Author: turndoozie

I’m going to do a couple more posts on the Peru trip. I don’t want to beat  a dead llama but there are some distinctly different topics worth talking about. This time it is Inca engineering.

The Inca were incredible engineers. While we call them Inca, technically the Inca was the ruler of the empire. One guide told us that Inca meant first, visionary, second, engineer, and third philosopher.

What is stunning, especially from an engineering perspective, are the stones pieced together without any kind of mortar. Massive, multi-ton boulders laid perfectly in place, with just the right angles and cuts, to rest in place against each other. Still standing six or so hundred years later.

Walls at Saqsayhuaman near Cusco

Walls at Saqsayhuaman near Cusco

Walls at Saqsayhuaman near Cusco

What is really amazing to me is that there is no record of a written Inca language. The primary purpose of any engineer is to produce documentation so others can generate or reproduce their thoughts. The Inca had no known form of writing to allow for that. These works had to be multi-generational efforts but there were no written instructions to carry on season to season, let alone generation to generation. There was a counting system of knots on strings but that isn’t the same as a written language. This is mind boggling to me.

 

Some of these stone works have what amounts to a mortise and tendon or a tongue and groove joint. It’s relative easy to carve the male portion on one of the rocks but not so the female portion. Even with the non-union manpower they had available, it’s unlikely they lifted the rock with the female portion on and off the male portion too often.  There is some thinking that the Inca knew rubber. This allowed them to make a mold of the male side so they could carve the female side to match it before actually fitting the stones together.

Ollantayambo ruins

 Ollantayambo ruins

The engineering wasn’t just about getting big stones to fit together. The Inca knew solar cycles. In some temples, the solstice sun would shine through a window and illuminate a trapezoidal niche that likely held offerings. In Machu Picchu there is the Intihuatana, a solid block of granite carved such that it can be used to predict solstices.

Machu Picchu temple walls.

Intihuatan, a solid rock solar clock. Shadows from the various protuberances hit markers at the solstices.

The finest stonework was reserved for the sacred places. Not every building was made of custom fitted stones, placed together without mortar. Even so, there is some stunning engineering and planning going on. The Inca village at Ollantayambo still uses the original Inca water system. The stones for the Ollantayambo ruins came from a quarry across the valley. They were moved into place without wheels.

The rocks to the right were mined and transported from a quarry on the other side of the valley, somewhere behind Stefan’s head. They were moved without wheels.

Inca village at Ollantayambo.

The original Inca water system, still in use.

Water splitter structure. Some goes downhill, some goes into the building.

Ducks enjoying the water system.

Some people still live a traditional lifestyle at Ollantayambo. Here we see pets as protein in a traditional home. They live under the bed until summoned to a higher calling.

Mountainous sites would always be terraced, allowing for gardening to support the site or ship produce back to Cusco. The Inca Trail was designed with way stations and villages at appropriate distances for a day’s travel. With terraces to support those living at the sites. The soil for the terraces at Machu Picchu and some of the nearby sites was carried in from the Sacred Valley, about 50 kilometers away.

Not sure which site.

Stefan and Jaime in ruins along the Inca Trail. These ruins are only accessible from the trail.

A way station along the trail.

A ruin one day’s walk from Machu Picchu.

Same ruin.

Machu Picchu, the sacred city. “DIscovered” by Hiram Bingham in 1911 even though he was led to the site by a small boy and two families were farming the lower terraces. Hiram also took a picture of graffiti left by another explorer but still claimed discovery. Hiram was the model for Indiana Jones. Stefan and I finished off the Inca trail hiking up Huayna Picchu, the mountain in the background.

The Inca never learned the arch. Instead they mastered the trapezoid. Their doorways and windows are always trapezoids. Whenever they put niches in the walls to hold offerings or more mundane things, they used the trapezoid.

Trapezoid windows with views of peaks.

Niches in a temple wall.

Trapezoid windows in adjoining rooms, perfectly aligned. In a temple built without mortar. Or the wheel, or a written language.

Naturally the Spanish tried to destroy all vestiges of the native culture in the name of the church and God. When it became too difficult to destroy the architecture they instead built upon it. The temple in the previous pictures was used for a convent. A number of modern buildings are built on Inca foundations from five or six hundred years ago.

The building on the right is built on an Inca wall. Not the pillar in front which is done with mortar, but the wall behind it.

