Golden Qorikancha !!!

After killing the the Inca king Atahualpa, the Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro's men took over Cusco city  on November of 1533. They were simply blown away by the sheer quantity of gold they found inside the Qorikancha, the Sun temple in Cusco.  For the Incas, the Qorikancha was a sacred temple to worship the Sun, Moon, Stars, Rainbows, Lightning and Thunder. It was also used as a Solar Observatory. The Incas placed the shrine for the Sun at the elliptical wall at the Qorikancha. The Incas associated gold with the Sun and silver with the Moon. For them, gold is more religious than anything else. The top few feet of the walls of the Qorikancha were covered with gold to reflect the sunlight inside the temple. The Spaniards also found solid gold  sculptures of Llamas, Corn, vegetables and a large altar made of gold.  Unfortunately, within a month, all the gold and the solid gold sculptures were melted and shipped back to Spain.

Model of the Qorikancha showing the elliptical wall, the gold covered wall tops and the solid gold sculptures.

The Dominicans dismantled the Qorikancha and used the polished stones to build the Santa Domingo church and the convent on top of the foundation and the walls of the Qorikancha. Over many generations, people forgot about the Qorikancha.  On 21st May, 1950 a major earthquake hit Cusco. It brought down the walls of the Santa Domingo Church, exposing Qorikancha's walls. The then Peruvian government worked with the Spanish government and restored some parts of the Qorikancha. Based on the Qorikancha's ruins and the colonial architecture, Cusco was declared as  a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1983. 

The view of the elliptical wall from outside as it looks today. You can see the old Inca structures and the
Santa Domingo Church on top of it. The 1950 earthquake exposed
the foundation and the walls of the original Qorikancha.

The elliptical wall from inside. The stones are tightly locked together without mortar and this wall
has survived many earthquakes in the Cusco region!

These are some of the walls that were hidden under the Santa Domingo Church until the 1950 earthquake.

Since the stones used were not of the same size and weight, each wall had different number of
windows and niches to make sure the weights of all the walls are uniform.

Perfectly aligned windows. The third window is 60 feet away. Our guide was explaining that the Incas used
Llama intestines filled with water to check each wall is at level.

The Incas used many different types of interlocking to hold the stones of various sizes. They never used mortar,
the reason these walls survived many earthquakes.

It is believed this niche held the mummy of a Inca King and the empty holes around
the niche contained precious stones which were all removed by the Spaniards.

This is a model of the Incas' Cosmovision. The big oval shape in the top
represents the Incas' creator Viracocha. There are two hierarchies
shown. On the left is the male hierarchy showing the Sun,
Venus(morning), Lord Earth and a Man. On the right side is the
female hierarchy Moon, Venus(evening), Mother Sea and a Female.

Spanish Arches built over the Inca walls of the Qorikancha.

Courtyard of the Santa Domingo Church and Convent. On the right side is the long wall from the earlier photos.
When the Spaniards took over the Qorikancha, the eight sided sacrificial font at the center had been
covered with 55 Kilograms of gold!

Charlie's Web !!!

For the last one week, all of us are fascinated by Charlie. His knowledge of and experience with architecture and geometry is amazing, mesmerizing and mind-blowing. Charlie springs in to action in the evening around sunset. We love watching Charlie doing his work. Charlie is the name given by Swetha and Shreya to the spider (in fond memory of Charlotte's Web) who has taken over our backyard.

The Sun illuminating the web and the spider.

Though I have seen many spider webs and how the spider wraps its catch and eats it back home in India, this is definitely different and a large scale execution. A close examination of the spider web revealed many long anchors. The spider first builds these anchors and then constructs the spokes that lead from the anchors towards the center of the web. I counted 24 spokes in Charlie's web. Once the spokes are done, the spider starts at the outermost and weaves the threads that connects all the spokes. As it does, it reaches the center and  rests there waiting for a catch. Sometimes, it goes over the anchor threads again and again to make it really strong.  Then by midday or so, it completely dismantles the central web leaving the anchors in place. At sunset, the whole process of constructing the web starts again. As soon as we all get up and come down in the morning we check Charlie.

Charlie in action !!!

