Intiwatana, inti means sun and watana means fastener, probable because on the solstice of 21 of June is the day when the sun get away from the earth and they thought that the sun was abandoned them, that is why with ceremonies, praying, paying to earth they tried to tie (fastener) the sun to avoid it leave the earth. But the name for those kind of protuberances according to chroniclers were saywa or suk’anka, but, when some foreigners studiers came here maybe they heard that people called Intiwatana, that is why nowadays it is called like that.
This is the most important sector in all P’isaq, the same kind of architecture is different to the another sectors, it is the called inka imperial, one of the finest kind of stonework, there is an platform that possible was a Ushnu (a sacred table where the andean priest carried out just very sacred and important ceremonies) because as this is on the upper part and all the sector is sacred (it is related), in the middle of all, there is particular building, a room, that is the only one that is built with pirka style, using mud as mortar, it look more ancient that the others, probable it was the priest-house, where he stayed in during sacred libations, and to keep the harmony with all the complex, it was covered with clay.
Other theory mention that before the arrive of the inkas to these land was established here a pre inka culture, possible the killke, whom knew these valley and expanded its dominion until this valley, and this sector was the religious area and this rustic room was the temple of the killke, when the inkas arrived here they saw it and they just respect its function building around their temples and astronomy observatory.
The most important construction in that on that have the shape of the letter D but in flat position with a main and unique gate (entrance, door) in the middle there is natural outcrop rock that was worked, and on the top they left a small protuberance in a vertical position, similar to the Intiwatana of Machu Pijchu but smaller, next to, there is another protuberance similar, all this is walled and out there is an peculiar stone carved known as chakana, it is a rock that have 3 levels at both sides, representing the three andean world , the lower is known as Ukj’u pacha that means underground stage, in the middle is the Kay pacha that means earth’s surface stage, and the higher is the Hanan pacha that means the sky stage, all of them related with the three important and sacred animal, the ukj’u pacha with the amaru or mach’ajway (snake), the kay pacha with the puma (cougar or andean mountain lion) and the hanan pacha with the kuntur (andean condor), in the solstice of June and December when the sun raises, and illuminate this sector with the shade its half-part was completed, having the all shape, also for some people it represents the three laws (rules) of the unkas, for some it is the ama suwa (do not steal), ama K’ella do not be lazy) and ama llulla (do not lie), those were not the three laws during inka inka times, because it was not necessary to steal because everybody had everything that was necessary to live food, home, farmland, it was not necessary to be lazy because everybody has something to do either he or she was blind, cripple, and finally it was not necessary to lie, because the inka rules were established in all the Tawantinsuyo area and if someone did something bad against the rules was punished, and the punishment in that time were hard. The three laws were munay (lo love), Yachay (to learn, to know) and llan’qay (to work), love everything that you have like nature, family, the live, learn as much as you can, because if you learn you will know and you can do whatever to live without destroying, and finally work, because if you do not work you will not eat, live, you will not have anything, those were the three inka laws.
Also in this sector there are some water fountains that were used to purify the body when someone wanted to get into the main and sacred sector, the lower fountain have stairs and two small holes to hang get into water after get out. Also from here you can see that the main gate of this area is a double jump door, that means that the sector in is very sacred, and it is.
On the road to go to Ollantaytambo, it is all the valley where grow up the corn with the hugest grain of the world because all this valley is very fertile for agriculture , also there are some villages and towns; like Qoya, it’s a typical village of the sacred valley where it is a good place to be during carnival dates, after is Lamay, according to villagers it comes from llama sachina pampa that means flat area where the llama rest, and this is flat maybe it is right, on the mountain is one archeological complex called as Huchuy Qosqo (small Cusco) where you can get walking and crossing the river by the bridge, another town is Calca, according to people who live there, they say it comes from a quechua word K’allca that means a place where there are a lot of stones, and here there are.
Calca is a nice town that has two squares, it was an important town during the first years of the colonia in Cusco, because when Manco Inka did the rebel, on against the Spaniards after the defeat in Cusco he came to the Yucay valley and in Calca he established his headquarter and armed a new group of soldiers to fight against the Spanish, after is Wayllabamba known as the corn (maize) land, after is Yucay that possible comes from Yuc’aya that means “deceived”, because a local tradition that means that the villagers from here were deceived by those from Urubamba when it has to be built the church, here there are the remains of the palace of Sayri Tupac Inka one of the last inka ruler, who built his palace here after the emergence from Vilcabamba, but after some years he dead possible poisoned by the Spaniards to avoid any rising against them, after is Urubamba province, where now we can see a colonial church that is been fixed by the INC (Instituto Nacional de Cultura), here also on the upper area where nowadays is the cemetery there is an inka palace.
