Quyllur Yachay @incancosmology - Tumblr Blog

Welcome to Your (Almost) One-Stop Shop for Learning about Inka Astronomy!

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Day 7: One Last Trek Before We Go 🥾

Originally, our morning on the last day before we would head to the airport was free for anyone to do any last minute sight-seeing and shopping, but our guide informed us of one last location that was not far from our hotel that we could go to instead, and we jumped at the opportunity as a group to go and see it.

This was a gorgeous location called Saqsaywaman (the correct pronunciation is “sahck-say-hwah-maan,” but we remembered it by saying “sexy woman”), and it is a citadel on the outskirts of Cusco. Again, since this was a last minute trek, I did not get the opportunity to take many notes, but know that this location is home to a few housing structures (made using the now infamous Inka technique), and down a ways has a beautiful lookout over the city.

Words simply don’t do it justice.

A couple things happened while we were here.

A lot of emotions ran wild because we knew this was the last time we would get to see the city, as well as our guide.

We got to do our last trek with one of our professors, who would not do a whole lot with us because he contracted bronchitis before we left.

Two members even created their own rendition of Country Roads, Take Me Home by John Denver called Inka Road (probably the funniest thing on the whole trip).

It was a beautiful moment that I think has been burned into all of our minds, as has the entire experience of getting here and living life for a week.

Then came the part we were all dreading - another twenty-four (24) hours of flights. I will spare you all the details, but know that we took them, didn’t sleep great, bought some last minute airport souvenirs, our overnight flight went from eight (8) hours to nearly ten (10), and we were all very tired and bittersweet when our feet landed in Pittsburgh.

I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again - I want to, on behalf of my entire group and myself, say thank you to the people of Peru for welcoming us so warmly into their home and giving us the royal treatment. It was a trip none of us regret or will forget, and I think all of us would recommend visiting if you get the chance.

(I think the professors might be considering doing this once every three (3) years, both as a course and an alumni trip, since we were the first group and it went so well. But shhh, you didn’t hear that from me and I don’t know if that will go through. You’ll just have to contact our school for more information down the Inka road.)

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Let’s Chat Home || Day 6

Home

Day 6: A Bittersweet End ⚗️🍫💃🏼

I’m unaware of whether or not the others in the group felt like this, but I knew that as soon as we woke up in the first hotel for the second time, we were basically at the end of our trip. It truly was a bittersweet morning, which as you will come to find out, is appropriate regarding the things we did that day. But not to get ahead of myself, I think it is important at this point to stop and talk about how I really was feeling.

Note: if you don’t want to read a purely emotion-driven section of the blog, and just want to get to the next thing we did, skip ahead until you see the next note.

I should start off by saying that I’m going to be completely honest here. But it is also important to know that just because I’m going to say what I’m about to say, doesn’t mean that I HATED this trip, or anything of the sort, really. This is just truly how I was feeling at this point in time.

I was ready to go home.

This could have been for a number of reasons, and none of them involved hating anything we did or any part of the culture. I think it was just the combination of the following things:

Exhaustion

Homesickness for...

A bed I knew

Food I knew I liked (and that wouldn’t make my stomach do flips)

Wanting to see my friends

Having the ability to talk to family more

I’m sure there are more reasons that what I just told you, but those are the ones that come to mind at this point in time. Now these are truly the only parts of the trip that caused me any kind of unhappiness. I didn’t mind the early mornings, I didn’t mind eating granola bars or anything of the sort for a meal, and each activity we did was immensely enjoyable. It was just that I am not someone who travels, especially that far away from home. I have been outside of the country before, but not for nearly as long as this trip was, and never without my family (they wouldn’t have been much help, they don’t know any Spanish). It was just an overwhelming experience overall. I mean, it was shocking to learn that they don’t flush toilet paper. Yeah, read into that if you’re curious, I’ll spare you the details right now.

But I woke up, and I felt like I was physically and mentally ready to go home. I was extremely sad when we left, but it was time for me. It had been a lot of commotion all at once, and it just took a toll on me.

Here’s the part I want to address that’s a little bit more gossipy than opinion. Every single other person that went on the trip gave me some kind of nasty look when I expressed that out loud. Everyone acted like they had some kind of complex where they were offended that I said I was ready to go because “this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and how could you want to leave a beautiful place like this and how did you not enjoy everything?” and yadda yadda yadda.

Look and listen.

I NEVER said that the country wasn’t beautiful.

I NEVER said that I didn’t enjoy something we did.

I will NEVER take for granted that I had the opportunity to go to this place.

But, here’s the truth of the matter. Every single one of those people were lying. At least to some degree. As most of you who will read this know, we are currently dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, and I sit writing this at home instead of up in my dorm room where I feel I should be. I bring this up because whether people are willing to admit it or not, getting to see your family and stay at home more is both a blessing and a curse. Obviously, I wish I had a sense of routine, but this is the best it’s going to be at the moment. But there’s a bigger point here I want to mention.

Had our group gone to Peru not even two weeks later than we did, we would have be stuck there. Peru closed its borders not long after we landed in the United States. We could still be there had we not gone when we did.

And everyone in the group said something along the lines of “well, there are worse places to get stuck!” or “I wouldn’t mind spending another week here!”

Yes you would have.

I don’t doubt that you loved the trip and would have loved to spend time there, but eventually you would have wanted to go home. See your family. Get back to normalcy. Most of them probably wanted to go home the same day I did, and just did not want to admit it.

So my bottom line in this (really long, sorry about that) rant is this; IT IS OKAY TO WANT TO GO HOME TOWARD THE END OF A VACATION OR SCHOOL TRIP. There is no shame in it. We get burned out experiencing an entirely new way of life, that’s just part of being human, should we choose to exercise the adventurous sides of ourselves. And this doesn’t mean you didn’t enjoy yourself, or aren’t looking forward to what is still to come.

Trust me - you are not alone in this feeling.

Note: skippers, you can continue reading below.

Our day began with a relatively longer hike up to a section of Cusco that we had not been to prior. We made our way up to a shaman who was going to teach us about how the Inka people practiced medicine. This included learning about and participating in rituals that used various plants that held specific energies and powers for healing purposes. The overall benefit of these practices are the strength, health, and abundance that is required in order to live in harmony with others, as well as with the universe.

