The Inca were obviously a smart civilization. It is apparent in the thought and skill seen in their design and architecture. The time that Kim and I spent hiking the Inca trails to Choquequirao and Machu Picchu was educational, beautiful and fascinating. But it also left me sometimes wondering.... what the hell were they thinking!
We only hiked two of the main trails, and in those 8 days of trekking nearly 100 kilometers (over 60 miles) we climbed approximately 19,000 vertical feet up, and 21,000 down. It is hard to calculate exactly because we learned of the term 'Andean flat'; meaning since you start and stop at the same altitude over a fairly short distance, they don't count the numerous rolling ups and downs you have to do in between :-/
So I understand their beliefs about the sacredness of the mountains, and the sun and moon and earth, etc. But someone needed to scratch their head when they looked at some of the locations they picked to built their cities and places of worship. And on top of everything else, we found out that only the 'supposedly better' upper-class used these exhausting mountain trails. The common people were not 'privileged' enough to travel the elevated paths. They had to stay on the flat, easy paths along the river valleys. I bet they felt so deprived....
All joking aside, while it was one of the hardest cumulative sets of hikes I have done, it was well worth the effort. And I was grateful to have done it with Kim. We did a great job of alternating the times when we struggled, so we could provide support to each other when we needed it.
We only hiked two of the main trails, and in those 8 days of trekking nearly 100 kilometers (over 60 miles) we climbed approximately 19,000 vertical feet up, and 21,000 down. It is hard to calculate exactly because we learned of the term 'Andean flat'; meaning since you start and stop at the same altitude over a fairly short distance, they don't count the numerous rolling ups and downs you have to do in between :-/
So I understand their beliefs about the sacredness of the mountains, and the sun and moon and earth, etc. But someone needed to scratch their head when they looked at some of the locations they picked to built their cities and places of worship. And on top of everything else, we found out that only the 'supposedly better' upper-class used these exhausting mountain trails. The common people were not 'privileged' enough to travel the elevated paths. They had to stay on the flat, easy paths along the river valleys. I bet they felt so deprived....
All joking aside, while it was one of the hardest cumulative sets of hikes I have done, it was well worth the effort. And I was grateful to have done it with Kim. We did a great job of alternating the times when we struggled, so we could provide support to each other when we needed it.
