Posted by admin | Posted in Peru | Posted on 30-03-2010
Tags: Peru, photos, reference, travel, vacation
Projects Abroad Peru Director Discover Lost Inca City
Tim Dewinter, the program director of our overseas projects speaks of Peru their incredible recent discovery of an Inca settlement:
"Those who think that the frontiers of exploration have fallen to the depths of the ocean or flown past Saturn's rings take heart and read on "Vicente Lopez
Can you find a set of "forgotten" City in the 21st century? Is it still possible? With modern satellite imagery surely all that has been found already? Well, the adventure shows that in the Antisuyo, remote northern provinces of Cusco, yet there are discoveries that were made by the intrepid and adventurous.
Since 1994, when he came to Peru to stand Andes has been one of my favorite pastimes and while working for UNICEF since 1997, I had the opportunity to combine work and pleasure. N Peruvian showed UNICEF Consultant great interest in leaving their families behind to go to remote areas of Cusco. I, however, was single and loved it, so basically, Monday through Friday I came into this land reserved for the strongest under an incredibly blue sky, admiring the beauty and ruggedness of this range of mountains.
Several years after working for foreign projects in the Sacred Valley, with my own family, there were fewer opportunities for hiking into the unknown. Without however, is known as one of the programs that overseas projects in Peru Inca Projects and in 2005 he decided to combine the archaeological and development activities Community exploration and hiking. Our volunteers added the ability to take walks in the less touristy parts of the Andes and enjoy the organization for them. Maps have always been a hidden source of rides for me and I studied whenever I could. I have many topographic maps of the region and studied these carefully before a new hiking trail, so we knew what we were going to be against.
My friends Americo, Charles, Walter and I decided to explore a string mountain in the region known as the eyebrow of the jungle by the river in the district Lucumayo Huayopata. Experience in the field of our team and friendship make this a pleasant walk. I had a feeling that some kind of structure would Inca until there was a strategic point of view and other small structures of Inca, where is known that a few hours on foot, up the river Vilcanota.
We started the day early at 5 am, but were carried out by some local farmers who had used the road up to the hill to make mud bricks. Carrying 65 pound backpacks up the three days we had planned and it is hot and humid. At noon, our luck turned, we stopped at a clearing and found a hunter, his name was Eloy. One of the golden rules of exploration is to listen peasants, who know where everything is. Eloy was no exception to the rule.
He said he knew of a small wall and after having shared the lunch with him, took us further up the hill. The forest was dense and difficult, backpacks left behind and made off with machetes in hand, swaying in the dense green foliage blocking our way. Eloy showed us the wall, which turned out to be a room, mostly underground, covered with bushes and years decomposition of forests. The amount of tangled growth is difficult to explain unless you have experienced. It was a typical Inca house, of normal proportions, and beside him another and another. He immediately thanked the spirits of the Magic Mountain Apu, which means everything to the farmers and are directly linked to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth).
Eloy was not surprised by our little ceremony, but was surprised that for years had been hunting in the woods without having had any idea of its importance. He got nervous and told us that if these bumps on the forest floor were the walls, then he knew something more than pothole in the hills nearby. That was when it came to us, the more hits! This was not just a small settlement. We decided to go back and set up camp Eloy and take us to the skin of another early the next day.
Sleep was difficult, as our adrenaline levels were high and 5am in the morning Next we were ready. Eloy came to camp and went for what proved to be an incredible day of exploration. We walked through forests and found many tombs, circular, rectangular and square structures hidden under the thick forest floor. The remains were so swollen that are not yet sure of the magnitude of the ruins, but found more than 40 structures in different locations of the peaks, with more than 2 miles between them, we were sure that played a role important in a larger network of paved road and best ever built by the pre-industrial man, the Qhapaq Nan. The finding that must be connected Machu Picchu, the city beautiful and wonderful in the cloud forest and the most popular site in Antisuyo, made even more exciting.
The solution seemed over a very fertile and extensively cultivated valley glacier on one side and the other side was Vilcanota Valley. Machu Picchu was a day's walk upstream. Needless to say, what I had found was a huge potential.
We were about to find a missing link and the opening of a new Royal Inca Trail?
When He later returned to Cusco was removed the temptation to go directly to local radio and television and decided to consult the National Institute of Culture (INC) in the first place. Maybe they knew the ruins, perhaps had more information about them, maybe they had a map already?
Projects abroad was signed a formal agreement with the INC last year and our many contacts were able to investigate whether its registry site know anything about this site, did not. The result was amazing, no one had reviewed this site, or the trouble to visit this strategic geographical feature. If the CNI was not aware of our results, we had to sort this out quickly, letters were sent, all mention our willingness to share information and receive a visit from one of its research teams.
On 29 September 2006, two archaeologists take us back to the area. Francisco Solis and Italo Oberti recognized archaeologists in the region and were eager to be part of these stages. They were amazed by our findings. It was confirmed that this was a large Inca settlement, probably more than 500 years, and pointed to the stone and construction techniques with thatched highland Incas. They were surprised by the different types of structures and thanked us for get contact as quickly as many results are kept secret by the INC. so that people can ransack the place beforehand.
The Incas did not like the lower altitudes with mosquitoes and diseases, heat and humidity, so maybe cool Lucumayo Valley, a wonderful food basket, was prepared by the residents of our city renewed. The land provided the materials for construction and the fertile valley was there to agriculture, perhaps even production of food for the inhabitants of Machu Picchu, only a day away!
What we did many others could have done and can still do. Must have studied numerous ruins, unexplored valleys and hills, especially on the edge of the forest, waiting to be discovered.
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About the Author
Projects Abroad is a global organiser of overseas voluntary work placements. Our wide range of projects, including teaching, care, conservation, medical, sport, community projects and journalism, are designed specifically for the many communities where we work and also to give the best experience to everyone volunteering abroad.
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