As sad as I am to admit it, I was so engrossed in what the shaman was teaching and showing us that I did not take any notes during the process. However, there are a few things that I remember doing that I will detail below.

One practice was using an herb rubbed all over the body and in the hair to help people who are feeling ill in some way (one girl in our group happened to be having some kind of stomach issue that morning, so she volunteered to be a part of it).

Then we did one involving an egg, and I actually participated in that. Basically, you lay down on the ground, and the shaman rubs an egg all over your body while you lay in different positions, and then once they finish, you walk out of the room and the shaman cracks the egg. The person who participates is not allowed to see the egg in any capacity, so I to this day don’t know what my egg looked like when it was cracked. However, our shaman, who knows no English whatsoever, knew that I fell three times on one hike. No one told her that. And she got that all from an egg.

Needless to say, she rubbed a different herb over me to help me get rid of the negative energy I was holding on to from that day, and I actually felt lighter afterwards. Like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And I was extremely grateful for that.

It is also important to point out that shaman has a negative connotation for people who are highly religious. This was not some kind of voodoo practice. This is a type of medicine that uses herbs that do not get ingested into the body, a way of not using manufactured medicine. So, even if you are someone highly religious, don’t feel like this is something you cannot participate in.

Once we left the shaman, we had a few hours to ourselves to find some lunch and do any more shopping we felt like doing before our next event. I honestly don’t remember what I did with the group I was with, but I do remember having some kind of street food for lunch that was essentially rolled up bread with a sweet filling, and piping hot. I for the life of me cannot remember what it is called, but it was very filling. And yummy.

The next thing we did was also very yummy, and that was a visit to the Choco Museo, or chocolate museum. Here, we got to participate in a chocolate making lesson, and even make our own chocolate! The lesson consisted of demonstrations on how to peel and roast cacao beans, and how the bean gets transformed and used in different ratios for different kinds of chocolate. Then, we got to choose whether we wanted to make our own chocolate with dark, milk, or white chocolate, we got to choose our molds, and even what we put in the chocolate. It is important to know, though, if you ever see Peruvian chocolate in a store or visit Peru, know that their chocolate is not like ours. Our dark chocolate is their milk chocolate, and our milk chocolate is too sweet for them. If you see a Peruvian chocolate bar that is more than maybe 60% dark, be warned that it will have hardly any sweetness to it.

It was enjoyable to see everyone’s faces when they bit into the samples and the bitterness hit their tastebuds.

Click here to be taken to the Mini Chocolate Workshop page of the Cusco ChocoMuseo that we participated in.

Now, the workshop isn’t all that long, but we spent a decent amount of time there, and afterwards, we had a little bit of time to go back to the hotel and get “gussied up,” or at least the best we could do. Our evening consisted of two events that were very nice ways to round out our trip. The first was a performance at the local center for folkloric art, and then we got to have a late evening dinner at an extremely nice restaurant.

Let’s start with the performance.

The Center for Folkloric Art is a big, beautiful building toward the center of Cusco that is the home of traditional dance and history lessons about the people who lived in Cusco many, many years ago. The performance lasts about an hour, and consists of nearly ten (10) or so performances, all with different costumes that were traditional, colorful, and stunning to look at. All the words sung during the dances were done in Quechua, and they told different stories about parts of Inka life.

Finally, after these wonderful performances, it was time for us to (finally; it was nearly 8:00pm when we finished up there) eat dinner, and we had reserved a spot at this extremely high end restaurant called the Tunupa Restaurant. This place was absolutely stunning, and extremely high end. We got there and we were given individually bottled waters in glass containers, as well as pisco sour, the local popular cocktail. Then we got to have buffet-style food, and it was absolutely delicious. I don’t remember everything that was there (because there was SO MUCH food), but I can at least show you my particular plate.

We also got to listen to beautiful live music (I, again, cannot get the video to upload in a proper format), and just bask in the beautiful restaurant for our last night.

It was quite an emotional evening, because after we all ate and got to sit down and think about everything that went on throughout the week, people began to realize that we were heading home the next day.

We got to listen to our guide a little bit more, and he told us that we will not get to see it, but our presence in Cusco will have helped tremendously, and he thanked us for being such a fun group (we have kept in touch with him - he’s doing great, it’s just that there is no tourism now so the money is tight).

After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel, my roommate and I packed up most of our belongings, and we prepared for one last trek and then twenty-four (24) more hours of flights.

We would be home in less than two (2) days.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Let’s Chat Home || Day 5 || Day 7

Home

Day 5: Ruins, Markets and... Potatoes 🥔

The next day consisted of activities that would range from very calming and soothing, to a massively difficult hike (as I am told). It was the last day that involved a decent amount of trekking, and it was surprisingly hard to think about that in the moment. We knew subconsciously that once this day was over, we were almost completely done the trip and we were going home soon, so let it be known that there were a lot of mixed emotions going on within the group this day.

First and foremost, we checked out of our hotel (also another sign we were close to going home because once we were back at the first hotel, we were in the last two (2) days of the trip), and traveled to our first set of ruins for the day. These ruins were called the Ollantaytambo ruins, which is an extremely difficult location to hike. I personally did not do this trek, but stayed at the ground level and watched the group go by, because I was extremely sore from Machu Picchu the day before. These ruins, however, did include a few housing structures, as well as a grain mill. But in order to get to these places, the group had to hike up over one hundred (100) pretty steep steps (I am five foot, zero inches [5′0″], and these steps were nearly from the ground to my knee), and then continue walking essentially on the side of a mountain. With no railings. Not only was I sore, but I have a fear of heights that gave me anxiety simply by looking at the places they had to walk. I was frankly afraid I would have passed out and, quite literally, fallen off the side of a mountain. I did manage to get some pretty good pictures from the ground, though, so those are to follow. I also got to take pictures of the structures at the ground that the other members of the group did not really get a chance to take. I apologize though, because our guide was not with us, so I don’t have much of an explanation as to what these structures were for or who could have lived in them.

Once everyone made their way back down to Earth where I was located, they all were pretty winded, but their adrenaline was going. From there, we were scheduled to go to a special place that is a small village, but we made a pitstop at the excitable request of one of our professors. We stopped at a place that sells cuy. Before I say what that is in English, please bear in mind that only one person on our trip was vegetarian, and she chose not to partake in this.

