I had the privilege of visiting the Sacred Valley of the Incas (Valle Sagrado de los Incas) in the Andean Highlands of Peru in November 2012. I wanted to share some photos and highlights of this wonderful experience...
Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration takes place on November 1 and 2, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the deceased. (wikipedia)
for Andean Culture.
http://apulaya.com
Exploring the many archeological sites in the Sacred Valley of the Incas including Macchu Picchu, Quenko and Saqsayhuaman, Ollantaytambo, Pisac, and Moray, and discovering the culture of the Inca.
The Inca Empire or Inka Empire[2] (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America.[3] The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century.
Volunteering to help teach painting to the children in the Huaren primary school and having fun eating fresh mangoes and playing games in the schoolyard!
Cultural Immersion in Andean Culture and learning from the children about their highland communities and traditions such as weaving, shepherding and farming, and even learning a few words of their native language.
Quechua (pronounced /kɛˈtʃəwə/ or /kɛˈtʃwə/; Spanish: [keˈtʃwa]) is the name of a people of the central Andes of South America and their language (wikipedia
Painting the significant Apu Pitusiray mountain with natural earth pigments and with lovely assistants Anais and Beto. The natural dyes and paints in Peru are made from plants and insects and create a rich range of colors for art, architecture and fabric. Pitusiray is a mountain in Calca Province in the Cuzco Region of Peru. Its peak rises 5,800 metres above sea level (wikipedia)
Trying to figure out how humans moved such large rocks to build these extensive walls...???
Sacsayhuamán (also known as Saksaq Waman, Sacsahuaman or Saxahuaman) is a walled complex on the northern outskirts of the city of Cusco, Peru, the former capital of the Inca Empire. The complex is as many other Inca constructions made of large polished dry stone walls, each boulder carefully cut to fit together tightly without mortar (wikipedia)
Relaxing during a retreat.