To MP: D2 P2: Vilcabamba (part two)

Saturday 9:56 pm

still writing about Friday

"Just got out of the shower- the building has an actual water heater! None of the showers we have used here in Peru so far have had a tank, just an attachment on the head so it has been necessary for the water to run slowly with little pressure. But, not here at our Machu Picchu hotel!

(To clarify for my readers: we left for MP on Thursday, explored Vilcabamba on Friday, had some more adventures on Saturday, and then climbed up to Machu Picchu on Sunday morning. So I am writing this after a long day of exploring and hiking, but it is about the previous day's events. Hope that helps!)

Back to Vilcabamba-

We crossed a small field that a stream runs through (this is after the "fertility" space) and has bunches of Calla Lilies growing wild. It was once used as a farming field (during Inca times, 400-500 years ago) and the ground was terraced downhill about 12 times in the direction we would eventually walk. We crossed over and saw a circle carved outward from a piece of stone- an ancient sundial! 

We then came to a temple of sorts, a place full of stone altars. There was an ancient fountain where a stream once ran, but today it sits dry. On top of a large stone slab is a carved path for the water, and two slabs stand adjacent to this, making a three sided box. The side stones have been cut into to form two shelves of equal size and at equal height, and would have held some sort of stone or gold idol. In the middle of these would have been a pool of water. (Here we can only speculate what the purpose was. Perhaps it was a small shrine to a water god, or another tribute to the sun and moon. I don't think our guide had any specifics on this space, and since the site is still being studied, it may be unknown.)

The obsolete fountain I described above.

The mountains were very important to the Inca, and this is expressed in some stones carved in this area. One had been shaped to look like two mountains and a valley, perhaps representing the valley we stood in. An altar was formed on one end of this, and items such as corn or beans may have been ritually sacrificed here, as it was an agricultural space. Another stone is placed and shaped like one of the mountains behind it. 

Sunday May 27 1:45 pm

We continued our hike across more garden and agricultural terraces and climb up, up up! I almost died, as I did on the initial climb, because I couldn't breathe and had to walk very slowly.

Eventually, we could see a huge stone encampment atop a hill. It was a military base, used by the last Inca "king" Manco Inca. The views from the top were amazing, but I was not feeling well. Our guide gave us a short history of Manco Inca's last stand against the Spanish (Vilcabamba was the last stronghold of the Inca), and then we hiked back down and headed back to Santa Maria.

We are the only visitors! Incredible.