To MP: D2 P1: Vilcabamba (part one)

still Saturday, May 26 (now 6:25 pm)

writing about the morning of Friday the 25th

"After breakfast, we drove to the end of town where the land is preserved as a historical site. Vilcabamba, in the 1500s, was the last Incan capital and sacred place in their fight against the Spanish.

Our hike here began with a raised bridge next to a graveyard.

Graveyard set into the mountainside. I never learned why the caskets were made of concrete and set above ground.

There was a big blue sign denoting the area as an archaeological site, and we followed the path to the right.

What followed were 200+ stone steps leading up the steep hillside. Here I really felt the effects of the high altitude. Everyone was going at a pretty decent pace up the steps, but I was lagging behind like a 90-year-old with asthma. We were literally scaling a mountain, and we must have been at a minimum of 10,000 feet. Katie took a picture of me pretending to take the hill in stride:

We took some photos at a small summit, and continued into a sort of hilltop valley between the mountains. Our guide, Wilian, told us that this site was not "discovered" until the 1950s, although it was known of by the locals. The man who "discovered" Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham, died thinking he had found the "Lost City of the Inca," but he was later proven wrong when this site was discovered and excavation began. Because this site was only "discovered" so recently, it remains an open archaeological site and sees little (if any) tourist traffic. This made for an amazing exploration.

We passed a low stone wall that may have been used to keep some form of livestock:

When we came around the bend, we saw the "sacred place" where the Inca virgins lived and were cared for during pregnancy.

This "virgin" area was full of old ruins made mostly from granite. Some were ancient stone shelters and some held religious purposes. Wilian told us that one stone, shaped like a short, fat penis with a peculiarly sized hole on one side, was used when women were having trouble conceiving. They would sit on this rock, and supposedly become pregnant. I will leave you to mull this one over. 

Another stone Wilian described was a giant chunk of granite, about the size of our house in Madison (see above and below). It had a step carved into the side to climb up, and a strange dent and groove carved along the top. According to the stories, a woman would sit on the dented seat and pee towards the groove, about a foot down the slope from the seat. If she made it into the groove, she was to produce children for the Inca. If not, she was sent elsewhere. I took this to mean that if she was a "distance peer", it meant she was built well enough to bear children.

On the side of this giant peeing rock, there are some nodules spaced unevenly along the wall. According to Wilian, these were used to keep track of the solstices and other celestial movements. Adjacent to it was a pool of water carved into granite at a sharp angle that was used to reflect the stars and track them. In this area, there was also a place for a stone or gold idol to be placed, but there is not a lot known about this site as it is still being excavated.

We walked on, and passed over a small stream, which came out of the hillside. The Inca carved a stone fountain here, and water came out one large rectangle and flushed down two smaller pathways to the stream. The large whole represented the "creator" and the smaller divots represented the sun and moon. The water in this location was used for purification of people (perhaps virgins?)"

I ended my journal entry here for the day, but I'd like to explain a bit more about what we learned in this first part. If you notice, the stones carved at this site are very straight edged and precise: this is a mark of the Inca. They had special architects who were in charge of making sure their ritual places were sturdy and beautiful. You will see much more evidence of this once we get to Machu Picchu, but it is important to see in this site as well.

I didn't mention much in this journal entry, but this area of the site was focused on fertility and pregnancy, and was an important effort in the last Inca, Manco Inca, to keep the population strong. Along with the previously mentioned stone remnants of this, there were nine stone "seats" carved expertly below the giant "peeing stone". Wilian told us that these represented the nine months in pregnancy, and it was important that the gap between the stones got smaller as you neared the "end" of the pregnancy because (if I remember him correctly) here the women would need more help getting up from their position, being to heavy. The seventh month was also significant, because often times women did not make it that far into pregnancy and if they did it was an important time. This is sort of a mangled description, since our guide only knows some English and I haven't been able to find much about Vilcabamba on the internet.

Stay tuned for Vilcabamba: part two!