Cuzco

I´ve been in Cuzco since Friday. This city was at the center of the Inca Empire, but like all Inca cities it was sack and destroyed by the marauding Spaniards. Those bastards! They remind me of the Crusaders (not the Cantabs but the Arab invaders of the middle ages) as upon completing their conquest the Spaniards built massive cathedrals upon the ruins of the Inca buildings, thus erasing any remnants of the Inca´s history. The theory goes that they wanted to both subdue and convert the population to Christianity. But since the population can´t read nor understand Spanish, the easiest method was to paint incredibly large murals and paintings to educate through pictures. I felt a little depress reading about the Inca history and the destruction wrought by the conquests.

 

So... today I saw more destruction by the Spaniards. I visited the so call Sacred Valley, to see the Inca ruins at several villages surrounding Cuzco. The most impressive being Ollantaytambo, as it´s mountains are dominated by Inca fortresses. The fortress were built using huge stones, some measuring 3 metres long and 2 metres high. I wonder how many did it take to transport these large blocks up the hill? The other amazing scenery are the terrace farming method during Inca time, the view reminded me of both Sapa in Vietnam and Long Sheng in China. It is amazing to see how the steep hillside has been transform into cultivatable land by humans.