Cuy... is this:

And in English, that is guinea pig. Yes, we tried guinea pig on a stick. It’s extremely hard for me to describe the taste to you, but our teacher describes it as a combination of chicken and rabbit. I personally have not ever tried rabbit, but I can say that the texture was very chicken-esque, simply a little bit more moist. It also had a pretty strong gamey taste that is unlike chicken, but in a way, not that far from it, either.

It was an interesting pit-stop to say the least. Our guide loves the head of the guinea pig, so we gave him that part of our purchase, no questions asked.

After we traveled a little ways, we stopped at the place that actually made me cry. I blamed this on being tired and the way they greeted us (which was literally showering us with flowers), but the truth of the matter is that it was a beautiful thing to see how these people interacted with us and hearing them speak Quechua, something that people do not really do anymore. This was the Park of the Potato (or parque de la papa in Spanish), and the goal of these cooperatives (located within the village of Chawaytire and are at extremely high altitudes) is to inquire into the mechanisms and consequences of the impacts of climate change on native agrobiodiversity, especially potatoes. The village we visited had a lot more people than we got to meet, but about ten to fifteen (10-15) came out to greet us, all of whom were weavers and spoke Quechua, and they gave us a presentation on the many types of potatoes they grow. They then offered us a huge helping of food, which included potato soup (very different from American potato soup), chicken, chickpeas, and a couple kinds of fresh potatoes. It was a lovely meal, and very filling. Then, while we were walking around their home, they set up all of the weavings they have made, and gave us the opportunity to purchase whatever we wanted.

I personally bought a few bracelets and a beautiful yellow table runner, but the icing on the cake is what my professor and another student chose to do. The skirts the women are wearing, as you can see in the pictures, were extremely beautiful and hand made. Our teacher asked about them, and they gave her one to try on. She loved it so much that she was curious if they would be willing to sell the clothes off their back, and they were. A student also loved the idea, and they were willing to let her purchase one too.

At the right price, that is.

And let me tell you; Peru is not an expensive country to visit. The rate is about 1:3.3, meaning that something in the United States that cost $1 will cost about 3.30 sol. So, even though the numbers make it seem like you are spending a lot, when you think about what it is in American currency, it isn’t all that bad. I will keep the price I remember the student paid in my head for privacy, since that is her business, but know that the price she paid for the skirt is the equivalent to a high end piece of clothing in the United States.

The first day back at school, though, both the student and the professor wore their skirts, and they looked so happy, so honestly who cares about the money, right?

After that, we made out way to our final two (2) stops of the day, one of which was unplanned. On our way to the unplanned stop, we walked through (very briefly) our last planned stop. We walked through the Pisac Market, which is, albeit, similar to that of all the other markets we went to, but it is always something beautiful to look at, since all the products were extremely colorful. A lot of the items tend to be the same though, just in different colors, because the main form of income in Peru is tourism, so they love when they see a group like us.

After our brief walk through the market, we made it to our unplanned stop, which was the Pisac Ruins. I can sadly say I do not have any notes regarding that trip regarding what the site was and what it was for, but I do have some pictures. This is another stop that was extremely steep, and I was still sore, so I chose to stay on the ground (and it was a good thing I did, the group ended up seperating into two smaller groups and getting completely lost from each other).

After this beautiful stop, we went back to the first hotel we stayed at when we first arrived in Peru, and checked in for the night. We were given time to have dinner on our own, and from there it was a free evening. (I personally took a few different group members back to that wonderful pizza joint I mentioned earlier) As per usual, most of the group was too tired to really do any more exploring, and we still had a day and a half in the city to explore after we got some sleep.

Our next day had a similar pace as the first full day, in that it was not hike-based, but more tourist-oriented in nature. I was honestly really looking forward to both of these events, and I just wished sleep upon me so we could get to them sooner.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Let’s Chat Home || Day 4 || Day 6

Home

Day 4: A World Wonder ⛰️

Remember how I said that our call time for the next day was 4:00am? Well it was not as hard as you’d think it would be, and that will make sense as soon as you read the next two words.

Prepare your brain, because we got the once in a lifetime opportunity to hike...

MACHU PICCHU.

Yes. You read correctly. We were going to spend a day at one of the new seven (7) wonders of the world. This included, obviously, lessons about what went on there, and we got to view all of it in person to make sense of what we learned. But in order to do that, we had to get there. Hence the 4:00am call time.

To begin with, we had breakfast at the hotel (which in my case was very minimal because I hate eating super early in the morning; it makes me feel sick to my stomach), and once our ride arrived, we finished up and rode to the nearby train station. We took a train the specifically took people to the mountain, and got to view the scenic landscape along the Urubamba river on our way there. The train for some people was extremely rough, and I could completely understand where they were coming from as someone with motion sickness myself. However, I was wearing SeaBands the entire trip to help with that (something I sincerely recommend for anyone who has motion sickness. seriously, they’re like $4 at Walmart).

Once we arrived, we knew we were in for a hike. We saw the distance that we had to walk, and the differing inclines, and it looked daunting. But what kept me going was the fact that there were tons of people who were elderly seeming to do this with no issue. If they could do it, so could I!

Spoiler alert: by the time we made it to the end of the hike and we got to look back from where were standing to where we started, we didn’t even realize that it had been over three (3) hours and we walked miles and miles.

The hike was something else, to put it simply. It was tiring, but worth it. Something absolutely breathtaking and mind-boggling, because when you think about what was put into making the structure and how little tools they had, it’s incredible. It’s hard to talk about a structure like this without rambling on and on, so I will do my best to consolidate it into one substantial paragraph and then let my pictures do the rest of the talking.

Note: I will do my best to only include pictures that have landscape in it for the sake of privacy and not being able to get everyone’s permissions, however if I stumble across a photo with people in it that is too pretty to pass up, I will post it.

Machu Picchu, now one of the new seven (7) wonders of the world, is a site located on the side of a mountain, about eight thousand (8,000) feet above sea level. To give you a comparison, here is the elevation (in feet) of some of the most well known places in the world:

New York City, USA: 33

Los Angeles, USA: 285

London, UK: 36

New Delhi, India: 709

Tokyo, Japan: 131

São Paulo, Brazil: 2,493

Cusco, Peru: 11,152

So we were pretty high up in the air, and what that means for those that want to travel there is that the air is harder to take in. That is why it is recommended that people who are not acclimated to higher elevations take a high altitude medication before and while traveling. I did, and I personally think that it was the only reason I didn’t get sick.

