Toady we will be discussing ruins from the Bolivian Altiplano to the Sacred Valley in Peru. These Incan and pre-Incan wonders have captivated generations of American and European tourists while representing indigenous pride and history shared across the Andean Region. Today the pride is as strong as ever, and why shouldn't it be. The nobleness of the pre-Columbian Incan Empire stands in stark contrast to the humble life of an indigenous person in Latin America today, and it is completely incomparable to the lives they lead as property only a few generations ago.

A new trend is emerging that has drastically changed the face of tourism in this part of the continent. In the recent past only the wealthiest Latin American nationals were able to afford to travel and see attractions like the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Machu Picchu, but continuing economic development in countries like Brazil, Chile, and Argentina has brought a lot more regional tourism to the hotspots that used to be out of reach.

But what does heritage really mean, and what is its significance in this context?

HERITAGE - "something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth" (Dictionary.com 2009)

And it's important because based on this definition the changes occurring are extremely important and welcome. More people than ever are having access to their roots, access that has traditionally been limited to outsiders. That's a great thing. There is a catch, the poorest people still can't afford to take trips like this, can't even afford to take the time off work. I think you should all know by now that these people are also the most indigenous, and the direct decedents of the people who built these wonders. Spanish speaking or not a lot of white faces walking around Machu Picchu is not heritage, not yet.

I've got a story. Last year a group of my tourism students took a trip. They had been saving up money for a while and decided that if they were going to have careers in tourism they should know the tourist attractions in the area. They headed northeast to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, and then north through Puno in Peru and on to Cuzco. They slept on busses and ate fruits and bread from markets. They had week-long budgets that would have looked more like the dinner bill for American tourists. By the time they reached Cuzco they barely had enough to make it home again, and a trip to the ruins was absolutely out of the question because after admission and transportation were calculated the number was equal to a Bolivian professionals monthly salary. So they went home after seeing some cool stuff (but nothing like the wealthy foreigners were seeing), openly acknowledging that they would probably never see the ruins unless working as a guide for foreigners.

Lets talk ruins now. Machu Picchu, pictured above is the most well know site in South America if not the world. It was unknown to the Spanish during their conquest of the Incas, and as a result is very well preserved. It wasn’t "discovered" by outsiders until 1911, but almost immediately it achieved massive fame. In 1916 National Geographic dedicated an entire issue to the ruins. No one knows exactly what the city was used for or even how many people lived there. Hypotheses range from fortress to royal getaway. Regardless the location is definitely secluded. Here’s the path that comes through the back door. It wraps along this cliff face for a long way and is extremely narrow, only a couple feet wide in some places. The drop-off is a lot bigger than it looks, hundreds of meters down to churning muddy rapids.

Regardless of it's precise usage most experts are pretty sure the city was important because of the high quality masonry. The stone blocks are cut to fit together PERFECTLY. The pic below shows what at first looks like shoddy construction. But its not, it's just unfortunate placement. The ruins lie on fault line in a very active geologic zone. Over the years the ground has been moving under this structure causing it to come apart.

Some of the blocks used in construction are huge, like the one featured at the bottom center of the above pic. The rock type came from relatively distant quarries and it is believed that stones like this were moved by hundreds of men at a time using some type of rope or lever. There are two lumps on the lower part of the big stone. People think they are leftover from moving, and were in the process of being sanded away.

The pic on the right shows a cut rock that is thought to have been used by the Incas as some kind of meteorological calendar. Which is cool enough but the modern story associated with it is probably more memorable.

So the local beer brand Cusqueña was filming a commercial. They were using a big heavy video camera suspended above the rock on the right. They were swinging it all around and getting real close then real far away. Anyhow someone didn't quite secure the camera and it fell during the shoot. It hit the corner of the stone and actually chipped a section (not shown) off. Sort of ironic considering the beer features a pic of the ruins on every bottle.

People have been very critical of the fees associated with seeing the ruins. At every turn one is paying prices that would be high in the US, usually what they are receiving is basically free anywhere else. The 2hr/3hr train ride is over $30 each way. Admission is $20-40 for students/non-students. Busses from the town of Aguas Calientes to the ruins are $7 each way, it's a pretty short ride, the rout can be walked in about and hour and a half. All told it can cost upwards of $100 just in admission and transportation.

Another criticism of the park is the damage tourism is causing both ecologically speaking and in terms of physical damage to the ruins. Simply too many people are being allowed into the park. The UN has declared it one of the most endangered historical sites on Earth.

Outside of Oyantaytambo in Peru's Sacred Valley are some ruins that are almost completely overlooked by tourists. They are all that is left of a city named Puma Marka that was built by the Incas. It was inhabited until the Spanish came and burned it. Its residents were enslaved and sent to nearby mines.

The construction quality though impressive was not like that of Machu Piccu. This area was obviously of more modest usage. Some of the buildings were three stories tall, the irrigation system is extensive. Water is brought from mountaintop springs through brick canals along hillsides where is it used (even today) to irrigate crops. Some of these canals are miles long.
No one knows much about the village, even its population would be a big guess. The name comes from the shape when viewed from above... a puma. Sacred to the Incas the Puma can be see by those with powerful imaginations in building shapes, rock formations, and even the shape of water bodies across Andean America.

The last ruins we will discuss today are found on the Isla Del Sol island of the sun in Lake Titticaca. This island is considered on of the most important religious sites in Inca culture. It is supposed to be the birth place of Viracocha or the creater god who would later make humans out of rocks found on the shores of the lake. His head is the pizza slice shaped thing in he middle of the following pic.

The 12 year old that took my family and I around the Island guided our attention to this God by hucking rocks at his head.

There are 800 families who live on the island. Tourism and agriculture support the economy. On the island there are about 180 individual ruin sites most from Incas and Tiwanakus. These ruins include massive terracing projects that cover the entire island and make agriculture possible even today. Jacques Costeau came here in 1979 and discovered ruins a few meters underwater. Some claim these ruins to be the lost island of Atlantis.

That's all for this week be sure to tune in again soon when for when we discuss BOLIVIAN PARTY TRICKS.