 

Stefan and I are back from Peru. I was hoping to post while I was there but when we were near internet facilities I didn’t have the time. When I had the time we were near the end of the world. A couple hours of electricity a day. Something akin to food riots to fight for the available charging spots. I sent a quick email message to Lise to post for me but it took four days for her to get it.

Capturing this experience succinctly in words just isn’t possible. Too many thought streams. Plus over 1300 pictures to process. This may be a series of posts hitting on different themes.

Essentially we hit four areas; the cloud forest, the Inca Trail, the jungle, and Inca sights around Cusco and the Sacred Valley. Everything wrapped within the remains of the Inca culture. Books can and have been written about all of these and I doubt I can do them justice in a blog post.

There’s something about any exotic locale. Sights, sounds and smells we just don’t have back in Okemos. Things that seem exotic to us but I guess are the normal course of affairs to those that live there. Like insane driving. Apparently the car horn is a sign of masculinity in Peru. The double yellow line is strictly a guideline.

Fruits at the market.

Two way street our hotel is on.

A car entering the street our hotel is on. You go through the far left archway and make a real hard left turn. Then proceed uphill. Unless someone is coming downhill and they honked their horn first.

Apparently some people don’t like horns.

So we ate some interesting things. Like Guinea Pig and Llama. Llama steaks were pretty good. You could cut off a piece and bite into it. The Guinea Pig was a little different. It comes out decorated but then they whack it into quarters for you. You have to pull it apart with your hands to get to any bite sized morsels. Not unlike eating crabs but the crabs taste better. Not that Guinea Pig tasted bad for a rodent. On the Pets as Food scale I would rate it under cat but above dog. Yes, I have sampled both protein sources. It’s just that Guinea Pig is hard to eat. I think the best thing to do would be to boil it down for scrapple. Then at least you can slice it and fry it for breakfast.

 

Dinner is served.

I have no idea of the significance of the garnishments.

Bon appetit

The cloud forest was great. Few places on earth have the same combination of elevation, climate, and moisture. Or the number of bird species. We got something like 130 bird species there. Some of them quite strange.

Why it’s called the cloud forest.

The bump on the tree (dead center) is an Andean Pootoo. It hides by sitting in plain sight and looking like a stick.

Cock of the rock (Galletos de la Roches), Peru’s national bird.

We did the Inca Trail. Part of a pathway established over 500 years ago to link Cusco to the holy city of Machu Picchu. This trail is part of a large Inca Trail network that stretched throughout the Inca Empire. The high point, Dead Woman’s Pass, is at an elevation of 4,215 m (13,829 ft) above sea level. At one point there is a 1,000 foot descent on 1500 steps carved into the rock. All built by hand.

Stefan and Jaime, our guide, in the cloud forest section.

A tunnel cut with steps through stone.

We spent three nights on the trail. It wasn’t quite like backpacking though. We had porters to carry the food and camping equipment. They also set up camps and did the cooking. So in some ways this was like a Tarzan movie with elevation. Just call me bwana Ed.

Stefan waiting for lunch on the first day. I did the same thing.

The first day on the trail, where we go over Dead Woman’s Pass, was possibly the hardest physical activity I have ever done. Overall I’m pretty damn  proud of what I did. At 60 years old I carried an 18 kilogram pack (camera gear) for 26 miles, over some incredibly steep terrain, at high elevation. But, to put it in perspective, one of our porters was 63 years old, carried more weight, twice as fast, wearing sneakers. Some of the porters wore sandals. They would serve us breakfast, we would head off, they would break camp, pack everything up, pass us on the trail while giving us a thumbs up, and set up camp for lunch. After lunch the process would repeat for dinner. Lunch was three courses, dinner four. Since the trail is about the length of a marathon, naturally someone set one up. The winner was a native Quechua. He ran the course in 3 hours 40 minutes, wearing sandals. These are tough dudes.

Dead Woman’s Pass.

Jaime (our guide) and Stefan at the pass. The trail and his Inca past were a spiritual thing for Jaime.

Jaime explaining the offerings like cocoa leaves at shrines in the pass.

The crew. Jaime (the guide) Goliat, Bruno, Simeon, Evangelio, German, and Federico.

Federico, age 63. Four children and three wives. I’m not sure but that may be concurrently. Which may be why he likes to porter on the trail.

