Incallajta and a killer mountain

Saturday morning, i meet my fellow students for an excursion to Inca ruins, about 3 hours away from the city of Cochabamba.

The Incas are the Quechua speaking, expansionst group that came to Bolivia in the mid-15th century. The Incas came and conquered the Aymaras, who had succeeded the original inhabitants of Bolivia, the Tiwanaku. These Incallajta ruins were a military fortress, built around 1460-1470 to prevent attacks from unconquered nomadic tribes, who at times carried out attacks on the valley.

I had been told that these ruins are supposed to be "the biggest in the Americas". I had assumed that that meant it had the biggest total land mass, but what that had meant was that one of the buildings is the largest single structure in the Americas. It stretched 81m x 27m. It was definately big, and there were a lot of other buildings left too. Wasn´t disappointed at all.

My guidebook says there were two theories for the use of the biggest piece of construction. One is that it was used as a temple, and the other is that it was used as a party hall. Apparently, the latter theory is more popular. My guidebook is somewhat inconclusive, so I have to make assumptions here and there, but i think they mean that the biggest building was used for (probably) some Inca partying, and the other buildings were the actual military garrisons. (Or I could be totally wrong, and they might mean that all of these buildings were used for either religious ceremonies, partying, or a military outpost. Who knows)

After we see climb up the mountain a little to see this biggest construction, two people from our crew feel a little lightheaded because of the altitude (its about 3000m above sea level), and so they head back to the little hut at the base of the ruins. The rest of us trudge along, and come to this beautiful waterfall. It was probably at least 30 meters high. Our guide explained to us (i didn`t understand it, but someone traslated for me later) that when the Incas lived here, the virgins would be taken there to bathe before being offered to the king. Interesting. Then about 30 min later, our tour guide says that`s the end of the tour, and after that we have the option of just heading back, or climbing up the mountain there.

So us troopers decide to tackle this mountain. I didn`t think anything of it, thought "hey why not, I could definately use the exercise". Ohhhh boy. The climb up wasn`t rough at all, it would`ve been a nice hike, but one thing i forgot to take into consideration is the ALTITUDE. Its only a few hundred meters higher than Cochabamba, but those few hundred meters nearly killed me!

I had to stop sooo many times and catch my breath, which takes extra long because the air is so thin. I`m trying to take deep breaths, but there just isn`t enough oxygen!

The people i went with were really nice, they gave me coca leaves (good for altitude), and also coca tea. It helped a little, i think! But I tell ya, i was so glad when we reached the top!!! And it was an interesting experience, being out of breath like that, and having to really TRY HARD to catch your breath.

We had lunch at the top of the mountain, and then climbed down the mountain and drove on home. Was a fun day trip!