Hello Norc

Hallo Amarie. I suspect our Norclet is worn out by the recent spate of helloing, but I'm sure she'll be back.

Heihei!!! I actually have to make a little presentation about Peru, the inka roads and architecture ... so busy is the right word for it. Haven't started yet, though.. :S

I was just hiking the inca trail back in september! Them inca were tough little buggers, and their descendants much the same. You'll be slogging up one of those *%$! stairways to heaven at about 80,000 feet above sea level, and hear a polite cough behind you. So you step out of the way and somebodie's grandpa with a 70 pound pack goes dashing up the stairs past you. They like that shit.

Let me find a picture or two to post.

Here we are starting out:


And you don't often see the quarry near the back of Macchu Picchu. You can see me down in the terraces below.

nice sticks.

Must have been a bugger with all your lush hair Halfy getting up there.
On the plus side I supose you could just sort of roll back down again.

what are the big sticks for?

I reckon Ferguson gave him a piggyback ride up the mountain.

what are the big sticks for?- Mrs Figg

Talking to the locals with!

The sticks are mainly for going down the ancient Inca steps, which go all the damn hell the way down the mountain and vary in height from about 30 to 50 cm. Awfully rough on the knees: you use the stick as an extra leg to take up some of the weight. If you have even slightly bad knees going all the way down can become a torment.

Note that since I don't have knees I don't need the sticks.

I see.

Here's what we were dealing with. This is just a miniscule section of stairs, but notice how it vanishes off into the horizon. We had to keep going over that horizon. They have knees made of spring steel.

I will grant you that is quite a lot of stairs, but I have to go up steeper hills than that just to get to the shops!

I'm gonna nick that photo for my presentation if that's ok

I should totally not be taking time from what I should be doing to do this, but I've gone ahead and uploaded photos that may be good for your presentation, ones you are unlikely to find on the internet.

Oh, by the way, the current people living there consider the 'Inca' culture to be very much a continuous thing, but don't refer to themselves as the Inca, since that's just the name of the king. Inca empire is okay, just not Inca people. Can't remember what they call themselves so I'll just follow the trend and call them the Inca (though it's not correct).

You know they did and still do consider guinea pig a scrumptious snack? here's how they keep them to this day:


Aside from the agricultural terraces, they liked to keep the city pretty with little gardens:


They admired stone, and often keep it as close to the natural state as possible. Here's a set of corn grinding surfaces in what appears to be a high class apartment:


Of course even the great Inca had to go to the loo at times:


And they fastened roofs to the stonework by having round 'beams' of stone jut out to tie to:


As I said they admired stone, and would be rather playful in their stonework to avoid cutting it more than necessary:


If they found a very interesting stone it may be converted into a sacred site, a place perhaps for animal sacrifice:

thank you very much halfwise really helpful ^^ I've found the Inca (i know it's the wrong name, but I don't think there is a better one. it started by, as you say, being the king and his line, but in newer times it goes for all the areas the inca empire covered) culture very interesting Their walls are quite unique, no walls in the world can match their strenght and perfection. They've survived many earthquakes.

Just stress that the inca people never disappeared and are rather put out that everyone seems to think they have. The empire went kaput, not the people or most of their culture. And it didn't start with the Inca king, all the elements were around way before hand - a series of kings united them. National Geographic had a history article not long ago based on recent archeology, not sure if other sources have caught up with the recent research.

Love the pictures Halfy. That stone work is unbelievable.

I spy with my little eye of impending doom Chris eyes a conspiracy

Bath salts are bad, mmkay?

Mmmkay is my phrase
$140,000

Mmkay.

And all of its associate spelling, obviously

Yakmm.

Hello Norc!

Leelee is looking for you!