and their funerary offerings, recovered in 1997 from the Laguna de los Cóndores through the emergency archeological project directed by Centro Mallqui. The rescue work made it possible to recover for local history a valuable archaeological collection that was at risk of disappearing due to vandalism by unscrupulous visitors. The construction of the Leymebamba Museum was made possible by an initiative of The Bioanthropology Foundation Peru-Centro Mallqui, thanks to the financial support of a group of Austrian citizens and other private donations.

The museum's design recreates local architectural traditions, using local construction technology and materials. The rich and varied native flora embellishes the surrounding gardens, highlighting the orchid collection with more than 100 local varieties.

In addition to the three archeological rooms that house the material recovered from the Laguna de los Cóndores, an ethnographic room has been implemented where the diverse expressions of the way of life of the societies that currently inhabit the territory of the ancient Chachapoya are presented, as well as a room destined to promote scientific and cultural dissemination activities.

The Leymebamba Museum Association, made up of local residents and representatives of the Mallqui Center, reflects the interest and active participation of the population in the museum's projects and activities.