Journey in Peru & Bolivia 2015

“The Munay-Ki is your invitation to dream an entire new world into being.”
~ Alberto Villoldo ~

The Andes Mountain

Peru’s Andean highlands

At the Sacred Valley

The Pisac Market at Cusco, Peru

Girls in their traditional costumes

Girls were taught how to weave from young

Streets along the Pisac Market

The small church

Wedding ceremony in the church

The tribal lady demostrating on how to dye colours on the thread

The woman weaved their clothes with this small machine. It would take around 3 to 6 months to complete.

The Llama and me at the Ccochahuasi Animal Sanctuary

The huge Condor, more than 1 metre height. Surprisingly, quiet and gentle. In the Andean tradition, the condor was the messenger of God.

The Conference hall at Paz y Luz Hotel, Pisac , Peru

Our first tour guide in Peru, Fredy. He led us through the despacho ceremony to receive the blessings for our whole journey.

Gathering the Mesas beside the fire ceremony

Pisac Ruins at the Sacred Valley

The Sun Temple featuring an Intiwatana is the centre piece (best viewed from the entrance trail above). Shaped with a curved rear wall and a flat front, similar to the letter “D”, the temple is perfectly aligned with the winter solstice sunrise. The narrow water channels, uniform stonework, altars and wells found in this area reflect its spiritual and sacred importance.

The ancient Chakana stone craving at the temple

The trials at the Pisac Ruins

View from the bottom of the Ollantaytambo Ruins

Walls and steps of the Ollantaytambo Ruins

The Princess Bath, Banos de Nusta, being one of the most beautiful, made from granite rock. This fountain has some beautiful examples of the fine Inca carvings and stone work. The Patakancha River flows through and feeds the fountains in this area.

Ceremonial Fountain at the Base of the Ollantaytambo Ruins. This was built facing the Sunrise direction during Solstice (1st June, the winter solstice and the 21st December, the summer solstice)

From the terraces if you look across the valley you can see the ruins of the old store houses built by the Incas. These were known as qollqa. They were used by the Incas to store agricultural crops to feed the town. They made the movement of the crops easier, through the specifically built and structured narrow windows in the store houses. If you take a closer look you will see a face carved into the rock face. This is the face of Wiracocha, the deity. The Incas believed he was the creator of all. He is depicted with a pointed bonnet on his head and carrying some heavy sacks on his back. It is possible to climb to the storehouses and to the face of Wiracocha.

Walls of Ollantaytambo ruins

The salt flats of Maras. One of the Inka ruins. It was hard to get salt on highlands. Salt was the vital resource for the Inka empire. It was believed as the blessings from the Sun.

Circular Terraces at Moray Ruins. It was considered to the place where the Incas perform ed the agricultural ceremonies.

Celebration ceremonies were held here during the Solstice harvest at Moray Ruins

Machu Picchu (meaning ‘Old Peak’ in the Quechua language) Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city.

Mountains around Machu Picchu

Sunrise at Machu Picchu

Purple flowering plant growing on the stones

The internal structure of temple below the Temple of the Sun. Beneath the temple lies a cave, naturally formed, which the explorer Bingham referred to as a “royal mausoleum,” although there’s little evidence that it was used as such. A boulder carved into a stairway lies near the cave entrance and the underground chamber likely served a religious function of some form.

Water fountain to represent the element of water. The king used to bath before worship the God.

The stone wall without any gaps at all. Everything was made with precision. Machu Picchu

The doorway. During the Inka empire, there were no doors and no shutters for windows.

Looking out of the window of the stone house. The wind kept the temperature of the house cool.

The stone pools. It was believed that the Inkas or the ancient astrology priest read the star constellations or observe the stars through the reflections on the stone pools.

Southern Cross constellation stone at Machu Picchu

The Intiwatana stone (meaning ‘Hitching Post of the Sun’) is a ritual stone in South America associated with the astronomic clock or calendar of the Inca. It has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of the two equinoxes and other significant celestial periods. At these periods, the Incas held ceremonies at the stone in which they “tied the sun” to halt its northward movement in the sky.

