Fiesta de la Virgen Asunta, Tiobamba, Maras

The procession of the Virgin in front of the 1570 church in the Maras area. This fiesta takes place on and around August 15th every year.

People come from all over the highlands to celebrate and trade their products. Here, the faithful are solemnly singing and marching around the plaza.

A woman sells her products meant for making payments to the earth (Pachamama), something done especially in August during planting in campesino communities.

Pottery from Pukarà, near Puno.

A participant in the traditional cuisine contest. Check out the guinea pig.

The White Rock

An Inka shrine in the Vilcabamba region. It went out of use after its 1572 destruction and there´s no evidence of reuse or activity there before the Inka.

Some fine masonry in what may be one of the ceremonial entrances there.

A huge looters pit next to one of the many smaller carved rocks there.

View of the huge (I would guess 20 feet tall on the other side) rock, from the southwest.

One of the plaza areas; photo taken from atop the rock.

There´s a spring below the main rock on this side. They say that if you sit on those nice niches below, you`ll be impregnated.

A bath on the north side of the site. The water flows through a canal that leads to some extensive Inka terracing and more carved rocks (and even the supposed location of Manco Inca´s mummy - right).

The other side of the main rock.

And another side.

Vitcos

The Vilcabamba palace of Manco Inca, where the Inkas fled in the early Contact period to maintain their government in a small way.

View of the plaza and what some people call an ushnu from atop the highest level.

Overall view of the site from atop Hatun Moqo, where there´s some kinf of Inka retaining wall stretching over 200m long (sorry, didn´t include the photos).

A nice view of one of the side valleys feeding into the Vilcabamba River.

Chinchero

This site is the palace of the emperor Topa Inka Yupanqui, with a colonial church on top (the white building).

Juxtaposing Inka and Spanish architecture. This photo is taken from the plaza, looking at what is probably the royal residence.

Here are the other triple-jamb niches (Maukallaqta not being the only site with this type of architecture).

Some locals drying chuño in the plaza of the former royal estate. Chuño is made by freeze-drying potatoes, using a combination of squeezing out the water with stomping your bare feet and leaving them out to freeze at night.

Another angle for the overall view.

A section of carved rocks and shrines below the impressive terraces there.

Tipon

An Inka Period site apparently dedicated to water. It´s a bowl worked into terracing and canals to the east of Cusco.

Some of the scary steps the Inka often built into taller terraces. I´m short, but they were shorter and I have a heck of a time getting down those.

Baths.

Canals and baths.
And more canals.
A temple area? Nothing substantial is really published on the site, but this area has fine ashlars that are typically used to identify ceremonial sectors.


And finally, some very fancy canal-bath business.

Random photos from hikes around Ollantaytambo

These photos comprise a selection from the many photos taken on site visits around the major tourist attraction of Ollantaytambo, the famous site of one of the battles between the Inkas and the Spaniards in which the Inkas supposedly flooded the plain to fend off the horse-mounted Spaniards.
These are some of the terraces and the nicest part of the main site of Ollantaytambo, located at the end of the Sacred Valley before beginning the approach to Machu Picchu.


Some of the many storehouses located along the hillsides surrounding Ollantaytambo and into the Patacancha Valley that runs north from there.

Hiking through the Patacancha Valley, one passes through acres of fine Inka terracing on the way to a possible military administrative center called Pumamarca. That´s a lot of agricultural production.

Nearly all the buildings at Pumamarca have evidence of the roof being burned, which caved in and smoldered before destroying the building itself. The question archaeologists can´t really answer is whether the Inkas did it when they fled or the Spaniards did it to destroy native infrastructure.

A not-so-great overview of the site.
Another imperfect photo of the zigzagging walls surrounding one side of the site. These are good for increasing defensibility.

The preservation is so good at Pumamarca, you can still see the ichu rope used to secure beams.



More evidence of burning.
Positions for beams to support a second story.

More nice terracing on the hike back to Ollantaytambo (this one is about 3.5 hours roundtrip if you go quickly; the books say 5 hours).

Some Inti Raymi photos

These photos were taken during Inti Raymi (the winter solstice celebration) on the only day I was caught in the plaza with a camera. Each day leading up to the main celebration, they go from preschool to elementary and so on up to college and adult groups. Day by day those groups perform traditional dances in the plaza until the main theatrical celebration that takes place in the Plaza de Armas and Sacsahuaman.