The Andes beckon, and they do so very well...

The breaths are long and tedious, not as dramatic as those that I had imagined at Everest Base Camp or at Camp I on Aconcagua , but it's true, at these Andean altitudes when facing a computer you can only ramble for your mind is askew. Even more so if this is your first time, and first day in this enchanted land, you find every step, every sight, every person immensely interesting.

Well, this is the situation in which I found myself as I was walking
through the exposition rooms, the archaeological riches of Peru mesmerizing me in every display. I have this thing for wood recovered in archaeological contexts, and at the museum there was a vast amount of wooden artifacts from Inca and pre-Inca times. I was fascinated by the Moche scepter, as it was labeled, it was an object resembling a narrow oar, with a figure of a man on the head of the shaft. The array of wooden objects that have been recovered in Peru is splendid, and thanks to the dry environment, especially on the coast, random bypassers like me can marvel at the craftsmanship of these past indigenous peoples.

I cannot even express what I felt inside of me upon seeing the tantalizing metalwork on display at the museum. Yes, my eyes voraciously consumed every inch of the golden mortuary Inca mask, or the tiny but powerfully symbolic Inca llama effigy, or the silver and gold Inca breastplates. One thing that impacted me, was standing in a life-size reconstruction of an Inca structure filled on both sides, up to my chest, in silver and golden Inca artifacts -aribalos, llamas, alpacas, figurines, and corn cobs - the treasures of the Tahuantinsuyu empire amassed by the greedy Francisco Pizarro as a ransom for the Inca Atahualpa.

The Andes beckoned, and they did so very well. Jutting out of a sea of clouds, snow capped, and jagged peaks, they impaled the Andean sky. At times they rolled more smoothly, green and cris-cut with the legendary terraced fields, masterfully built and adapted to all parts of the hillsides. It was in such a diverse and dramatic landscape that I first spotted Qosqo, with its sloping brown tile roofs, as our pilot banked in one of the most dramatic landings I have ever experienced - 180 degrees in a span of few kilometers surrounded by mountains.

The architecture was charming, and above all founded on ancient structures, those of the Inca. From the bus I hastily spotted the Quri Kancha, and many other remnants of masterfull Inca masonry. I must admit that this day was one of my longest, and when I finally fell asleep, breathing at irregular intervals, only then did the full spectrum of my day's activities begin to seep into my cranium.

-Konrad