The Temple of Condor. A natural rock formation began to take shape millions of years ago and the Inca skillfully shaped the rock into the outspread wings of a condor in flight.A prison complex stands directly behind the temple, and is comprised of human-sized niches and an underground maze of dungeons. According to historical chronicles that documented similar Inca prison sites, an accused citizen would be shackled into the niches for up to 3 days to await the deliberation of his fate. He could be put to death for such sins as laziness, lust, or theft. The structure is finely carved and the stepped entrance is a symbol that represents the connection between the three worlds, the tomb can be seen as an entry into the underworld or Urin Pacha.

The Sacred Rock is located at the center of two huayranas located one in front of the other, separated by a yard high ceiling, it is clear that the Callancas were some sheds that were used to house people who would witness a religious ceremony. Apparently, this rock would be an altar, central and important element in an area of worship, for the worship of Apu ” Yanantin ” not only the Inca civilization would have a high knowledge of the cosmos, because for the cultures that have preceded, cosmology was a conception of the world, where they lived all beings.

The overview of Machu Picchu (The City in the Sky). A magnificent architecture that was built without written language.

Group of three doors. This area consists of rectangular fields or kanchas, accessed by three double-jambed doors. The finish of the masonry is not as fine as in other areas, so presumably it belonged to a lower social class.

Machu Picchu’s urban pattern symbolized a condor in flight. Fernando Cabieses, maintains that Machu Picchu expresses the conception of the three worlds of Inca cosmology: Hanaq Pacha (upper world), Kay Pacha (world center) and Uhu Pacha (underworld).

Statue of Pachakuti (The Son of the Sun) and the 3 archetypes representing the 3 worlds. Hanaq Pacha (Upper World) – Condor ; Kay Pacha (Middle World) – Puma ; Uhu Pacha (Underworld) – Serpent

Tambomachay, (Quechua means “guesthouse cave”), or “The Bath of the Inca,” because it is thought to have been a place to bath in attempt to clean the mind and spirit of evil. Legend has it that the spring water here has never run dry, sparking the belief that it is also a possible “fountain of youth.”

Cactus growing on the stone

Opening space scared ceremony

Receiving blessings through the mesa

Sacsayhuaman can be variously translated as ‘speckled falcon’ or ‘speckled head’ (the head of the puma). The last interpretation refers to the belief that the city of Cusco was set out in the form of a puma whose head was the hill of Sacsayhuaman. The origins are uncertain but the fortress is generally attributed to the period of Inca Pachacuti, the man who essentially founded the Inca empire.

Map of the City of Cusco. Sacsayhuaman was built overlooking the Inca navel off Cuzco (Cusco). The ‘fortress’ is composed of three large terraced walls, which are said to represent the ‘Teeth of the Jaguar’ (The original city of Cuzco was said to have been in the shape of a jaguar).

The original of this line drawing forms part of the chronicle “Relation of the Antiquities of this Kingdom of Piru” written around 1613 by Joan De Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua, native author. The image illustrates the cults of the Temple of Qorikancha of the Inca times. This image is usually interpreted as a representation of the interior wall, as the main altar or as the façade of the Inca Temple with the figures attached to the surface, but the text of the chronicle does not give precise references. Some researchers see in Pachacuti’s drawing a scheme of the Andean Cosmology, others consider that the image was inspired by the structure of Catholic Altars.

Milky Way in Inca Astronomy

Musician playing the music instruments, the replicas of Inca Empire

Display of the music instruments, the replicas of Inca Empire

The central well of blessing in the middle of Inca Museum. It was told that before the Spanish conquered the land, the priest and priestess from all temples located in the North, South, East and West, they would gather to send and receive blessings during the Inca empire.

Don Sebastián Pauccar led us through the scared ceremony to open space before we were initiating the deepening Munay-Ki Rites.

Initiation to the Daykeeper’s Rite or Pampamesayok (Q’ero Karpay)

The 7 steps Chakana craving on stone

Don Francisco Chura Floresa and Don Sebastián Pauccar gave teaching on the despacho offerings to Pachamama.

