somewhere under the sky

walls

i spent very little time in Lima and don´t have much to say about it. it´s a big city, with nice parts and not so nice parts.

Cuzco and the Sacred Valley.
we flew from Lima to Cuzco. i have never seen such a beautiful sight outside my airplane window. it was sunrise and it illuminated mountain chain upon majestic mountain chain.
we went directly to Pisac, which is a little town in the Sacred Valley, and hiked the ruins. words fail me. i really don´t know how to describe Incan ruins. i´ve seen them in Ecuador, and i don´t know if it was that i just didn´t get it, or i wasn´t paying attention, but when we got to the ruins of Pisac, at every turn i was exclaiming "oh my gosh" "this is just incredible" "amazing" and i really wouldn´t shut up. i have never seen such beautiful walls in my entire life.
the Incas quarried these stones and dragged them up and down mountains, over rivers, some weighing many, many tons. and they fit them together without mortar. absolutely perfectly. i can´t wait to show you pictures, even if it won´t do it justice.
i think i was more amazed than at the awesome columns of ancient Greece (blasphemy!), such feats of engineering as i have never seen. i am fascinated by the Incas. just to touch those walls put me in a state of historic, scientific, and mystical shock.
i also can´t believe the use of the land. these are tall, tall mountains, from 10,000 to 14,000 feet. the Incas, and peasant and indigenous people of today, farm on these mountains. they cultivate them using the terrace system. i mean, i am just astounded. miles and miles of terraces, up and up and up. they USE the land as it is.
i´m sorry my words just do not say anything. it is a total wonder, the Andean way of life.
i´m off on a 5 day hiking adventure. wish me luck. as much as i am Andean in my heart, my body has not lived in mountains.

posted by leah v @ 3:10 PM