Along all the way that we are doing the Wilkamayu river is always will go with us, about its name wilka means sacred and river means river, this river rises at the pass of La Raya, southeast of Cusco, runs through the very heartland of what was Tawantinsuyo, the Inca empire, there was an important Inka shrine at La Raya where the valley begins. In between stood many of the most famous sacred or elite Inca sites such as the temple the temple of Wiracocha at Raqchi, the ruins of P’isaq and Huchuy Qosqo, the royal palaces at Yucay and Urubamba, the imposing settlement of Ollantaytambo, and the string of ceremonial centers along what is now known as the Inka trail, and surrounds Machu Pijchu by its three sides and after it still going along the same valley.
This river Wilkamayu had its celestial counterpart in the Milky Way, a key element in Inca cosmology which also they called mayu, according to this cosmology the inkas thought that when someone dead, along his way to arrive to the Hanan Pacha, they had to pass a river (celestial river) and to pass this river, they needed the help of a black dog who usually was put with the mummy, that is why when archeologist excavated they found the mummy with the dog, this tradition still lives in the andes, because nowadays andean people use to mention that the spirit of someone dead will need the help of a dog (they agree that it has to be a black dog) to pass the river.
In Inka times the whole river was called the Wilkamayu, today its usually called the Vilcanota upstream of P’isaq or Huambutio, and the Urubamba lower down, but there is no precise point where the name changes.
After Urubamba there are many villages around but some important in Yanahuara, where now still exist one of the last Q’euña forest (Q’euña is one of the tipical andean tree, native tree) that is up walking among the mountains, also here there is a hill (small mountain) that have the shape of a toad, this animal is related in the andean area with the rain and with the agriculture, because when the toad cries it means that it will rain and rain water is necessary for agriculture, also this animal like other helped to the inkas to know the time, if it was dry season or rainy season, after is the village of Pachar where in its valley there are many terraces and shrines, also here is going to be the train station of Peru Rail, going by the road that is along the valley there are many agricultural terraces, there is place where the mountain finishes and stars again, and make the valley here narrow, where the inkas built a fortress now called as Choqana and Inkapintay, places that controlled the access to this part of the valley and you will see how the inkas changed the way of the river strategically, after there are still terraces and finally you arrive to Ollantaytambo.
This is the most important sector in all P’isaq, the same kind of architecture is different to the another sectors, it is the called inka imperial, one of the finest kind of stonework, there is an platform that possible was a Ushnu (a sacred table where the andean priest carried out just very sacred and important ceremonies) because as this is on the upper part and all the sector is sacred (it is related), in the middle of all, there is particular building, a room, that is the only one that is built with pirka style, using mud as mortar, it look more ancient that the others, probable it was the priest-house, where he stayed in during sacred libations, and to keep the harmony with all the complex, it was covered with clay.
Other theory mention that before the arrive of the inkas to these land was established here a pre inka culture, possible the killke, whom knew these valley and expanded its dominion until this valley, and this sector was the religious area and this rustic room was the temple of the killke, when the inkas arrived here they saw it and they just respect its function building around their temples and astronomy observatory.
The most important construction in that on that have the shape of the letter D but in flat position with a main and unique gate (entrance, door) in the middle there is natural outcrop rock that was worked, and on the top they left a small protuberance in a vertical position, similar to the Intiwatana of Machu Pijchu but smaller, next to, there is another protuberance similar, all this is walled and out there is an peculiar stone carved known as chakana, it is a rock that have 3 levels at both sides, representing the three andean world , the lower is known as Ukj’u pacha that means underground stage, in the middle is the Kay pacha that means earth’s surface stage, and the higher is the Hanan pacha that means the sky stage, all of them related with the three important and sacred animal, the ukj’u pacha with the amaru or mach’ajway (snake), the kay pacha with the puma (cougar or andean mountain lion) and the hanan pacha with the kuntur (andean condor), in the solstice of June and December when the sun raises, and illuminate this sector with the shade its half-part was completed, having the all shape, also for some people it represents the three laws (rules) of the unkas, for some it is the ama suwa (do not steal), ama K’ella do not be lazy) and ama llulla (do not lie), those were not the three laws during inka inka times, because it was not necessary to steal because everybody had everything that was necessary to live food, home, farmland, it was not necessary to be lazy because everybody has something to do either he or she was blind, cripple, and finally it was not necessary to lie, because the inka rules were established in all the Tawantinsuyo area and if someone did something bad against the rules was punished, and the punishment in that time were hard. The three laws were munay (lo love), Yachay (to learn, to know) and llan’qay (to work), love everything that you have like nature, family, the live, learn as much as you can, because if you learn you will know and you can do whatever to live without destroying, and finally work, because if you do not work you will not eat, live, you will not have anything, those were the three inka laws.