Demonstration on the layout of the despacho

Fire ceremony in Paz y Luz, surrounded by the Apu mountains.

Initiation to the Earthkeeper’s Rite (Kurok Akullek) from Don Francisco Chura Floresa

The altar set up for the Initiations to the Starkeeper’s Rite (Mosoq Karpay)

Minion Quichi (rainbow) surrounded by a mountain of mesa, medicine bags.

The Divine beings ‘descending’ from the mountain

Minion Quichi completed the Deepening Rites training. Graduation photo with Don Francisco Chura Floresa

Sunrise at the Scared Valley, Pisac ruins

Pisac Ruins

Initiation to the Creator’s Rite (Taitanchis)

Heart found on the rocky path at the Pisac ruins

Blessings to all brothers and sisters. Munay

Pink Rose

Flower and the bee

Raqch’i (Quechua), also known as the Temple of Wiracocha. The site of Raqchi is huge, said to be one the biggest Inca archaeological sites ever. This enormous structure stands over 92 meters long (302ft) and 25.5 meters wide (84ft). It is a two story roofed construction with windows and doors and a central adobe wall roughly 18 to 20 meters in height. On each side of the structure there is a row of 11 columns, built to support the building. The foundation is made from carved stones and rest made out from adobe and mud. The temple of Wiracocha is said to be specifically built so that people had to walk in a zigzag motion through it. This motion is related to the relationship between Wiracocha and Inca cosmology. The Spanish found this Inca site and destroyed most of it.

There are approximately 220 circular buildings, likely used as storehouses, called qullqas. These storehouses were used to hold grains, such as corn and quinoa, that would have been used for ceremonial purposes as well as pottery, woven cloth and military equitment. The storehouses are also unique as unlike other structures throughout the empire they are not square cornered.

Buildings at Raqch’i destroyed by the Spanish. The houses for the governors during the Inca empire.

Conquering the back (walking on top) of the HUGE serpent rock behind us. At the mountain region of Southern Peru near Lake Titicaca

Doorway of the Amaru Meru (Aramu Muru). A huge mysterious door-like structure in the Hayu Marca mountain region of Southern Peru near Lake Titicaca, an hour drive from the city of Puno. The door or the “Puerta de Hayu Marca” (Gate of the Gods) has been, at some time in the distant past, carved out of a natural rock face and in all, measures exactly 23′ in height and width, with a smaller alcove in the center at the base which measures in at just under 6′ in height. This area is the acknowledged portal through which the new feminine energies are entering the Earth. It is power energy – energy of the Heart. We not only have an opportunity during this time to access the information from the sacred golden Solar Disc and to receive the cosmic energies of Love that are coming in, but many Planetary Light Workers are feeling called to participate in re-activating the Solar Disc.

The remote area is known as a Valley of the Spirits, or Stone Forest, made of strange rock formations that resemble animals, beings, buildings, dinosaurs, and artificial structures.

Green plant at Cochabamba, Bolivia

Cochabamba, Bolivia

Church Cochabamba, Bolivia

Lake Titicaca is held as a sacred site by the Incas. In the Inca creation myth, the god Con Tiqui Wiracocha emerged from Lake Titicaca bringing some human beings with him. After commanding the sun (Inti), moon (Mama Killa) and the stars to rise, Wiracocha created more human beings from stone. After bringing them to life, Wiracocha commanded them to go and populate the world. The Incas therefore believed that Lake Titicaca was their place of origin, and that upon death, their spirits would return to this lake.

Island of the Sun is believed to be the home of the Incan sun god, Inti. Additionally, this is the birth place, according to one Incan legend, of Manco Capac, the founder of the first Incan dynasty. In this legend, Manco Capac was brought up from the depths of Lake Titicaca by Inti. Manco Capac and his siblings were sent up to the earth by the sun god, and emerged from the cave of Pacaritambo (or the waters of Lake Titicaca, according to another version of the legend). Manco Capac was carrying a golden staff, and was instructed to build a Temple of the Sun on the spot where the staff sank into the earth. Using underground caves, the siblings travelled to Cusco, where they built a temple in honor of their father, Inti.

