How to get things done in Cuzco…
My day started out slowly, moving from store to store around the Plaza de Armas, trying to find a good price on a duffel bag to bring things back to New York in.
Plaza de Armas, Cuzco, Peru
The boleto toristico that one has to buy to enter into virtually any of the site in the Cuzco area, also includes various museums in Cuzco. I spent much of the morning in the Contemporary Art Museum, the Regional History Museum (where I learned a lot about both Tupac Amaru and Garciloso de la Vega- very interesting!) and the Museum of the Incas, where it suddenly occured to me that I should be able to buy blueprint/ survey drawings of both Machu Picchu and Choquequirao somewhere to bring back to school. This simple seeming task led me on an adventure to not one, but EIGHT different offices through out the city! (Eight does not count the three different offices that I had to return to at least two times more after completing a step in the process). Wow!
Steps to obtaining blueprints/ survey drawings of archeological sites in Cuzco:
1. Find the correct office. This entails going to three different places based on information given at each subsequent place and returning to the 2nd one because it was correct, even though the person at the reception desk swore it was not.
2. Find the correct person in the correct office.
3. Explain why on earth a foreigner would want blueprints of the sites and not only to visit the sites themselves and take pictures to the correct person at the correct office.
4. Go to the internet cafe to write a formal letter of your request. Ask a 12 year old who is running the cafe to proofread my Spanish.
5. Return to the correct person in the correct office to have them put a special stamp on the letter. Be told that I will need to call him on August 9th to get the blueprints and really, to find out where he is because the location of his office might be moving…
6. Go to another office down small twisty roads with no name and hope that you are in the correct place.
7. Go to the information window at the payment office to make sure that you are in the correct place because the place you are in has a million tourists waiting in line to buy tickets to Machu Picchu (Did I explain myself correctly in Spanish that I wanted to buy plans for Machu Picchu and not buy ticket?)
8. After confirming you are in the correct place, jump the reservations line and go directly to the payment line.
9. Completely confuse the man behind the desk that you indeed want to pay for blueprints NOT a ticket to Machu Picchu and watch him crash the receipts computer as you confuse him beyond belief.
10. Pay for the blueprints and get a receipt.
11. Walk for 6 blocks before finding a copy machine to copy the receipt, which feels strange because everywhere else in the country it feels like you have passed a copy place every other step.
12. Realize that you have not actually given the solitation letter nor receipt for blueprints to anyone so the order is not actually going to be processed.
13. Go back to the payment office to figure out who and where exactly I need to deliver the letter and receipt to be processed. Arrive at 4:01 pm and beg to be let in to the nice guard.
14. Speak to a nice older gentleman who conceeds to help me after hours and then asks me for a copy of my passport.
15. Realize that my copy of my passport is fairly crumpled. Solicate the elderly mans help to copy my copy of my passport and escort me to the correct window back in the payment office.
16. Go to the final window in the payment office and deliver the letter, copy of the receipt and copy of my passport.
17. Hope that when I call on the 9th of August after my trek to Choquiquerao, the copies of the blueprints are waiting for me.
🙂 I actually find the entire situation incredibly humorous. The truth is, we have just as messy and complicated systems in the US to get certain things done and obtain certain documents. I know though, that I would not have been nearly as patient if I had not already done similar things in Tanzania when I was in the Peace Corps. And despite the multiple steps involved, everyone was so incredibly understanding and helpful. They really were happy that someone wanted to bring something home to use in teaching somewhere else. 🙂
Oh yes… and yesterday I went to most of the other Incan ruins just outside of Cuzco. Lots of interest there!
Tambomachay: Incan Baths
Trapezoid niches.... but how many different sided polygons can you find in the Incan stonework?
I simply cannot get enough of these trapezoid shaped doors. The question for you: Why trapezoids?
The Incan ruin "sexy woman" from afar. Only a fraction of it is open to tourists. Some of these blocks weigh up to 100 tons!