Today I grilled Panner Tikka and afterwards had left the grill cover open to cool it. Unfortunately the open grill cover was close to the plane where Charlie builds his web daily. We don't know how Charlie figured this out but he had moved the plane of the web a foot away from the open grill cover. We also noticed that Charlie had  moved one of his anchors today. The length of the longest anchor is approximately, 25 feet from a distance plant to the BBQ island. 

Of course, I am always eager to connect the earth to the deep sky and tried shooting the stars with Charlie's web in the foreground. This was a very difficult project and I had to throw some light on the web to make it visible.

The Big Dipper's (Ursa Major) handle is right above Charlie's Web. The large white streaks are the some of the anchors!

Whenever we go to the backyard, we are very gingerly walking around so that we don't disturb Charlies anchors. We all have become very attached to Charlie, even Swetha who is afraid of the tiniest, baby spider! :)  My respect and admiration for spiders have quadrupled a 1000 times! 

Colorful Corpus Christi !

The two days we stayed at Cusco coincided with the Corpus Christi festival. Colorful and elaborate processions and dances filled the streets around the Plaza de Armas. The plaza was packed with tourists as well as locals. We sat at the steps of the Cathedral and watched the colorful spectacle for almost an hour before heading out to a nice lunch at one of the restaurants nearby.

@Night: Cusco. The Incas' Milky Way !!!

For this memorable trip to Peru and Bolivia we used the services of Kuoda Travel based in Peru. A few weeks before the trip, Sheila and I were having a conversation with the Founder and President of Kuoda Travel, Mery Calderon. I casually mentioned to Mery that I love taking night sky photos and had been looking forward to take photos of the Milky Way during our trip. Mery immediately offered that she would provide me a car with a driver and a guide during one of the nights.  The plan was to visit a dark sky location so that I can capture the Milky Way. On our second evening at Cusco, after dinner, Alex and Marcos from Kuoda Travel picked me up from the San Blas Hotel and drove to a dark sky location about 30+ minutes from Cusco city.  We pulled over to the side of the road and I setup my camera on the tripod.  

The location was at a higher elevation than Cusco's 11,200 feet. The sky was very clear and the Moon hadn't risen yet. The Milky Way was clearly visible to the naked eyes. I was thrilled to see the Southern hemisphere constellations Corona Australis, Centaurus, Southern Cross, Triangulam Australe and the dark clouds of the southern Milky Way. These deep sky objects are visible only from the southern hemisphere. I spent around 45 minutes enjoying the Milky Way with my naked eyes as well as taking many photos.  Alex and Marcos were very much interested in what I was doing and saw every photo I took.  Half way through the photo session, another car pulled over. It was a local security guard who got suspicious of us. :) Once Alex explained what was going on, he drove away. 

The Milky Way played a significant role in the life, culture and the religion of the Incas. Especially, the Incas' mythologies are woven around the dark nebulae seen in the Milky Way. The picture below is from Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun) in Cusco, Peru. It depicts the Milky Way and the dark clouds venerated by the Incas.

Picture of Milky Way at Qorikancha, Cusco.

Using the Qorikancha picture as the reference, you can see the Shepherd, the Fox, the Llama, the baby Llama and the Partridge.
The eyes of the Llama are the famous stars Alpha and Beta Centauri. Very close to Alpha Centauri is the star Proxima Centauri,
the star closest to our Sun, just 4.24 light years away!

June 17, 2014. 8:36 PM (local time)
Took 9 overlapping frames of Milky Way and stitched them together using software.

This is my first attempt in taking and putting together a Milky Way Panorama. I am delighted that it turned out to be good. While Kuoda Travel did an outstanding job with this trip from planning to execution, this photo shoot would not have been possible without Mery's kindness and help from Alex and Marcos :)

Sacsayhuaman, Peru

When I first heard the name from  a Peruvian native, I heard it as "Sexy Woman" ;). That is how "Sacsayhuaman" is pronounced in Peru. Sacsayhuaman is located on a hill overlooking Cusco and takes around 15 minutes to reach by car from Cusco. According to our guide Beth Sheila, Sacsayhuaman means "Satisfied Condor". In 1536, the Inca king, Manco Inca fought a battle with the Spanish at the Sacsayhuaman site. Thousands of men from both sides died and the Condors had a feast for many days. The Incas in the city of Cusco at that time referred to the area as "Satisfied Condor" and so the name Sacsayhuaman. Sacsayhuaman was used by the Incas as a fortress as well as a religious site. Along with Cusco, Sacsayhuaman is a World Heritage site. 