The multiple doorways of the the Chincana Ruins that was built on the island of the Sun

The Chincana Ruins : A Labyrinth of Stone. Chincana Labyrinth walls were once covered with mud plaster and had been painted in various colors. It contains trapezoidal doors and niches indicative of Inca architecture. Many rooms within the Chincana are connected by twisting passageways, giving a maze-like feeling to this complex. Apparently it housed the women who cared for the shrine at Titikala.

Water well for ceremonies at the Chincana ruins.

Ceremonial table at the Chincana ruins

The ceremonial stone which looks like the shape of Puma

Local food for lunch at the Island of the Sun

It was told that these were the footsteps of the ‘aliens’ or ‘gods’ who first step arrived on the island.

Full moon rose on Lake Titicaca

Iñaq Uyu (in Aymara language) or Aklla Wasi (in Quechua) , it is also know as the “House of the virgins of the sun” . The ruins was found on the island of the Moon Island which is the second largest island on the lake Titicaca.

During the time of the Inca Tupac Yupanqui, an ornate building, the ‘House of the Chosen Virgins of the Sun,’ was built to house chosen women who lived a nun-like lifestyle.

Chakana on the stone wall

Stone wall at the ruins

The playful Llama

Little flower grew on the stairs

Temple of Kalasasaya (“Place of the Vertical Stones”) at Tiwanaku. Tiwanaku is located near the southern shores of Lake Titicaca on the Altiplano, at an altitude of 3,850 m., in the Province of Ingavi, Department of La Paz.

Viracocha Stella monolith. A close up of the monolith Stella that depicts a man with a beard and eyebrows that looks like the description above. The statue in the middle of the Semi-subterranean Temple, was studded with sculptured stone heads set into cut-stone facing walls.

Wall of the Temple of Kalasasaya (“Place of the Vertical Stones”). It is built like a stockade with 12 foot high columns jutting upward at intervals, each of these being carved into human figures.

Wall of the Temple of Kalasasaya (outside).The Akapana is the biggest platform on the site measuring 200 meters on each side and 17 meters tall and the largest ashlars of andesite or sandstone weigh over 100 tons.

Tiwanaku stone architecture usually employs rectangular ashlar blocks laid in regular courses, and monumental structures were frequently fitted with elaborate drainage systems. The drainage systems of the Akapana and Puma Punku include conduits composed of red sandstone blocks held together by ternary (copper/arsenic/nickel) bronze architectural cramps.

General view of Kalasasaya complex

The ” Monolith Ponce “, also known as ” Estela Ponce ” or ” Stela 8 ” is a monument that is in the eastern part of the monumental archaeological complex of Tiwanaku.

The Gate of the Sun. Some researchers suggest that they date to 14,000 years BC. The Gate of the Sun is approximately 3 metres tall and carved on a single block of stone. Some people believe that this ‘gate’ was used as a calendar, causing some to call it ‘the Calendar Gate’. Indeed, it appears to reflect a solar year, however, it cannot be made to fit into the solar year as we divide it at present. The calendar has 290 days, divided into twelve months of 24 days each. Other radical theories suggest it was a portal to another dimension, perhaps to the ‘land of the gods’.

The figures that decorate the stone are believed to have astronomical connotations and resemble human-like beings with wings and curled-up tails, and appear to be wearing rectangular ‘helmets’, although interpretations differ. The ‘Sun-God’ is in the centre and is sculpted with rays emitting from his face in all directions. He also appears to be holding a staff in each hand. The ‘Sun-God’ figure is also called the ‘Weeping God’ because things similar to tears are carved on its face.

The ” Monolith Fraile ” also known as ” Estela Fraile ” or ” God of Water “, is a monument that is in the eastern part of the monumental archaeological complex of Tiwanaku

Tiwanaku city declines and fell at around 1000 A.D. Following the decline, its inhabitants abandoned it. The Wari culture of Peru also fell around the same time. Scientists have considered environmental changes in the Andes as being instrumental in collapsing both civilizations.Even after its collapse, Tiwanaku persevered in become an important religious site to the locals. Later, Tiwanaku was integrated into the Inca mythology as being man’s birthplace. The Inca also built additional structures alongside the Tiwanaku ruins.

