Exploring Incan Ruins

Written by Zephyr

Have you ever wondered what is cool about ruins? The thought of going to see some ‘ruins’ didn’t exactly fill me with excitement! I hadn’t even heard of Incas or Machu Picchu, which my parents kept saying was ‘very special’. In this blog I am going to tell you about some of the most interesting discoveries I made when we visited the ‘Sacred Valley’ high up in the Andes in Peru.

The Incas were a South American civilisation that spanned the Andes and covered parts of what is now Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Ecuador. It started from a tribe that were based in Cusco. Cusco became the Incan capital. The Incas grew quickly in size, and were believed to have somewhere between 6-14 million people before the Spanish invaded. They ruled for just 100 years between the 15th and 16th Century which is pretty amazing when you see what they achieved in this time. There were a lot of them – there were even more Incas than Romans!!!

Today in Peru about 45% of the population are direct descendants of Inca. Many people still wear traditional dress as their everyday clothing. Peru, of all the countries we have visited, has the most cultural traditions. Cusco is my favourite city that we have visited so far because it had lots of old streets, cool shops and markets. It is 3400m high which is higher than many mountains in the Alps. This is especially weird given that most mountains in the Alps at this height would have snow most of the year and certainly not a road, let alone a big bustling city.

Incas were a pretty clever bunch of people. Here are some of the things that Inka’s did that were a bit different.

One of the things we noticed was that men and women were very much seen as equals and still are (although they have very different roles).

Another was they did not use money. They traded or rather swapped instead. This practice is still in existence today. Every Sunday there are regional markets and the local community take their vegetables and fruit to swap them for other goods.

The Incas did not write anything down either. However, they did develop an accounting system called ‘quipu’. The quipu was a collection of coloured strings made from alpaca , llama or cotton threads. Today you can buy a version of this as a tourist, which is a string of coloured pompoms, which make cool decorations!

Another cool thing that they were great builders. The Inca built trails (14,000 miles of them) connecting the different parts of the Inca Empire. Many of them were extremely high up and they were all paved. Pretty amazing for an Empire that did not last very long. They also created complex irrigation systems. Early on the Incas found out that they could not rely on rainfall for their water supply so they learned to divert water from nearby rivers. When we visited a few ruins and some of the old parts of the towns, we could see the irrigation channels running down the centre of the street. They were full of gushing water when it had just rained. It was quite cool to have a water feature in the street like this.

Machu Picchu is the best example of their building work. It is the most famous Inca ruin and is one of the seven wonders of the world. This is because not only is it very high up, but it was made without the use of wheels or cement, from large blocks of stone. It is the best surviving example of an Incan citadel. It was not destroyed by the Spanish, like so many other Inca sites were, probably as it was so difficult to get to. For many years plants grew over it and only a few locals knew about it. It was finally discovered by an American Archaeologist called Harry Bingham in 1911. It is pronounced Machu Peekchu (if you say Machu Picchu, which is what most people say, you are actually saying Old Penis!!!

I had no idea what Machu Picchu was. I thought it was just a mountain. When we arrived early in the morning it was cloudy and I couldn’t see anything. Then suddenly the clouds started to clear and we could see the most amazing view overlooking the ruin and mountain tops. It was much better than I expected. At the end of the tour I actually wanted to go back because I liked the view so much and I definitely recommend going.