Throughout our trip, we have met some amazing people who have really enriched our travels and experiences in different countries.
While in Peru, we were lucky to meet up with the leader of the “World Schooling movement” Lainie Liberti and her son Miro. This dynamic duo has been travelling and learning about the world for 7 years!
The philosophy of the world school movement is that kids do not have to be in schools to learn – in fact, when they travel and discover things that interest them, they independently do further research in a particular area. This might include history, geography, archaeology, science etc…
Lainie sets up “Project World School” camps and invites teens to come and participate for 3 week sessions. This particular camp was in Peru and was designed around immersion into the Peruvian culture and the Inca civilization, with the highlight being a trip to Machu Picchu.
We were lucky enough to be included in some of their activities while in Cusco and the surrounding areas. You’ll meet Lainie and Miro over the next few posts along with some other American teens who were participating in the project.
On one day we explored the Incan ruins of Saksayhuman, Tambo Machy and Qenko.
Lainie brought us through the different ruins and explained how the Incan civilization built the different buildings to support their way of life until the Spaniards came and conquered them in the 1500’s. The reason the Spaniards were successful in their conquest was because the Incas were in the middle of a civil war and were killing each other. The smaller numbered Spanish army simply waited until the Incas were in a weakened state and marched in to take over.
Sadly, the Spanish destroyed a lot of the Incan temples and buildings. They took the rocks from the Incan buildings and used them to build their own homes and buildings. Today, all that is left from the Incans are ruins. But what is incredibly fascinating, is how the architecture is well advanced despite a lack of technology.
Saksayhuman was particularly impressive as it looked to be a combination of a fortress as well as a ceremonial area. From our experiences at other ancient sites around the world, we came up with the theory that one area was a stadium for shows (similar to the Coliseum in Rome) along with royal bathing areas. Of course, we will never know if we are correct or not…but it’s fun to speculate! Oliver and I kept wondering if it was glaciers or plate tectonics that created the unique rock formations. The kids didn’t care – they just called it the “Incan slide”!
Lots of questions were generated during our explorations, like how did the Incans move these enormous rocks?
What was the purpose of these buildings?
How did they know how to create these incredible structures that are still standing today?
How did they “bend rocks” in the corners?
How did they fit the rocks together so that not even a blade of grass can fit through??
Finally, was there anyone else involved in the creation (some believe from another planet)? Inquiring and curious minds want to know!!!
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