I am still amazed at how closely the stones fit together. I found out today that the made a clay copy of EACH AND EVERY one before actually carving it out of the quarry.
This is part of an Incan temple that the Spanish built a church on top of. In 1950 there was an earthquake. Some of the Spanish church fell down, none of the Incan temple did.
Super interesting to me... there was a protest on the Plaza de Armas about genetic engineering of food and seeds. Apparently the new president of Peru has just entered into a contract with Bio-genetics giant Monsanto.... uh oh....
Tomorrow I take off for 5 days for my trek to Choquiquerao…. more to come after then!
Ms. Bruck
Cuzco: The Sacred Vally (Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero)
I arrived in Cuzco on Saturday, taking a bus from Puno that stopped at various historical sites along the way. One in particular, Raqchi (and the temple of Wiracocha), was interesting to me as it was the first well-defined Incan site I had spent any time at.
Wiracocha was the 8th Incan King. Just as interesting to me as the history of the ruins was the the construction. Take a look at the pictures below…. what pops out to you?
Just how did the Incas manage to make the stones fit so closely???
What is that shape that keep appearing over and over again? Any ideas as to why?
So now I am in Cuzco. Cuzco is the base from which I am going to explore Incan ruins in the Sacred Valley, do my 5 day trek to a lesser known lost Incan city of Choquiquerao and then finally, go to Machu Picchu.
I will be based out of Cuzco for almost 2 weeks! It feels nice to be in one place for awhile though.
After checking into my hotel on Saturday, I went to the tour company through which I had arranged my trek out to the Incan ruins of Choquiquerao to confirm my trip on the 4th. The trek will be for 5 days and I am really looking forward to it, as I will have the chance to see two major Incan ruins and not just Machu Pichu as most people do. I also arranged train tickets and entrance to Machu Pichu on the 10th-11th. Apparently, a lot has changed in Peru in the last three weeks with the new President and you cannot just show up at the archeological site and buy tickets anymore.
With that settled, I took up the opportunity to do a tour of the Sacred Valley on Sunday. We went to three major Incan ruins. Something to know about the Incas is that they were only really a dominating civilization for 90 years or so. They became powerful quickly and extended their reign from Ecuador into Chile by absorbing existing communities and also, improving upon technology that already existed.
The first major stop on our Sacred Valley tour was Pisac. The archaeological complex is a fantastic example of Incan terracing. Most of which were still in use until major flooding happened in the Sacred Valley in 2010.
The terraces are made up of four layers. On the bottom is rock, for drainage, then gravel, then sand and finally the top layer is humus, rich earth in which crops grow. What is fascinating to me is that underneath all of this, the Incas first built water irrigation channels, so there are actually little streams of water running underneath the terraces.
OLLANTAYTAMBO:
Our next stop was Ollantaytambo, a huge agricultural and economic center for the Incas in the Sacred Valley. What was interesting was that it was also an unfinished temple, on which the sun shone directly upon on the Summer solstice. These Pre-Colombian civilizations really are fascinating when you think of their ability to build things in just exactly the right place so it is hit by the light on one particular day of the year!
This was the first site that I really got to see just how HUGE the blocks of granite are that the Incas used to build their temples and cities. I don´t have the information with me just now, but some of the blocks for the temple (above middle) weigh something like 45 tons and came from a quarry over 5 kilometers away over a mountain! A few years ago, the townspeople of Ollantaytambo actually moved a block, though much smaller by placing logs underneath the block just to prove that it was actually possible to move them using non-machine generated power. It is estimated to take something like 15 people to move a 1 ton block. Just think about how many people were involved in moving them! Needless to say, I left the site impressed!
CHINCHERO
The last stop on our tour of the Sacred Valley was to Chinchero, another town with terraces, but better known for its textiles and natural dying of wool from the plants and insects in the surrounding environment. You can bet Ms. Bruck was excited about this stop!