<<<   Click on the photos and view them in full screen mode  >>>
                                

As originally constructed, Sacsayhuaman had multiple levels, towers and storage rooms. The Incas used it
as a military as well as a religious site. After the Spanish invasion, many structures were demolished and
the stones were removed from Sacsayhuaman to construct Spanish buildings in Cusco.

The huge Cristo Blanco (White Jesus) statue overlooking Cusco on the left side was modeled after the famous
"The Redeemer" status in Rio de Janeiro.

Yet another Inca ingenuity: The Zig-Zag walls of Sacsayhuaman. The Inca engineers had clear knowledge about
constructing walls in such a way to withstand strong earthquakes. The walls of Sacsayhuaman were built in a
zigzag pattern. At each bend in the wall, the energy of the earthquake dissipates and these walls are still
standing stronger after more than 500 years!

Another view of the Zig-Zag walls. The Incas called the earthquake as a moving serpent
under the earth.  According to modern science, an earthquake' S-wave travels like a snake!  

Sacsayhuaman's walls looks like a random stacking of huge rocks, almost like a jigsaw puzzle. No mortar was
used to hold these rocks together. Each one of the rocks were individually slotted and fit together.
During an earthquake, the walls shake but they are never damaged!

This huge, single rock has been smoothly carved in to 90 degrees for using in this corner!

Stitch of 9 photos.

Cusco, Peru

After enjoying Machu Picchu, we took the train from Aguas Calientes to Cusco city.  I was surprised to learn that Cusco is at a higher altitude (11,200 feet) than Machu Picchu (7972 feet). To reduce altitude sickness, visitors to Peru start at the lower elevations at Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and then visit Cusco.

This view of Cusco is from the "Cristo Blanco" (White Jesus) statue at the outskirts of Cusco.
The open square at right center is the famous "Plaza de Armas".

Cusco was the capital of the Inca empire. In the native Quechua language, Cusco mean "the navel of the world". Many ancient cultures around the wold, selected a sacred place and called it the center or navel of the world.

By 1573, the Spanish had completely brought down the Inca empire. Most of the Spanish buildings we see in Cusco today were built over Inca buildings and palaces. On 21st May, 1950 when a 7.0 earthquake struck Cusco, it cleared the Spanish built facades and walls that had covered up the Inca engineered stonework for centuries. Much of the Inca stonework and walls we see today in Cusco were discovered due to this earthquake.

Old neighborhoods in Cusco have very narrow streets and reminded me of streets in India. On many streets, the Inca built foundation and walls are visible.

I loved the narrow inclined streets of Cusco. The Casa San Blas Boutique Hotel we stayed is located at an elevation above the rest of the city. Either by car or by walk you need to deal with steep inclined roads.

This truck driver was kind enough to back all the way down and let our van pass :)

The Plaza de Armas is a large and lively square always full of tourists and locals.

The Plaza de Armas is surrounded by beautiful Spanish stone arcades filled with craft shops and excellent restaurants.

   

The Spanish architecture and beautifully decorated and colorfully painted wooden balconies jutting over the plaza add a nice charm to Plaza de Armas.

Plaza de Armas

The construction of the Cathedral at the left started in 1560 and took over 100 years to build. The Jesuits' church, "Iglesia de la Compania" is at the right. The Sun was setting and cast a long shadow right in the middle of these two buildings, further enhancing and highlighting their beauty. I recommend viewing this photo in full screen mode.

The Iglesia de la Compania, the Jesuits' church.

  

The streets leading from Plaza de Armas to our hotel at the San Blas area are lined with craft and souvenir shops that sell anything and everything that a visitor to Peru need to buy :) hand bags, shoes, Llama and Alpaca sweaters, hats, Llama key chains, etc.

A street with the original Inca built walls.

Some tourists had a difficult time walking up the steep inclined streets ;)

Casa San Blas Boutique Hotel.
Though it looks like a simple house from the outside, the hotel and the rooms are
beautifully decorated and very comfortable.