Museum day – 7 June

With our “Boleta Turistica” (tourist ticket required for all the ruins around Cusco) we could enter some museums. The Inca museum was the most interesting. Its a collection of the university, but what stood out for me was the development of the Inca empire which is broken up into 3 main phases: Tribal (the start up), Expansion and Imperial. Not sure if I got the names right, but I’ll explain.

Tribal: Initially the Inca were like any other tribe. Centred around Cusco. A peaceful philosophy of worshiping nature and the elements.

Expansion: They were attacked by the Chancas and had to defend themselves. They did this so well that they realised that their were a strong people. Pachacuti, the king at the time, decided to expand the empire. Their takeover was not like Europe where you go in and take land by force. Rather they started with a political approach. If the other tribe joined the Inca empire, they would get benefits. The religion was the main draw card. Easy to follow as everyone knows the elements and how dependant they were on them. If this didn’t work, the benefits were increased, possible trade to make it more attractive. The last course was a violent takeover. Once part, the Inca would set up a post in the town/city and use the newly acquired people to run it. Freeing up the Inca party to continue to the next tribe. Within 90 years, the Inca went from a small group to the whole of Peru, large parts of Bolivia and parts of northern Chile and southern Ecuador. Not bad for a civilisation with no carriages, horses or written language (not sure how the experts know all this details though).

Imperial: Arrival of the Spanish. Inca’s conquered easily, partly due to the fact that the Inca thought the Spanish to be gods with all their shiny body armour. The king was easily capture on his way back to Cusco. Top half of all Inca buildings broken to serve as a reminder that the Spanish conquered this pagan people. Machu Picchu was not found and that is why it is still in tact.

Breakfast – Llama (pronounced Yama. Its a “ll” thing in Spanish)

 
The last Inca king killed. People say it was very eerie, as nobody made a sound. – Building (think its a church) build on the half destroyed base of an Inca building.