3 very different places |
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Why Andahuaylillas? OK, I admit Cusco is better known but I wanted to be a bit more specific and I also want people to avoid speeding past these impressive places on their way from Puno.
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The three places covered here are only related by proximity. Andahuaylillas is a village up a dirt track from the main Puno – Cusco road, noted for its church. The archaeological site at Tipon is Incan and the one at Piquillacta is the only pre-Incan site in the Cusco region. [There are any number in Peru of course.] It may be useful here, for those who have not yet been to Incan sites to summarise the main things associated with them. Probably the first would be the way they blend into the natural scenery. Even when an imported stone has been carved and made into a major feature of a site, as at Quenco, it seems to have been done with a view to the overall harmony of that stone with the indigenous rocks. The second major feature is the joining of huge rocks with minimum space between, as though they had been cut with a huge cheese-knife type article. The third is the shaping of the outer surface of the rocks so that it looks almost as though a huge file has made the edges between perpendicular walls curved, all in the same way. Incidentally this seems to create considerable doubt about whether Puerto Inca on the Pacific coast was actually the main port of the Incas as the remains there don’t fit the pattern described here.
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I think Andahuaylillas wins the accolade because it is so different. The church was built on the site of an Inca temple and, so beautiful are is frescoes, it has been called the Sistine Chapel of the Andes. Much as I hate this sort of comparison, it is perhaps more understandable here although the sheer quantity of precious metals used to adorn the altar façade is also overwhelming. Correctly internal photography is not permitted but you can see one inside view at http://www.cuscoweb.-com/english/cu scoinfo/cuscoinfo18.-html [no break] This isn’t good of the frescoes but it does show the beautiful ceiling and something of the use of gold. From the main plaza outside, the church is less impressive, though its simplicity is pleasing and a major contrast with the interior. What is very impressive here is a huge tree with flame red flowers, which I believe may well be a pisonay, though the local guides called them ‘flame trees.’
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Although we saw many Inca remains, I think all of them were special in some way. Certainly, large or small, they all had separate features which tie them firmly in the memory. The remains at Tipon will always bring to my mind the waterfalls, leading the water from one fertile terrace to another, from the bottom right-hand corner of each. Looking up these and to the right there are smaller terraces, which are thought to have been royal gardens purely for ornament. These ruins are high above the valley of the Urubamba River and from the bottom the view back down to the valley and village is spectacular.
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Mummy bundles again, Piquillacta
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Pikillacta or Piquillacta is a pre-Incan settlement near Andahuaylillas and Tipon. Our tour leader had suggested that after seeing numerous Inca sites, we might feel as though this had been constructed elsewhere and just dropped here more or less by accident. Although neither he nor we believed this to have happened, it’s quite a good illustration of the difference from the Incas. This is ascribed to the Wari culture and may well date from the 7th century. It obviously consisted of a very substantial town and there are a considerable number of buildings left, spread over a wide area. Unlike Inca remains, some of the main features to be seen include mummy bundles and skulls. Sensibly or otherwise we felt a bit like tomb robbers when gaping at these.
In the valley below there’s a lake of a bright blue colour, even brighter than Lake Titiaca – described by a local guide as Lago Mistrioso, although these words lead elsewhere if used in Google.
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This is NOT - repeat NOT – a recommendation, but you may find the story interesting. It was at a small restaurant near the main road that I was persuaded to try guinea-pig. ‘Near’ in this context means NEAR. There was just room for the [probanly feral and certainly scabby] dogs to run by between us and the dust-storming vans.
Other members of our group ate guinea-pig in Cusco and found it crackly and delicious – in my experience it was rubbery and hard work. I think it may well have died a natural death some considerable time before. That may be libellous and perhaps it’s lucky I never knew the name of the place.
Anyway the vile beast took a terrible revenge. We were booked on the first train to Aguas Callientes next day to meet other members of our group at Macchu Piccu as they completed the Inca Trail. However that night the g-p struck – hard and true – the details are distasteful! – [Continued in last section.]
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[The guinea-pig’s revenge – concluded]
I was reluctant to get up at 0410 in the morning as I felt ill and I’d slept badly. However we went by taxi to the station at Cusco. Pam and our guide, José leapt up the stairs to find our seats. I looked at the stairs and a wave of dizziness hit me. My implanted ICD completed the g-p’s revenge by giving me 5 large electric shocks. The creature’s revenge had involved a change in the chemical balance of my heart – mainly a shortage of potassium. So near and yet - - - we never reached Macchu Piccu. I spent the next night in a clinic!
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Published on Wednesday October 19th, 2005 by davidx
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