But back to Machu Picchu. The site has two main areas, one of which was for agriculture, and the other was more urban, where the people lived. Here, it is thought that the Inca Pachacutec and his family lived here and presided over the empire at his time. Among other things, the site was also used a place of worship, a place for stargazing, and other private matters related to the ruling of the empire. It contains many temples and royal tombs, and has many stairways and canals carved out of stone, a style in which is now famous in and of itself.

There is only so much words can do, though.

Hopefully those pictures help you to understand how glorious of a structure this is. It’s extremely cliche to say that if you ever have an opportunity to go see this place, I highly recommend it. Just heed my advice; bring shoes that have really decent tread on them. I chose to only bring my regular sneakers (instead of the hiking sandals I’m literally wearing as I write this which I had at the time we left but that’s neither here nor there) and by the time we were done these first four days, the tread on them had completely worn off.

After we completed our trek, we had the opportunity to branch off on our own for lunch, but one of the professors on our trip, who had been to Peru before, knew of a place that she wanted to go to, so we simply went as a whole group to this place and split some pizzas. After we ate, we got back on the train, rode back to the town we were staying at, and then had two choices. The first thing we could do was simply go back to the hotel to rest, and the other was get off the van early and walk around the town a bit since we were only going to be in that town one more night. I chose to walk around with my professor and a few other students.

We walked around and got to see a few more churches, a small benefit concert, and a marketplace that had all the fresh fruit and vegetables that you could think of. We did not really buy much of anything while we were out, but by the time we were done walking around, it was dinner time. So, we went to this chicken place that our professor knew about, and actually ended up seeing nearly everyone else there as well.

After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel, while some people stayed out in the town for a bit, and got to relax for the night. It was the first night in a while where going to bed at a relatively normal time was fine, as our next day was slightly less demanding, but a lot more jam-packed with stuff to do.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Let’s Chat Home || Day 3 || Day 5

Home

Day 3: Agricultural and Economical Wonders 🧺🌿🧂

The reason I, along with all my group mates, needed to be well-rested for this next day is that it was day full of hiking. We had a plan to go to three (3) locations in a place called the Urubamba Valley. This is a place known for its beauty, and holds many of the places that are now iconic to Peru. We visited the following sites, and in the order they are described.

The first thing we did was check out of our hotel and load up a van to travel to the first location, which is known as Chinchero. Chinchero is considered by most Peruvians to be the birthplace of the rainbow, which is arguably the most important god in Inca culture. Therefore, it should make a lot of sense as to why this place is sacred.

Urambamba is known for a massive church, built in the seventeenth (17th) century during the time of the Spanish invasion and conquest. No pictures were allowed to be taken in one area of the church, for the sake of preserving the alter. Said alter is made entirely of silver, and any flash photography would damage the precious metal. Other rooms were fair game for photos, though, and the church was absolutely stunning. Peru, because of the Spanish conquest, is primarily Catholic in faith, and their churches are extremely elaborate. As a non-Catholic, these churches are always stunning to look at.

After our tour of the city, which was mainly the church and a walk around the main plaza, we made our way to a small little place where we watched a weaving demonstration. This little community was made up of about seven (7) to ten (10) members that we saw, and they had their own alpacas and llamas that they sheared. The lady who gave the demonstration taught us about the different types of fabric and how to tell them apart, including sheep, and she explained why baby alpaca is the most expensive fabric across the board. The reason, you might ask? It’s because what is considered baby alpaca is not based on the age of the animal; it’s based on the first time it was sheared. It is a lot harder to get baby alpaca fur because once you shear it the first time, the next shearing and on is no longer considered baby alpaca fur. It also tends to be much softer than alpaca, sheep, or llama.

Also, below you will find pictures of the demonstration. I attempted to upload a video I took, however I cannot seem to do that, so I would like to say two things. First is that we got permission to take videos and pictures from everyone, and the lady giving the demonstration was extremely entertaining and hysterically funny. It is not her job to give demonstrations, yet she did a fantastic job of it, which demonstrates the character of most Peruvian people.

After the demonstrations, we were given time to look around at everything they made and purchase whatever we wanted. Personally, I chose to buy a yellow scarf made of baby alpaca, mainly because I knew these women would not lie to us about what it was genuinely made of. You knew after talking to them you could trust them completely. People took plenty of time to find the things they wanted to buy, and once everyone was satisfied, we loaded back into our van to drive to the next location.

Next, we visited Moray, which again, is another part of this website detailed in full. Click here to be taken to any information on this site regarding that. As before, instead of detailing everything here, I will provided a bulleted list that describes it simply, and if your curiosity is peaked, you can visit other pages of the site.

Moray is a beautiful site made up of concaving rings that were supposedly used for agricultural testing and experiments.

Incans walked through these to plant and harvest, but we got to walk around the outskirts of the area and it is a lot bigger than the pictures detailed across the site make it seem.

I distinctly remember there being a beautiful breeze at the time we were there, but I cannot say whether or not this is normal.

Once we did our tour of Moray, we visited one last agricultural site for the day, and they were the salt pans of Maras. These pans are constructed in such a way that the Incan people, and the families that still harvest them, have essentially an unlimited supply of pink salt. Along the top area, there was a set of shops where tourists and us (explorers, as our tour guide liked to call us) could buy the salt that is harvested there, among other goodies.

The salt pans are extremely photogenic, and something very interesting to know about them is that they are similar to snowflakes; not a single one is exactly the same. These pans are shaped and built in a way where a small stream flows through and fills the pans, which eventually evaporate, leaving a small layer of salt across the bottom that is scraped up and sold.

I had a strange affinity toward this place, as I had done a project detailing this place before we arrived there, so it was magnificent to see it in person. Similar to Moray, it is hard to believe that at one point, human beings made these with no tools like what we have today. To someone who has no interest in history or culture, these may just look like white squares on the side of the mountain. When you take into consideration what had to be done to bring these pans into existence, though, your brain can do a “one-eighty” and really feel something emotional about it.

