Machu Picchu at Last!

March 14, 2011

 There I sat overlooking the sacred, lost city of the Incas.  Nestled safely and quietly in the high mountain tops of the Peruvian mountains, the old jungle standing watch and surrounding the city on two sides leaving the luminous cliffs as defenders of the rear and back entrance to the city.  There I sat perched high above on what was once used as a lookout point and intended as a fortress the city ever fell and a last resort must be sought-out.

The city itself was designed to resemble the siloette of the condor which was worshiped as the god of the air and contained within the city were temples to many of the gods worshiped by the Incas: the snake representing the inner earth, he is wise and associated with the mind, the puma rules the animal kingdom with his strength he is the god of the body and the earth, the condor is great and all seeing, he sees ahead, behind, and below, nothing flies over him and because of this he is the god of the air and represents the soul of man.
I had been studying the Inca rulers the previous day and had learned all I could about their cities, customs, beliefs, life-style, music, etc.  I had learned that the Incas always followed a rule of three in all of there worship ceremonies.  The Sun, Moon, and Stars were all three worshiped.  The three parts of our being associated with the three great rulers of the animal kingdom as well as the three parts of the earth as discussed in the previous paragraph.

They also had a three great commands to live by: 1) work hard, 2) do not lie, 3) Do not steal.  In order to have a secure a good name for yourself in the afterlife, the Incas taught that you should follow three codes, love, work, and honesty.  These would be used to judge how you lived your mortal existence   There I sat reflecting on the past few days all that I had learned and the journey that I had made the previous day.  Let me explain.

March 12, the day after my birthday had been spent planning a route, learning about the Incas  and visiting ancient ruins.  March 13th, we began the day quit early to get as far outside of Cuzco as was possible by road.  Then we discovered that the local train which costs ruffly $2 for locals, cost nearly $70 for tourists just one-way.  So Austin and I decided to hike the 30 miles to Aguascalientes at the base of the mountain.

Thirty miles is much longer than it seems, and after an entire day of constant walking my legs ached, my feet were swollen, and my back ached from carrying a pack.  We were determined not to spend the night near the tracks and pressed on to the town.  I remember the torture of those last 2 miles.  To that point everything seemed fun, a bit exciting, challenging, and adventuresome.  When we were within 2 miles however, my legs could go no further.  Each 1/2 mile was a milestone worthy of celebration and a 5 minute break.  At dusk we were within 1/4 mile and as the last rays of golden, warmth disappeared we dragged ourselves wearily into town.

As I sat perched soaking in the view I had dreamed of experiencing for the past 10 years, my swollen ankles and aching legs seemed to regain life.  It was an unparalleled feeling, like looking into the night sky and gazing at the stars for the first time.  Here in that moment thousands of years seemed to come standing face to face, as the ancient stones watched idly as tourists crowded and shoved around the old ruins.

I sat looking down on these old foundations which had been lain down hundreds of years earlier, but here they were frozen in time.  I recalled Ephesians 1:4, "Long before He laid down earth's foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as a focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love." These foundations were abandoned due to the cruel Spanish who conquered the continent with hate disguised as 'God's Will". But what if the people who lived here, who sacrificed infants to false gods had been treated with love and not hate, how might history have been written differently.  How might the cause of Christ been expanded instead of destroyed.