The colorwork and detail in their weaving is pretty incredible! How much counting do you think is involved in that? I spoke with one of the ladies, and she confirmed for me that it was all about patterns, different number combinations gave different shapes, slopes of the shapes as you went from row to row, etc. 🙂
I bought some fabric from the lady to my left and in response they decided to dress me up in their traditional dress and have my picture taken. I look pretty silly, but it was a good laugh!
Today my plan is to do a “city tour” of some Incan ruins outside the city on my own. There is so much information that you get with a guide, but I often find myself rushed through and not getting to spend as much time exploring as I would like!
Cheers!
Ms. Bruck
Revised: Puno, Lake Titicaca, Uros, Amantani and Taquille Islands
My last post did not do justice to the experiences I had, so now that I am in Cuzco, with faster internet speeds, I can take the time properly present my last post.
Puno is the second most touristed city in Peru, after Cuzco. The interesting thing is that most people (including myself) do not actually spend that much time in the city of Puno itself, but rather, use it as a launching pad to visit the islands on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world (3840 meters). The entire Puno/Lake Titicaca area is FREEZING right now as well. I finally had a reason to take out my down jacket!
So after spending a chilly night in Puno, I got on a local boat to head out to the islands. They have organized tours available to all of the islands, especially the floating islands of Uros (which are made out of reeds and really are floating), but I had heard negative things about these tours and opted to figure it out on my own and force myself to use my newly revised Spanish. I am so glad that I did as I got to see so much more than I would have if I had had to stick next to a tour guide and stay on their timetable and explore what THEY thought was interesting, instead of what I thought was interesting. It was an awesome experience!
THE FLOATING ISLANDS OF UROS:
]The first stop that the boat made was to the floating islands of Uros. Interesting enough, the 40 minute stop was more than enough time to learn about them and move on.
The floating islands of Uros have been in existence for over 900 years. The inhabitants have to constantly add more reeds to the top layer in order to replenish the rotting reeds below.
Start of boat ride across Lake Titicaca to the floating islands of Uros, and the "knitting islands" of Amantani and Taquille.
A first glimpse of the floating islands of Uros
Waiting for an informative session about the history and construction of the floating islands.
HOMESTAY ON THE ISLAND OF AMANTANI
After the floating islands, we hopped back on the same boat to head to the island of Amantani for the night. The island has a system of tourism in which the 4,000 inhabitants (made of up 95 different communities) share homestays of foreigners according to a system that ensures no family has a guest more than once a month. The islanders live on subsistence farming, namely 40 different varieties of potatoes.
The homestays are the only time the people of Amantani actually earn money, with everything else on the island obtained through trade.
The Señora of our homestay on the island of Amantani came to meet us... you can she her spinning wool as we walk along the beach back to her home.
The women on the island of Amantani knit beautiful hats, while it is the men who sew and embroider the clothes the women wear.
Room at homestay on Amantani. The luxury of solar panels meant light at night!
Incan ruins: Entrance to the top of PachaMama, the highest point on the island of Amantani.
Random building on the island of Amantani... geometry is everywhere!
Before dinner with the 6 french speaking travelers I became friends with, we climbed to the top of the island to see the sunset.
Stealing a few moments by myself before the sunset.
Sunset over Lake Titicaca. Island of Amantani
INDEPENDENCE DAY ON THE ISLAND OF TAQUILLE
The next morning, we got up and onto another boat to head to the island of Taquille.
Inspired by all of the knitting and weaving around me, I find some time to knit on the boat ride from Amantani to Taquille.
Taquille is interesting. On this island, the men are known more for their knitting than the women. The men wear red or red/white hats that they knit themselves in order to indicate their “married” or “single” status.
Traditional dress on the island of Taquille. They swear they dress this way everyday, not just on Independence Day.
The women weave intricate belts that they give their husbands. The women also spin wool. The island centers around the plaza de armas, where they sell amazing textiles.
CULTURE OF KNITTING AND WEAVING ON THE ISLANDS OF LAKE TITICACA
The belts in particular have very interesting design, many of which are geometric.