The trail wound through various ecosystems and past Inca ruins only accessible from the trail. It ended at the Sun Gate into Machu Picchu. More on Machu Picchu and Inca engineering later.  

Views along the trail.

Views along the trail.

Ruins only accessible from the Inca Trail. For a while it was only us and the llamas that were there. Later five other people showed up.

The llamas.

Machu Pucchu from the Sun Gate at dawn.

More on Machu Picchu later.

After the trail we went down into the jungle at the Tambopata Research Center. This is just about as far away as you can get. No roads. Eight hour boat ride to the edge of the earth. Elevation, 200 meters. Lush vegetation, interesting animals, and humidity that could fell an ox. Not without amenities though. They had a bar where you could get just about the worst gin and tonic in the world. But, still a gin and tonic you could sip while staring at the jungle. And, there was a pool table in the staff “lounge”. It wasn’t intended for the guests but they let me play a game. Let’s just say I was taught a lesson in Peruvian pool.

Our boat. Let’s be thinking African Queen.

The ride.

The bar at the end of the universe.

Stefan with our gin and tonics at the end of the universe.

This table had to come upriver by boat and be assembled at the lodge. This was their main entertainment and had only been there a couple months.

The sharks that can live on the land. Really, it was a bit of a privilege for them to let me come back and play a game.

A 600+ year old fig tree at Tambapata. Our guide said, “this tree was alive when we were still Inca.”

Me in there for scale.

Blue macaw flyby.

Macaws and parrots.

A pootoo doing what pootoos do – looking like a tree limb.

Anyway, more to come when I can write in a little detail. Including about the tarantula that was big enough to filet for dinner.

Oct 1, I think.
I’m sitting in a bar about as close to the end of the world as possible. Somewhere in the headwaters of the Amazon River. A place called Tambopata Research Station.

This place is right out the backwaters of Joseph Conrad. Think Heart of Darkness. I’ve truly made it to one of the few terrestrial dark places left on the planet. It was about an eight hour ride in a small motorized boat upstream on the Tambopata River. Monkeys, macaws, parrots, and a bunch of people from various countries with nothing else to do. Heat and humidity unlike anything I’ve ever known. I’m liking this. 42!

Bye Jean. Thanks for some great memories. Sand River will never be the same without you to watch over it. You will be missed by many.

Not too much going on this past week. Especially bird-wise. We have been too busy to get out, and we’re right in the middle of the fall warbler migration no less. We did get a gray-cheeked thrush right in our front yard today. Probably the best looks I’ve ever had of one of the little devils.

I’ve been putting in a lot of time getting ready for the Peru trip. What a cross to bear, right? One major job is trying to get everything in the classes I’m teaching up to speed so someone can fill in for me. That pretty much ate up most of today.

I have most of my packing done too. We’re doing a range of activities in different climate zones, so that requires a range of clothing and equipment. Lots of decisions for everything I take. Do I go the English Northwest explorer route Roger describes in the Explorers Blog and bring along a demitasse set? Espresso out of a tin cup on the Inca Trail would be so Colonial.

I called my credit card company to let them know I would be out of the country. I was immediately interrogated by a computer that someone tried to make sound human and through some artificial intelligence algorithms gave it a dose of authority. Human as in I swear there were tones in the computer’s voice. Like seventh grade English teacher’s tones. So this led to an interesting conversation with a computer that threw me back to the HAL 9000 computer in “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Or, there was really a human on the other end that was just jerking me for fun.

Computer: Please explain in a few words why you called.

Ed: Out of country travel.

Computer: Out of country travel, is that correct?

Ed: Yes.

Computer: Great, let’s get started. I must ask you some questions. Name as it appears on the card?

Ed: Edward H. Schools.

Computer: Good. Now the last four digits of the card, please.

Ed: I gave the number.

Computer: Now, the security code please.

Ed: I gave the security code.

Computer: When will you be leaving?

Ed: September 19.

Computer: Is that September 19, 2014?

Ed: Yes. (Ok, I could be calling for next year.)

Computer: When will you be returning?

Ed: October 5, 2014.

Computer: Thank you Mr. Schools, what country will you be visiting?

Ed: Peru.

Computer: Is Peru correct?

Ed: Yes.

Computer (in a condescending tone): Very good. Any other countries?

Ed: No.

Computer: Will you be traveling anywhere in the United States.

Ed: Yes, the Miami airport.

Computer: Is that Miami, Florida?