Also in this sector there are some water fountains that were used to purify the body when someone wanted to get into the main and sacred sector, the lower fountain have stairs and two small holes to hang get into water after get out. Also from here you can see that the main gate of this area is a double jump door, that means that the sector in is very sacred, and it is.
On the road to go to Ollantaytambo, it is all the valley where grow up the corn with the hugest grain of the world because all this valley is very fertile for agriculture , also there are some villages and towns; like Qoya, it’s a typical village of the sacred valley where it is a good place to be during carnival dates, after is Lamay, according to villagers it comes from llama sachina pampa that means flat area where the llama rest, and this is flat maybe it is right, on the mountain is one archeological complex called as Huchuy Qosqo (small Cusco) where you can get walking and crossing the river by the bridge, another town is Calca, according to people who live there, they say it comes from a quechua word K’allca that means a place where there are a lot of stones, and here there are.
Calca is a nice town that has two squares, it was an important town during the first years of the colonia in Cusco, because when Manco Inka did the rebel, on against the Spaniards after the defeat in Cusco he came to the Yucay valley and in Calca he established his headquarter and armed a new group of soldiers to fight against the Spanish, after is Wayllabamba known as the corn (maize) land, after is Yucay that possible comes from Yuc’aya that means “deceived”, because a local tradition that means that the villagers from here were deceived by those from Urubamba when it has to be built the church, here there are the remains of the palace of Sayri Tupac Inka one of the last inka ruler, who built his palace here after the emergence from Vilcabamba, but after some years he dead possible poisoned by the Spaniards to avoid any rising against them, after is Urubamba province, where now we can see a colonial church that is been fixed by the INC (Instituto Nacional de Cultura), here also on the upper area where nowadays is the cemetery there is an inka palace.
Along all the way that we are doing the Wilkamayu river is always will go with us, about its name wilka means sacred and river means river, this river rises at the pass of La Raya, southeast of Cusco, runs through the very heartland of what was Tawantinsuyo, the Inca empire, there was an important Inka shrine at La Raya where the valley begins. In between stood many of the most famous sacred or elite Inca sites such as the temple the temple of Wiracocha at Raqchi, the ruins of P’isaq and Huchuy Qosqo, the royal palaces at Yucay and Urubamba, the imposing settlement of Ollantaytambo, and the string of ceremonial centers along what is now known as the Inka trail, and surrounds Machu Pijchu by its three sides and after it still going along the same valley.
This river Wilkamayu had its celestial counterpart in the Milky Way, a key element in Inca cosmology which also they called mayu, according to this cosmology the inkas thought that when someone dead, along his way to arrive to the Hanan Pacha, they had to pass a river (celestial river) and to pass this river, they needed the help of a black dog who usually was put with the mummy, that is why when archeologist excavated they found the mummy with the dog, this tradition still lives in the andes, because nowadays andean people use to mention that the spirit of someone dead will need the help of a dog (they agree that it has to be a black dog) to pass the river.
In Inka times the whole river was called the Wilkamayu, today its usually called the Vilcanota upstream of P’isaq or Huambutio, and the Urubamba lower down, but there is no precise point where the name changes.
After Urubamba there are many villages around but some important in Yanahuara, where now still exist one of the last Q’euña forest (Q’euña is one of the tipical andean tree, native tree) that is up walking among the mountains, also here there is a hill (small mountain) that have the shape of a toad, this animal is related in the andean area with the rain and with the agriculture, because when the toad cries it means that it will rain and rain water is necessary for agriculture, also this animal like other helped to the inkas to know the time, if it was dry season or rainy season, after is the village of Pachar where in its valley there are many terraces and shrines, also here is going to be the train station of Peru Rail, going by the road that is along the valley there are many agricultural terraces, there is place where the mountain finishes and stars again, and make the valley here narrow, where the inkas built a fortress now called as Choqana and Inkapintay, places that controlled the access to this part of the valley and you will see how the inkas changed the way of the river strategically, after there are still terraces and finally you arrive to Ollantaytambo.
