UJ #9 - Adventure in Peru

IN THE SANCTUARY
Christian Declercq
Before taking this mysterious road it is important to understand
how it was conceived by the Incas. In other words, to
have an idea that what we will find on the way to Machu
Picchu Historic Sanctuary, erected in the cloud forest of the
yungas, were not built by chance but were used for administrative
or religious purposes or storage, on a unified system that
helped the Inca Empire to function smoothly and efficiently.
Rodrigo Cabrera
Our starting point is that its organisation was based on aspects
that were multi-layered and complex; one of these was the dual
concept dividing the ancient Andean world into zones called
Hanan and Hurin. These asymmetric, opposite and complementary
halves took the physical shape of a division between
north and south, east and west, which governed space and social
organisation. To this we must add the theory of the system
of ceques or ley lines from Cusco, proposed by researcher Tom
Zuidema. The ceques were imaginary lines radiating out from
Coricancha (the Temple of the Sun, in the city of Cusco). Each
one of these lines defined the location of huacas or temples
outside Cusco. In total, the system of ceques divided the territory
into 328 huacas, whose roles were of a political, social and
religious order. Furthermore, as the Incas were an agrarian society,
these lines served to organise the provision of water through
canals, and to facilitate astronomical observation based on the
direction of the buildings erected on them.
The road system was implemented over the natural and artificial
terrain of Cusco to unify the religious, social and political organisation
of the Inca Empire, and to manage water use, the agricultural
year and astronomic observation.
Thus as well as the man-made marvels on what is more a pilgrimage
than a trek, we will find geographical wonders, waterfalls
and a world of endemic flora and fauna.