Ceremonial stone

Pumapunku or Puma Punku (in Aymara and in Quechua). Pumapunku was purposely integrated with Illimani mountain, a sacred peak that the Tiwanaku possibly believed to be home to the spirits of their dead. This area was believed to have existed between heaven and Earth. The spiritual significance and the sense of wonder would have been amplified into a “mind-altering and life-changing experience” through the use of hallucinogenic plants. Examinations of hair samples exhibit remnants of psychoactive substances in many mummies found in Tiwanaku culture mummies from Northern Chile, even those of babies as young as one year of age, demonstrating the importance of these substances to the Tiwanaku.

Puma Punku was a large earthen platform mound with three levels of stone retaining walls. Its layout is thought to have resembled a square. To sustain the weight of these massive structures, Tiwanaku architects were meticulous in creating foundations, often fitting stones directly to bedrock or digging precise trenches and carefully filling them with layered sedimentary stones to support large stone blocks

The most imposing monument at Tiwanaku is the Pyramid of Akapana. It is a pyramid originally with seven superimposed platforms with stone retaining walls rising to a height of over 18m.

The lowest of seven superimposed platforms of Akapana’s Pyramid, and part of one of the intermediate walls survive intact. Investigations have shown that it was originally clad in sandstone and andisite and surmounted by a temple. It is surrounded by very well-preserved drainage canals.

Map of Tiwanaku

Valle de La Luna (Moon Valley) is very close to the city of La Paz, Bolivia. It is a maze of canyons and giant spires. The formations, composed mainly of clay and sandstone, were created by the persistent erosion of mountains by the area’s strong winds and rains. What remains is a serene setting, full of wonder and intrigue.

One of Valley de la Luna’s most breathtaking features is its varied pallet, ranging from clear beige tones to sections of red and dark purple. This natural phenomena is due to the great variance in mineral content between each individual mountain, creating colorful compositions and impressive optical illusions on the eroded hillsides.

Interesting formations

Cactus of heart in the Moon Valley

Up on the top of the Moon Valley

Purple flower plant

Statue of the Muse

Bird feeding

La Paz, Bolivia . Km 0

Traditional costumes in Bolivia

Shops in the alley

Wood cravings on the wall

Shops in the alley

Street nearby the Witches’ market in La Paz, Bolivia

Snow Mountains

Path to the Hot Spring Valley

The limestone cave

Urmiri Natural Hot Spring

Urmiri Natural Hot Spring. These hot springs near La Paz are famous for their therapeutic qualities. Located deep in the mountains in a steep canyon with just one entrance that protects them from the altiplano winds, three fresh hot springs bubble up into two distinct pools and other small baths inside the hotel located here. The composition is a curious mix of magnesium, sulfur, limestone, and iron that is recommended for treatment of chronic rheumatism, arthritis, gout, nervous disorders, depression, physical therapy, lupus and other maladies. The Hotel Gloria administers the hot springs and has a public swimming pool, sauna, romance baths, and individual baths. Outside the hotel there are no villages or other types of touristy infrastructure or services. Website : http://www.hotelgloria.com.bo

Flower grew in the hot spring area

Flowers grew in the hot spring area

Flower grew in the hot spring area

Cactus flower grew in the hot spring area

Flowers grew everywhere in the hot spring area

‘Mini Church’ on top of the hot spring hotel

Snow mountain, Condor, Shaman, Hummingbird, Llama, Puma – Connection to God

Shaman Quichi enjoying POP corn (^o^) /

Shaman Quichi eaten a cake!

Shaman Quichi on holiday

San Francisco Church (La Paz). The Basilica of San Francisco in the city of La Paz, Bolivia, is a Catholic church under the advocation of Francis of Assisi. It is located in the center of the city, in the square that bears its name, “Plaza San Francisco”.