Amantani belt
I spent quite a bit of time sitting with the man who sold me the belt afterwards. He seemed genuinely excited that someone wanted to know what they symbols actually meant to the culture and people of Taquille. It was definitely a highlight of the journey so far!
One symbol the appears over and over again is the "6 suyos". According the man I bought the belt from, these are 6 crops, or elements of sustenance on the island, such as quinoa, corn, fish, etc. According to the internet, it is the 6 communities on the island. I guess I will have to do more research!
We spent the rest of the day exploring the island and hiking. It was so beautiful!
Went for a nice little hike around the island of Taquille and came across many arches. The red flowers above are used to dye the wool they knit with on the island.
Sheep on Taquille= wool= knitting. 🙂
EXCHANGE OF IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES
The next day, we took a boat back to Puno. Doing as I always do when travelling, I took out my knitting. This caused quite a bit of excitement! The technique the men of Taquille use is completely different thanwhat I use. It was lots of fun, showing each other not only how we knit (Me: holding the wool in my right hand. Them: twisting the wool around their neck and knitting from the opposite side of the fabric), but also what we knit. I was working on a pair of socks, which was really interesting to them. The designs and color work in their hats is so intricate, I can hardly hope to learn how to do it!
I ended up knitting with this man from the Island of Taquille most of the boat ride back to Puno. So interesting to compare techniques and patterns!
Overall, the three days I spent on the islands were absolutely amazing and I learned to much! Truly, the perfect place for me to go!
More from Cuzco later!
Ms. Bruck
Arequipa: Homestay, Spanish Lessons and Mundo del Alpaca
I´ve been in Arequipa for four days now, staying in the family home of the director of a Spanish Language school for foreigners here in Arequipa. It feels great to be in the same place for a longer length of time and great to be living with a family. I never really settled into really spending time with my host families when I lived in Spain and during my Peace Corps Training in Tanzania, but it seems to be so much easier this time around to let go of that American need to do things on their own terms and schedule. When I am not doing my four hours of language courses in the afternoon, I spend most of my time with my Señora, Lucy, and her househelper/cook, Marcela. Maybe it`s just that I have found the perfect family for me to spend time with because most of the time we spend together……. knitting. Yep, that is right. Everyone in my homestay family is obsessed with knitting. Perfect!
Yesterday, Lucy and her cousin took me to Mundo del Alpaca, which is a (more modern) store of alpaca products that also acts as a museum and export center. It was pretty awesome to see both Alpacas and LLamas, their wool after it has been shaved off, and the process that it goes through to become yarn. They also had some weavers from the Cuzco area, doing demonstrations of traditional weaving. The colors are amazing! And you know I can´t avoid talking about it….. the patterns, well, there MUST be at least a bit of math involved! Finally, we spoiled ourselves by spending almost a full hour in the stock room, where I saw where they gather wool that I see both at Michaels, and smaller independent yarn stores packed up and ready for export.
SORRY THE PICTURES SEEM TO BE OUT OF ORDER AND BIT OF A MESS! AT THIS POINT, WITH LIMITED TIME ON THE COMPUTER, I AM JUST HAPPY TO GET THEM UPLOADED!
🙂
We also went to the market in order to buy Lucy some new knitting needles, so I could show her how to make gloves. The store than sold the knitting needles is around the corner from the big market below, but it was too interesting a place not to show you. The best way I can describe it is that is was something like that big market in Tanzania, but much more organized and cleaner!
More pictures: Nazca lines, Nazca pottery and food .
Finally found an internet cafe with a bit faster connection speeds.. and I have figured out how to enter a slide show. It is all a learning experience!
Here are some of the other pictures I was going to put into the other post. Mostly examples of geometric designs being used in the Nazca pottery. I am not quite sure what I will do with them yet, but I personally find them interesting.
