Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
We are on a journey into the high mountains of the Andes. We are traveling by train and have seen already the beauty of Peru and the rich history of this region. We discovered a few ancient races like the Huanco people and today we will make our first "contact" with the renown race of the Inca people.
Today we are visiting Cusco, the former capital and center of the Inca Empire.
Cusco, often spelled Cuzco, is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cusco Province. In 2013, the city had a population of 435,114. Located on the eastern end of the Knot of Cuzco, its elevation is around 3,400 m (11,200 ft).
The indigenous name of this city is Qusqu. Although the name was used in Quechua, its origin is found in the Aymara language. The word is derived from the phrase qusqu wanka ('Rock of the owl'), related to the city's foundation myth of the Ayar Siblings. According to this legend, Ayar Awqa (Ayar Auca) acquired wings and flew to the site of the future city; there he was transformed into a rock to mark the possession of the land by his ayllu ("lineage"):
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| The Legend of Ayar Auca |
“Then Ayar Oche stood up, displayed a pair of large wings, and said he should be the one to stay at Guanacaure as an idol in order to speak with their father the Sun. Then they went up on top of the hill. Now at the site where he was to remain as an idol, Ayar Oche raised up in flight toward the heavens so high that they could not see him. He returned and told Ayar Manco that from then on he was to be named Manco Capac. Ayar Oche came from where the Sun was and the Sun had ordered that Ayar Manco take that name and go to the town that they had seen. After this had been stated by the idol, Ayar Oche turned into a stone, just as he was, with his wings. Later Manco Capac went down with Ayar Auca to their settlement...he liked the place now occupied in this city Cuzco. Manco Capac and his companion, with the help of the four women, made a house. Having done this, Manco Capac and his companion, with the four women, planted some land with maize. It is said that they took the maize from the cave, which this lord Manco Capac named Pacaritambo, which means those of origin because...they came out of that cave.”
What a wonderful story. This is just the beginning of our next stage in this journey ... visiting the ancient grounds of the Inca Empire.
a miracle
without wings attached
mankind grew
© Chèvrefeuille
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| Cusco ... image found on Pinterest |
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 23rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our next episode later on.
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