Ed: Yes. (Ok, I guess it could have been Miami, Ohio.)

Computer (again condescending): Very good. Anywhere else in the United States?

Ed: Nowhere.

Computer: Was that Delaware?

Ed: No, it was nowhere.

Computer: You are traveling to Delaware, correct?

Ed: emphatically: No!

Computer: Let’s get this correct. Are you traveling to Peru?

Ed: Yes.

Computer: Are you traveling to Florida?

Ed: Yes.

Computer: Are you traveling to Delaware?

Ed: NO!

Computer: Mr. Schools, I believe we have it now. On September 19, 2014 you are traveling to Peru, Florida, and Delaware. Is this correct?

Ed: Stunned silence.

Computer: Sir, is this correct?

Ed: Further stunned silence.

Computer, in a huffy voice: Sir, you are not responding. If you do not respond I will transfer you to a representative.

Ed: More stunned silence.

Computer, clearly irate: Sir, since you will not respond I am transferring you to a representative. Good day!

So the other thing of note, since we didn’t do any great birding this week, was our retirement planning meeting. Our financial adviser, with a fairly straight face, had a couple scenarios laid out for us. Complete with graphs and charts. In short, we are OK if we don’t mind living like Gandhi when we retire. As I was perusing the downward trending graphs I noticed that they all started with “Beginning of Retirement”, and ended with “End of Retirement”. It took me a few minutes to realize that “End of Retirement” means “Dead.” Which would have taken up a lot less room on the graph than “End of Retirement”.

William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame, at the end of retirement.

The “Post Retirement” home of William “Mine is Bigger Than Yours” Clark.

Summer is slowly sliding into autumn. Our leaves haven’t started changing but there is a distinct feel in the air. We had a couple hot days, with Friday being downright oppressive. After last winter I’ll still take hot over bitter cold. Eighty-five degrees with humidity is uncomfortable, minus 20 degrees hurts. Hot is all right, you just need to take it easy. I saw numerous people take about three steps out of a building and then stop and snap their head back like they were kicked in the chest. You could just feel that something was going to happen. Sure enough, a cold front blew in Friday evening. Lise and I stood in the garage and watched Biblical scale rain come down. I was expecting a boat load of animals and a guy wearing robes to come floating down the street. At least the front knocked the temperatures down to a pleasant 65 degrees.

Another benefit of a cold front during bird migration is that it forces the nocturnal migrants down. So Lise, Barb, and I hit Fenner Nature Center for some Saturday morning birding. It was great. We hit several waves of warblers. I got five new species for the year and Lise got three. The only down side is that the little varmints are in their non-breeding plumage. And they don’t sit still. And they’re usually high up in a tree and partially hidden by vegetation. We call this fun.

Lise and I got out again today, helping a local conservancy to plan a trail on their property. It was a beautiful day to be out. The only down side was bushwhacking through a chest high soaking wet prairie. A small price to pay to be out on a great morning. Also got a lance-tipped darner, my first of the year.

Lance-tipped darner. Handheld with a big lens so not a great photo.

Haven’t had much time for photography so I played a little, converting some older pictures to black and white. These were some quick conversions, without much editing.

Waterlily.

Mushroom.

Tree reflections.

Unknown plant.

Frosted leaves.

Molly and Claire in the redwoods.

Marquette waves.

Labor Day. A celebration of American workers and laborers. Unless you happen to work in a big box store in which case you work on the holiday and often work extra hours. Except for the dreaded Black Friday, Labor Day is one of the biggest consumer sale days of the year. Anita said her department sales at Walmart were up 34% yesterday and today was so busy she couldn’t move through her department.

We took advantage of the holiday weekend to get in some birding. Yesterday was the last day Pte Mouillee State Game Area was open to the general public until after hunting season. So we popped on down there with Barb and Ellen. Maybe popped isn’t the best descriptor. I’m not sure a two-hour drive down there, plus a two-hour drive back, plus seven hours of sun-blasted birding, constitutes just popping down there.

Pte Mouille is mostly diked wetlands on the Lake Erie coast. Nice vistas and zero shade. We ride our bikes around the dikes and I haul camera gear and spotting scopes in a trailer behind my bicycle. So we get a workout in addition to birding. It was great. We probably would have stayed until dark had Ellen not kept pointing out the squall line heading our way. All told it was a productive day and we beat the rain by a good 15 minutes. I added 15 species and Lise added 13. That brings our yearly counts to 217 species for me and 215 for Lise. Migration is picking up so there is still chance to add some species we missed earlier in the year.