After the tour of the mines, we all hiked down the side of the mountain to make it back to our van, and from there we actually visited a small bar called Bar de los Incas. In there, should we have chosen to do so, could try the alcohol made from corn. I believe I was the only one who did not elect to try it, by my own personal choice, but everyone in my group said that it was delicious and something they would drink at home should they have the option to do so.

After the small stop at the bar, we traveled to our new hotel in Urubamba, called the Hotel San Agustin, were we would spend the next two (2) nights. We got back to the hotel around 4:30 in the afternoon, and from there we had a free evening. The location of our hotel this time around was not as safe as Cusco, so we were told that if we wanted to leave for any reason, we had to be sure to go in larger groups than we had to in Cusco. Most of us chose to stay at the hotel for dinner, and some even partook in the happy hour offered by the hotel. It was a nice experience, because besides the rooms, everything is completely outdoors. After dinner, though, I made the choice to go to bed earlier than I ever had since the time I was in elementary school.

If I thought that this day was going to be hard, I had another VERY important hike to look forward to.

At four in the morning.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Let’s Chat Home || Day 2 || Day 4

Home

Day 2: From Those in the Ground to Those in the Stars 🏛️🌌

Let me start off by dispelling a myth that you might have regarding jet lag. People tend to believe that it only really hits you if there is a time zone change.

That. Is. Simply. Not. True.

My group had to take three (3) flights within twenty-four (24) hours, and of those twenty-four (24) hours, approximately fifteen (15) of them were flights. The remainder was layovers. Depending on the time of year, Peru can be in the same time zone as us, which is Eastern Standard Time, or one (1) hour behind us (Central Time). The time of year we went made it so it was the same time.

As someone who has insomnia and someone who has a severe amount of difficulty sleeping in a bed she doesn’t know, the night we arrived at our first hotel was GLORIOUS. I don’t remember a time when my head hit the pillow and within five (5) minutes was asleep.

So, I guess what I’m telling you is if you’re like me and want a good night sleep, taking a ton of flights might be in your best interest.

Anyway, let’s get onto the day at hand - our first official full day in Peru!

Considering the day we had prior, they chose to allow us a relatively easy day to start. There were only two things on the agenda to do as a group, and we weren’t going to do these until the mid-afternoon to allow us some sleep. Breakfast was served at the hotel, just like every other day, as you’ll come to find out, and we (technically) had a free morning. Including an opportunity to find lunch on our own. I, personally, was too tired to really do any exploring, so it worked out pretty well when our group was already all awake and ready to do something. We decided to visit the massive San Pedro market in the center of the town. This wasn’t on the schedule, but everyone was awake and ready to go, so we figured we’d just go as a group. This market is nothing like what we have at home, and sadly I don’t have any pictures from this place. But imagine a giant tent with at least two hundred (200) shops crammed next to each other, with good ranging from magnets, plush llama and alpaca models, fresh juice, and even fresh cuts of meat. There was also jewelry, figurines, clothing, and storage bags (backpacks and the like). It had everything you could need or want, both as a tourist or a local. We did not get to spend nearly as much time as we would have liked to at this place, because we did have to get to our first scheduled activity, but know that it could take nearly an entire day to get through the place. Maybe even longer.

Once we left the market, we began to walk toward our first scheduled destination. We took photos all throughout the walk, saw churches, and realized that Peru is known for tons of dogs that simply roam around. We learned that dog owners let their dogs roam around all day after breakfast, and the dogs are so well trained that they know when it’s dinner time, and they make their way home on their own. I have a cat and I would never trust her to find her way home like that. So after passing a good five (5) or six (6) dogs, we made it to our first stop, give or take fifteen (15) walking minutes from our hotel.

This stop was the Regional History Museum, and it is a collection of ceramics, paintings, metals, and textiles that teach visitors about paleontological and archaeological history of the pre-Hispanic era. It also has goods from the colonial era. We were not allowed to take pictures in there, so what you see below is all I could get a picture of. This museum was absolutely beautiful, and I apologize for making you take my word for it. It was a nice way to ease someone into the history of the Incas without overwhelming them with information, plus it’s just really pretty and relaxing to walk through the museum.

(also say hi to my legs in the above picture)

After our tour of the museum, we instantly made our way to our third and final event of the day, which would take us to the end of the day. We made our way back to the town square and waited for a van to pick us up. We were scheduled to have a tour of the local planetarium, and learn about how the Incas used the stars in their everyday lives. As you can guess based on the other information presented on this site, this was the location that inspired me the most. I have always loved space, and as soon as I knew we were scheduled to go to a planetarium, I was extremely excited.

As opposed to restating everything we did there, I will offer a bulleted list. After the bulleted list, should you be more intrigued to continue reading, I highly suggest you visit the portion of the website dedicated to the planetarium and what it taught us. Click here to do so.

First, we started with a demonstration in the dome of the planetarium, where we viewed an astronomical show.

Second, we went to a lecture-style room and were told the history of the astronomy of Cusco, the city, in that it is shaped like a Puma.

Third, we went outside and gazed up at the stars (given that it was very cloudy) through extremely powerful telescopes.

Finally, we had a a chance to purchase some things from the gift shop.

Images and all from this experience can be found by clicking the above link to be taken to the pages dedicated to the planetarium and what we learned there. I think it goes without saying that one can never get tired of watching a show in a planetarium dome. It is a magnificent experience; one such that it does not even feel like you are learning things. However, if asked, I could probably tell you most of what we learned that night, despite it being already a long time since that night. This, like the museum, was another nice way to be introduced to some Inca history without being overwhelmed. The presenter gave us background in astronomy before diving into the Inca astronomy so we could make sense of some vocabulary used.

After the planetarium, we returned back to the plaza we were picked up at, and we were given the choice to return to the hotel, or stay in the plaza if you wanted a late dinner. I chose to go back to hotel and shower and lay down so I could rest my body more, because I knew that the day we had coming was one that I needed to be as prepared for as possible.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Let’s Chat Home || Day 1 || Day 3

Home

Day 1: Have Your Boarding Pass Ready? ✈️

Obviously, the first part of any vacation is getting there, and it was a long first day to say the least. In order to get to our final destination, we had a whole twenty-four (24) travel day ahead of us, and I will break it down for you now.

