南美漫遊: Ollantaytambo 18 May 2015

Sixty kilometers northwest of Cuzco, the extensive Inca fortress of Ollantaytambo is one of the few locations where the Incas managed to defeat Spanish conquistadors. Strategically placed at the northern end of the Sacred Valley is this mighty fortress, a place of great sacred and military importance to the Inca. The fort held a temple, with a ceremonial centre greeting those who manage to get to the top.

Can you see a human face on the hill-side on the opposite side

Araqama Ayllu - fort comprises the Temple of the Sun, the Royal Hall, or Manacaray, the Princess's Baths, or Banos de la Nusta, and the Intihuatana, used to trace the sun's path.

Ollantaytambo is the best preserved of all the Inca settlements. The old walls of the houses are still standing, and water still runs through original channels in narrow streets that are believed to date from the 15th century. In the nearby river stand the remains if an Inca bridge., and camoensinos around the settlement live in houses that have changes very little since Pizarro's arrival.

Templo del Sol - six pink monoliths, designed to glow as the rays of the rising sum hit the structure, fit perfectly together. The T-joints, filled with molten bronze, hold the wall in place. They are the biggest stones in Inca Empire, moved from the mountain 4km away, rolled for months or years and polished at site.
Wall of the Six Monoliths

Pacha on the wall
The pacha (often translated as world) was an Incan concept for dividing the different spheres of the cosmos in Incan mythology. There were three different levels of pacha: the hana pacha, hanan pacha or hanaq pacha (Quechua, meaning "world above"), ukhu pacha ("world below"), and kay pacha ("this world"). The realms are not solely spatial, but were simultaneously spatial and temporal. Although the universe was considered a unified system within Incan cosmology, the division between the worlds was part of the dualism prominent in Incan beliefs.

Hanan pacha
The upper realm that included the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, and constellations (of particular importance being the milky way) was called hanan pacha (in Quechua) or alaxpacha (in Aymara). The hanan pacha was inhabited by both Inti, the masculine sun god, and Mama Killa, the feminine and moon goddess. In addition, the Illapa, the god of thunder and lightning, also existed in the hanan pacha realm. After Catholic missionary activity the hanan pacha was interpreted as akin to Heaven.

Kay pacha
Kay pacha (in Quechua) or aka pacha (in Aymara) is the perceptible world where people, animals, plants all inhabit. Kay pacha is often impacted by the struggle between hanan pacha and ukhu pacha.

Ukhu pacha
Ukhu pacha (alternatively urin pacha (in Quechua)), manqhapacha or manqhipacha (in Aymara) is the inner world. Ukhu pacha is associated with the dead as well as with new life. As the realm of new life, the realm is associated with harvesting and Pachamama, the fertility goddess. As the realm associated with the dead, ukhu pacha is inhabited by the supay, a group of demons that would torment the living.