American white pelicans at Pte. Mouille.

Pte. Mouille view.

Pte. Mouille view.

Pte. Mouille view.

Storm rolling into Pte. Mouille.

We are now officially empty nesters. Sunday we dropped Molly off at MSU.

First day kindergarten.

First day of college.

What better way to spend a nice Sunday afternoon than caught in the crossfire between pandemonium and mass confusion? Traffic gridlock that would make New York City proud. Lots of people in a long wait for elevators that could only carry small loads at a time. Molly rode her bike there but we had a van full of the stuff a girl needs to start college.

The out-the-door line waiting for elevators.

Luckily Molly was on the first floor, and three doors from the lobby. We could have been in and out in minutes had we not bought a futon for her room. The assembly directions were written in what appeared to be some version of Uyghur. The illustrations in no way resembled the pieces in the box. It took us four tries but we eventually got either a futon or a medieval torture device put together. Maybe it’s both.

Molly was putting her stuff away and I was buried in futon assembly when I heard a male voice say the old pick up line, “Hey this was my dorm room.” Before I could look up or say anything he added, “30 years ago.”

In addition to getting Molly off to her new life, we have been busy with a host of other somewhat mundane things. Like work and teaching. So busy that we couldn’t go chasing the incredibly rare black-headed gull that was down at Pte. Mouille for a couple days. I started teaching two classes as adjunct that I didn’t expect to be teaching. I had told the program director I would be out of the country for over two weeks during the semester but he scheduled the classes anyway. I could have cancelled the classes but several people needed them to graduate.

I did get out a little this past week. Things are slowing down dragonfly-wise but I did experience what must have been a new hatching of common green darners. There must have been upwards of a hundred of them buzzing round one corner of a field in Riverbend Natural Area. This was pretty cool. Bird-wise I finally got a yellow-billed cuckoo for the year. Reports of migrants are filtering in so we got to make some time to get out there. Might be easier being empty nesters.

CGD showing how camouflage works.

Eastern tailed blues getting frisky.

White-faced meadowhawk. Common, but still kind of nice.

Summer is winding down. Molly and company are heading out on their next great adventure. How did the song go, “I don’t remember growing older, when did they? When did she get to be a beauty, when did he grow so tall?”

Lindsay, Molly, Ian, Nathanial. Last day of fifth grade at Central Elementary, headed for Chippewa Middle School.

Lindsay; headed for Michigan State University, Molly; headed for Michigan State University, Ian headed for St. Olaf, Nathanial; headed for University Of Michigan.

If we can harness this for good instead of evil, just think of what can be done.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

May you all have fair winds and following seas – Ed

Slow week here in Woe Be Gone. We don’t even rate a Lake.

We got out on the kayaks for the first time this past week. First time for me at least. Lise got out some with Stefan when they were in the U.P. Friday Lise and I did part of the Grand River and today we went with Molly and our friend Phyllis down to the Huron River in Island Lake State Recreation Area. It was great to be on the water in either place but Island Lake was the better by an order of magnitude. Hard to believe it’s close to metropolitan areas like Detroit and Ann Arbor. It’s a lovely stretch of river with clear water and natural vegetation along the banks. Lots of critters like fish, turtles, shorebirds, dragonflies, muskrats, osprey, and dragonflies. We had a turkey vulture just sitting and watching us, hoping for an easy meal. No Yahoos either, unless it was too early on a Sunday or the vulture already picked them clean.

Waiting for the Yahoos.

Dan and Grizzly fishing in the Huron. Dan’s the one with the yellow shirt. Decidedly not Yahoos.

Saturday I got out to Crego Park for a little odenating. Crego Park is a Lansing Park along the Grand River. About 30 years ago it was closed after they found a couple hundred drums of toxic waste on the property. It’s all cleaned up now and they’ve put in trails, docks, and a canoe access point. I’m sure they cleaned it up good but I still wouldn’t eat any fish that come out of the lake. Especially the ones with two heads. It was windy so there wasn’t too much going on dragonfly wise but I did get some pictures of a female green darner and a couple of beetles getting frisky.

Female common green darner. These things almost never sit still.

Frisky beetles. She wanted to eat, he had other things in mind.