To start, our group traveled to the nearest international airport, which happened to be Pittsburgh International. We were actually a little bit late to arrive because our driver was late to pick us up from our campus. My head instantly went to the worst and said “oh, so this is how our travel is going to go?”

Spoiler alert: it ended up being fine in the end, but in the moment it was a little nerve-racking.

Anyway, we ended up making it safely to PIT, and we departed for our second destination around 3:30pm in an American Airlines flight. We safely made it into Dallas/Fort Worth International a little before 6:00pm after a flight that was pretty smooth. I will say, however, I had personally not been on a flight since I was two (2) years old. Everyone else in my group seemed pretty calm about the whole situation, and meanwhile I was gripping onto my travel pillow thinking that would save me if something went wrong. Thankfully, I was seated between both of my professors, who are both well traveled, so they helped calm me down tremendously. Once we were in the air, I was fine, but getting in the air and landing were rough for me.

After arriving in DFW, we had nearly five (5) hours to kill at the airport. So, our group broke up into smaller groups, and we sought after the following items; dinner, a nice bathroom, and a place to walk around in preparation for our next flight. My group personally went to China Express, a place I had never been (not to shabby, might I add!), and then I eventually made my way back to our boarding gate for the next flight. A couple people did some shopping, and last minute exchanging of bills, and then the time came for the flight we all dreaded the most.

The overnight flight. (insert dramatic music here)

We left Texas around 10:30pm, and had a nearly eight (8) hour flight ahead of us. Thankfully, I was still seated between my two professors, which really helped calm my nerves. Overnight flights are not cakewalks, though, keep that in mind. It’s a long, stiff process that seemingly never ends, especially because they usually have those screens that show where your plane is located and it seems like it never moves until you’re at your destination.

Regardless, we safely landed in Lima, Peru, after eight (8) hours of slight turbulence the entire way there. Most of us wanted to use the bathroom once we arrived, but the bathroom was a bit preoccupied by someone who didn’t handle the turbulence well. I think you can put two and two together. Once we landed, you would think we would be so happy and able to say “wow, I’m on another continent!” Well, that wasn’t the case. It was extremely hot, we were all sore and tired, and just wanted to get on our last flight, so the glory of Peru did not really hit anyone at this time. We had about four (4) hours to kill at this airport, and we legitimately spent nearly 2 hours in the customs line, so that wait didn’t feel as long as it could have. We hardly had any time to look around the airport, grab breakfast or anything, we just had to get on the next flight.

This third and final flight of the US to Peru trip left around 11:00am, and it was only about an hour long. It was the smoothest flight we had, which I can say I think we were all thankful for. When we landed, we were greeted with humid conditions, a lot of mountains, and people who looked at us kind of funny because we clearly were not like them. But that was the moment it kind of it.

Holy moly - we’re in Peru!

And let me tell you, it was extremely exciting and pretty overwhelming. For me, it didn’t feel like culture shock, but I’m sure that was a part of it. It was just pure adrenaline of seeing things that I wasn’t used to seeing. Our guide, a lovely man named Miguel who we have stayed in touch with since returning, met us at the airport with a van and water. A few of us legitimately said, out loud, that he was an angel. (That ended up being true throughout the whole trip, as well. Truly a fantastic tour guide. But more about him later)

After boarding the van, we took a short drive to our hotel, where we had about an hour and a half to drop our belongings off, freshen up, and grab some lunch before we started our trip events. My roommate and I did various things beforehand and then met up with our group in the lobby to begin our trip.

First, we had a walking tour of Cusco, the town we were staying in. This was to help us get acquainted with the places we would have to be going over the next week, as well as getting our legs and feet used to the natural inclines of the city. We were taught about various buildings, told the history of the area, given time to take pictures, and things of that nature. Pictures of our trip will be scattered throughout the other blog posts, so hang on to your hats for that.

A couple notable things we did during this walking tour were stop at the main square Huacaypata, the Cusco Cathedral, and the Koricancha Inca temple. It really was a lot to take in on the first day, but it was beautiful and informative, to say the least.

Once our tour was over, we were given time to go back to the hotel for a little bit to drop off anything we no longer wanted to carry, and were taken to a beautiful restaurant called Ima Sumaq, where we were given a few choices for meals and just had a nice evening out as a group to end our long first day. It was nice, and I personally had chicken noodle soup, and then lomo saltado as my main meal. I also enjoyed a piece of chocolate cake for dessert. The members of my group had different items, and we all ate most of what we got.

Clearly the plane rides did not diminish our appetites.

And then we made our way back to our hotel rooms. From there, we had a free evening, but most of us chose to sleep the entire night through, since it had been a relatively long thirty-six (36) hours. And we needed our sleep, because the next day began our real adventures.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Let’s Chat Home || Day 2

Home

Let’s Chat about Peru!

Below you will find links that will take you to blog-style posts about each day of our trip. Keep in mind that these posts will be very informal, and will include brief descriptions of the things we did each day, my thoughts on them, and a few pictures detailing the events of the day. If you were looking for extremely detailed and formal descriptions of the things we did, this is not the place to come. This will almost be like a one-sided conversation where I just tell you about the trip from my perspective and in my own words.

This section of the site serves a few purposes:

A way to casually tell people about the various activities we partook in

A way to understand how culture shock effected me as an individual

A way for me to remember the trip, and a place to come back and reminisce about it

Something to hopefully inspire people to want to travel to this beautiful country

NOTE: There is a chance I might forget something small, or choose to leave something out because it did not really serve any purpose for myself or the group. Something like what I had for lunch every day would be a good example; obviously, group dinners will be included because we all experienced, but the day I went to a small local pizza shop will not be discussed. Please keep in mind that these posts are not here to serve the purpose of detailing every single thing; it’s just to casually talk about the trip so you as the reader have a generally good understanding of what went on.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Day 1: Have Your Boarding Pass Ready? ✈️

Day 2: From Those in the Ground to Those in the Stars 🏛️🌌

Day 3: Agricultural and Economical Wonders 🧺🌿🧂

Day 4: A World Wonder ⛰️

Day 5: Ruins, Markets and... Potatoes 🥔

Day 6: A Bittersweet End ⚗️🍫💃🏼

Day 7: One Last Trek Before We Go 🥾

Crash Courses in Astronomy

Among the links found below is background information to prepare any average Joe or Jane for learning about cosmology, as well as the specifics about Andean cosmology, astrology, and astronomy...