Also, there are pictures of food! As you can see, I have been eating really well! Lots and lots of fish though…
Currently, I am in Arequipa, doing some private classes in Spanish and staying with a homestay family. Even though, it has only been one day, it has been really nice to stay and live with people who actually live here, instead of a hostel.
More to come!
Ms. Bruck
Nazca Lines- Mystery, Archaeology and Geometry
Warning: I took many pictures, but few are uploading due to slow internet speeds. I will do my best to upload, but am trying to link to other people’s websites (and pictures and videos) in order to give you a better idea of what I am talking about until I get my own loaded.
- Pictures taken from a scale model of the Nasca Lines in the Nasca Lines Hotel, Nazca, Peru
I really like the little town of Nazca, in desert plateau on the Southern Coast of Peru. I was first interested in coming here when I came across this website five years ago when I was looking for other things to link math to. No one knows exactly why the Nazca lines were made, though there are many theories. There seems to be three main theories: they marked how to find water; they marked some type of calendar, with lines pointing in the direction of the sunset on the Winter and Summer soltices; and the animorphic shapes represent constellations in the sky.
Take a glimpse here for a quick peek at what I’m talking about.
When most people find out about the lines, they notice the animorphic shapes. Actually, the geometric shapes are MUCH larger than the animorphic shapes. Here are just a few of the things that I learned last night at a small presentation at the Maria Reiche planetarium in the Nazca Lines Hotel:
- The lines were formed by the Nazca people 100-600 A.D by removing the rocks from the desert basin, leaving just the fine dirt below exposed.
- With the exception of the Monkey, all shapes are made from one single line that never crosses itself.
- 30% of the the large geometric shapes (triangles, trapezoids, and rectangles) are known to point to the source of water, an extremely valuable resource in the desert.
- The lines that point to the sources of water are actually perpendicular to the Rio Grande.
- Other sets of lines are perfectly parallel sources that come down from the mountains.
- The lines reach up to 480 meters long in some cases.
- It is believed that at times Nazca gather on the lines for ceremonies and at other times, they would walk and follow the lines until it lead them to sources of water.
I took at flight over the lines this morning and it was pretty spectacular! Unfortunately, my video did not turn out amazing, but I tried to share what I have with you in the posts above. I hope it works!
Ms. Bruck
Why is Ms. Bruck in Peru?
Basically, I wrote a grant. I have been so fortunate to find many opportunities to travel in my life, almost non of which I have had to pay for directly. Ever since a family friend shared with me pictures of their travels to Peru, and Machu Picchu in particular, when I was in high school, I have been determined to find an opportunity to go and explore Peru myself. This past January, when I came across the application for Fund for Teachers, a grant that gives teachers the opportunity to explore and partake in learning experiences during the summer break, I knew it was a chance to fulfill my dream of going to Peru.
As a part of the grant, I am exploring several topics and questions to later be incorporated into my classroom and teaching in the fall. To give you just a taste of the grant writing process and what to expect from my blog in the next month or so, here are the guiding questions I proposed I would explore while I am in Peru:
- Would the Incas have been as well known without their mathematical and engineering accomplishments?
- What are the implications of strong foundations in mathematical thinking for any society’s accomplishments?
- How is it possible for a culture to dominate as the Incan Empire did without a written language and only a mathematical system?
- What does geometry have to do with the integrity of the structural engineering of the Machu Picchu?
- What are the geometric patterns of the Nazca lines? Are these drawings really mathematical?
- What is the geometry of the patterns found in Peruvian textiles?
- In present times, is there a connection between the patterns of the Nazca lines and those patterns found in the textiles of the Peruvian Highlands?
- What are the economic implications of the tourist industry in regards to Machu Picchu, textiles, and artisan craft products?
That’s a lot questions! And I only know that I will come up with more as I gain new experiences.
FOR MY STUDENTS: What are some of questions that come to mind for you after what you have read thus far? What else would you like me to learn about for you?
- The larger and more bold a word, the more often it was used in my grant
validusinperu 