[Jan 8] We were up and out early and our first port of call was to see a 12-pointed stone in a wall built by the Incas. Don’t tell me I don’t know how to show a girl a good time.
When we got there a pleasant and English-speaking chap pointed it out to us and gave us some additional information, and yet again I fell for the oldest trick in the tour guide’s book of cons, and asked him a question. I just can’t resist. So he took us on a little tour around the block, and at the end he asked for an unreasonable amount of money, most of which we gave him in return for a few postcards. But it was well worth it.
From his tour we learned the the Incas built their walls with very large rocks sitting on a base of smaller rocks, the latter being more manouverable in an earthquake and therefore more resilient. The rocks are cut together with wonderful expertise, at interlocking angles, so it’s a but like building a perfectly level wall out of Lego with blocks which are not the same height and shape. To get the fits perfect, they would transfer the shape of one rock to another with a mechanical arm shaped like straight-line figure ‘2’. The upper little arm would trace the surface of one rock and  the lower arm the surface of the second. This allowed the famous construction where you could not even get a knife-blade between the stones, despite the fact they used no cement.
Later on we saw a parade around the main square led by people in the multicoloured local traditional dress playing trumpets and drums. They were joined by five guys on small horses of the local type, who rode around after them, and then they stopped outside the big church on the main square. The riders stood up on the horses and did some tricks, making human pyramids of increasingly dangerous heights, before standing on the horses again. One of them read out a proclamation of sorts to the assembled people. I had no idea what it meant but caught the words for ‘free’ and ‘dead’ at various points, so I’m guessing it was pretty stirring. Then they hopped down off the horses, and that seemed to be that.
We also went to the Inca museum, which is structured around a crash-introduction to the various known civilisations that have been in Peru over the years. The Incas met the Spanish in 1532 or there abouts and are relatively recent, despite my inclination to think of them as very ancient. We saw various cups and tools and urns and what not, but the most interesting things there were the mummies, or more specifically the mummies’ skulls. In a manner that is rather harrowing to imagine, the Inca royal family used ‘heavy stones’, according to our guide, to shape the skulls of children when they were still malleable, resulting in a very elongated head that would be familiar to anyone with a passing interest in science fiction. If there is not already a conspiracy theory that the Incas were ruled by aliens, we should start one, because we already have the skulls. The guide either didn’t know or wouldn’t say precisely how the re-forming was carried out, but I can only imagine it was barbaric.
Later that evening we had the briefing with the guys who will be taking us on the Inca trail, and I must admit they didn’t exactly inspire me with confidence. Two punters turned up at our hotel to lead us on a 15-minute walk to another hotel, where we met the lead guide, Saul, who seemed unsure what time the briefing was even at. They talked us through the various stages – the first day is OK, the second day pretty hard, the third day mostly down hill, and the fourth is the money shot. We have to carry our own bags or hire a porter, which is not too cheap. Overall they seemed OK, but I sill had the feeling that if we were to accidentally pitch off a cliff they would all just run away and say nothing to nobody.
I am a bit worried though. We have packed as lightly as we can, but my backpack still feels pretty heavy to me. And I am not quite feeling 100%; I’m still tired no matter how much I sleep. But anyway. Literally and figuratively, onward and upward.