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

#astronomy #inca astronomy #cusco #cusco peru #peru #planetarium #cusco planetarium #crash course #john green #hank green

Moray

“There is reason to suppose that the name “Moray” is derived from the Inka lunar month of Aymuray (”the time to gather the harvest”). In the Zuidema model of the Inka calendar, Aymuray is the sixth month (the first month [Camay Quilla] ended at the summer solstice) and had a particular relation to the ceque system. ... Zuidema calculates that the ceque calendar count began on June 9 and was announced by the observation of the heliacal rise of the Pleiades a few days earlier. The star cluster itself cannot be seen at night from its heliacal set on April 16 until its rise again June 3 because of the glare from the sun. It has been seen above that the date of the first obercation of the Pleiades heliacal rise in the dry-/chirao-season month of Aymuray is a reliable indicator of the later arrial fo the rainy season and the subsequent programming of agricultural activities. ... The month of Aymuray then was nor part of the ceque sidereal calendar but was incorporated administratively into the ceque system landscape” (Earls and Cervantes, 143).

In doing research for homework assignments, and visiting the place in person, I have come to learn that Moray is a site created during the Inca time that may have been a sort of agricultural experiment. To the uneducated viewer, it could appear simply as a crop circle, or even shockingly structured damage from a meteor or something equally as large. But regardless, it is an amazing archaeological feat that needs to be discussed.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Part 1|| Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4

The Photos

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Home

Moray pt.4

Transduction

Transduction (v): the process by which foreign DNA is introduced into a bacterial cell by a virus or viral vector

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

This definition does not really do us any good, since this is in biological terms. For the sake of our discussion, we can think of ritual works as the tranducer. In even more specific terms, “an operative control system comprises institutionalized structures for the transfer of relevant information through all levels of scale - from localized, autonomous groups of farmers up to the experts and down again - and often involves ritual transduction” (Earls & Cervantes, 136). The basic idea behind it regards how a society should be organized so that when the state has to intervene to rectify some imbalance that cannot be dealt with on the local level, they can do so with minimal effort and interference.

Andean societies in general had developed many complex organizational strategies for the coordination of the multiple parallel activities involved in effective risk dispersion. Agriculture was no exception to this. For small, localized groups, a roughly approximate calendrical compatibility of the season with the main astronomical cycles would suffice for effective coordination of field activities such as sowing or watering. However, more centralized groups did not share the same calendar, so intergroup coordination was hard here.

Regardless, Earls and Cervantes felt that the calendar made up by these groups functioned, at some level for agricultural programming. While there would be difficulty, given that there are certain events that are not constant and everything with weather patterns is uncertain, Moray’s system extended and systematized the astronomical calendar to the agricultural calendar.

Earls specifically fells that the calendar used at Moray would have served to calibrate the maturation time of crops to the distinct macroclimatic conditions in specific terrace sectors. He believed that the Inca people used the structure to extend the astronomical calendar intercalation process to the variable agro-climatic cycles. (This is a fancy way of saying he believed the Incas connected astronomy and crop growing.)

There are also visual cues that the Inkas kept in mind, such as specific cloud formations, or the Pleiades heliacal rise (please click here to be taken to information regarding that event). These visual cues functioned as a measure of the rains to come and the potential date of their arrival, which indicated to the farmers whether it would be an early or late planting season.

The bottom line for Cervantes and Earls, as well as researcher Frank Meddens, who the main authors cite in their writing, is that “any complex agricultural system that relies on nonwritten records would be dependent on highly visible landscape features for coordination of farmers at the local level” (Earls & Cervantes, 139). This would include visual cues from the sky. Rituals, agriculture, and a wide array of political and social decisions revolve around the use of astronomy and celestial events.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Moray Main || Moray pt.1 || Moray pt.2 || Moray pt.3 || Moray pt. 4 (current page) || Moray - the Pictures

Home

Moray pt.3

Three Specific Events Connecting Moray Agriculture w/Astronomy

(1) Sunrise Puma Profile

“The rays of sunlight rising beyond the Pumahuanca mountain displace the shade as they descend the slope from the top of the Wañuymarca mountain and eventually illuminate the Moray structures” (Earls & Cervantes, 127).

According to the authors, they feel that the descending sunlight creates a puma-shaped silhouette that is similar to the shape of the mountain peak, but vertically inverted. It also appears in reverse light/dark pattern, like a photo negative. As seen from Machuhera, the sun rises from the puma mountains nape, briefly casting a shadow that points to Wañuymarca.

(2) The Arched Linear Terraces Sunrise

At sunrise on the day of the June solstice, striking visual events are generated over certain terraces. Each of the eight (8) walls are successively silhouetted by the contour of the shade that is cast from the horizon by the rising sun. The highest terrace arc becomes outlined simultaneously with the sunrise over Pumahuanca. All of the aforementioned requires precise visual concurrence of the eight (8) walls and the path and position of the sun along the horizon.

(3) The “Noon Sunset”

On the eighth and ninth terraces, there are two irregular calcitic rocks called pacha. Earls noted that during the winter solstice period one can view a sort of noon sunset. In the months before and after the solstice, a shadow is cast by a horizontal protrusion. As the sun passes behind it, the rays of sunlight are blocked by the terraces, and after some amount of time, the sun comes out from behind the terraces to shine on the mound, appearing to set. The shadow made here also appears to be puma-shaped.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Moray Main || Moray pt.1 || Moray pt.2 || Moray pt.3 (current page) || Moray pt. 4 || Moray - the Pictures

Home

Moray pt.2

John C. Earls and Gabriela Cervantes teach us even more about the significance of Moray in regards to how astronomy played a big part in their agriculture, as well as some basic background on the site.

(a big thank you is in order to these authors, who have provided the information found below as well as in Moray pt.3 and pt.4, links to which can be found at the bottom of this post)

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Moray is located on the high Maras plateau, which is south of the Urubamba River, seven (7) kilometers from the town of Maras, and about thirty-five (35) kilometers northwest of Cusco. The site itself consists of four (4) bowl shaped concavities (muyu in Quechua) that were constructed from natural sinkholes. The extensive modifications that were made to the landscape, however, would have been extremely labor intensive; more than likely hundreds of tons of rock and soil would have had to been moved. The terraces were irrigated by well-carved canals; water enters these canals and is conducted down to each terrace level by vertically aligned “drop structures,” or narrow waterfalls. Generally, what this means is that even in a very good year only some forty-five (45) people could be supported by the site. This makes it unlikely that the primary purpose was agricultural production, but nonetheless it happened here.

The Inka calendar had a wide array of major astronomical events, including the winter solstice (June 21), the anti-zenith transit (August 18), the spring equinox (September 21), the solar zenith transit (October 30), the summer solstice (December 22), another solar zenith transit (February 13), the fall equinox (March 21), and another anti-zenith transit (April 26). Given what Moray was capable of, and their tendencies to interweave astronomy and agriculture, it is assumed that they would orient much of their agricultural processes around the sky.

The geometry of Moray is such that key dates in the calendar are marked by specific visual patterns of sun and shade generated over all the terraces. The June solstice is associated with two mountains that mark the horizon points (Wañuymarca and Pumahuanca).The solstice itself is marked by a number of distinct and interlocking visual events, observed at different parts of Moray, and generated by the sun’s horizontal projection over the terraces.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Moray Main || Moray pt.1 || Moray pt.2 (current page) || Moray pt.3 || Moray pt. 4 || Moray - the Pictures

Home

Atmospheric Astronomy/Phenomena

K’uychi: The Rainbow 🌈

The rainbow is a minor deity for the Inca people, and it relates to the astronomy because it belonged to the sky, or Hanan Pacha. It had its own temple in the Qorikancha and it represented a creation of the Sun god. It was important because it could be seen by human eyes anywhere, but it is untouchable and had a very close relationship with the sun, since without the sun there cannot be a rainbow. The rainbow is also related to natural water sources, and the “powers” of Andean priests to cure, cast spells, or consult oracles.

Illapa: The Lightning ⚡

Lighting is one of the oldest Andean gods, but very little is known about its worship as a deity. It was supposedly worshipped “everywhere,” but especially between September and November when the rains begin.

Lightning is an astronomical phenomenon because it occurs in the air and is linked to Hanan Pacha (the sky), a space that cannot be accessed by man and therefore considered sacred. It had multiple names, depending on region, but it was still worshipped just as intensely.

There are very old traditions with respect to lightning and its power over people; when a person gets struck by it, and they do not die from it, this is a sign that this person has been chosen for priestly life, to be a healer, or a fortune teller. It can be considered as both a benefactor or a destroyer in this sense, because it has the ability to both kill people and give them a sense of purpose in life.

Click Here to be Taken Back to the Contents of The Inka Astronomy Handbook

Home

Amarus

The Incas had sacred serpents that were represented both on the Earth and in the sky, and they referred to them as Amarus. Amaru is a Quechua word and was used to refer to these giant snakes, real or idealized. For the Incas, they were considered supernatural animals which were created by the gods to represent the powers of nature in heaby and on Earth.

There are two main Amarus, both represented by stars:

Sach’amama

Represents the snakes that lives in the bowels of the Earth.

When an earthquake occurs, there is a landslide or the rivers overflow, because Sach’amama must go face the mythical Waman (falcon) which governs the sky. After this battle, he goes back up into the sky, and is the brightest red star of Scorpio.

Some myths say it looks like an old, dry tree crawling up into heaven which will later become a rainbow as a sign of victory.

Yakumama

Represents the snakes living in the Amazonian rivers and represents the “mother of waters.”

Related to the Big Dipper or the Great Bear

It is only possible to see the seven (7) stars that form the tail, and they appear in the sky right near the northern horizon during the months of May and June

Its head is formed by the star Alpha Ursa Majoris and its tail formed by the star Eta Ursa Majoris

Announces the arrival of the drought between May and October

Click Here to be Taken Back to the Contents of The Inka Astronomy Handbook

Home

Chakanas

Chakana in Quechua means many things; bridge, ladder, crosspiece, fate, two cross sticks, to thread, to join parts, to keep accounts, leg, etc, and it has been used in various ways.

In agriculture, it is still used as an instrument of wood or stone to block a main irrigation canal and distribute water to other minor canals. But, its most important function is to connect people, to be the link in human situations, ideas, roads, destinations, fabrics, etc. There is also still a wide variety of concepts related to this word that are still unknown. There could be many chakanas in the sky, potentially as groups of stars forming crossing lines that can be found anywhere in the sky.

Southern Cross:

Made up of four (4) stars, including Alpha and Beti Centauri

Not aware of what the ritual use was, because no Spanish chronicles mention it; there is only oral tradition

the chakana that represents the stepped symbol that appears in every sacred place of ancient Andean cultures

Currently the most popular constellation of the Andean world dur to the replacement of its ancient symbolism by the Christian cross and its celebration on May 3

Beginning of the big harvest is April 26, day of the Nadir Sun ended by the end of May

Orión – The Great Chakana

Known by the Andean people as a bridge or cross of stars in the sky used for the purpose of letting the human soul cross the celestial river after death, and not in the classic form of a celestial hunter

Rose in the east and set in the west

It is a meeting point of the two hemispheres

Other Chakanas

Huch’uy Cruz or Lluthu Cruz – the small cross or the Andean Partridge cross

The “False Cross” – near the Southern Cross and formed by the stars Kappa and Delta Velorum; Iota and Epsilon Carinae

Chaupi Cruz – the Central Cross, refers to the constellation Orion

Hatun Cruz – the big cross, formed by the stars Achernar (Alpha Eridani), Fomalhaut (Alpha Piscis Austrinus), Al Nair (Alpha Gruis) and Peacock (Alpha Pavonis)

Uma Cruz – the upside down cross, it refers to the swan or Cygnus constellation

“Linun Cross” or “Calvary Cross” – formed by the stars Sigma, Beta, Delta, Pi and Rho of the Sagittarius constellation

Calvary Hatun Cross – formed by the stars Epsilon, Mu, Zeta, Lambda and Upsilon of the Scorpio constellation

These are the brightest crosses and villagers say that there are even more.

Click Here to be Taken Back to the Contents of The Inka Astronomy Handbook

Home

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Quyllur Yachay