Today was another great day on the trip.  I went to small city about a half hour away from Cuzco called Tipon.  I saw one other tourist that probably wasn´t Peruvian, which I love.  I small city that allows you to see how it is really run.  The 30 minute bus ride cost 60 cents and dropped me off on a highway a little ways away from the center of town.  I was a little nervous when I realized that I was the only foreigner around, but I started to walk into town. 

As I walked, I passed fields being plowed like they were probably done in the USA a hundred years ago.  In the middle of a street there was calf nursing and people were coming out of their houses followed by their livestock that they were leading to pasture.  I had trouble finding the route to the local Inca ruins, but I started following two women who were leading a few bulls and sheep to pasture.  They were incredible nice and I couldn´t believe it as I was following her and her animals.

I ended up taking an old Inca route that was not in great shape up the mountain.  When I got to the top, I got yelled at for ignoring the path closed sign.  I quickly acted like I didn´t understand a word of Spanish and moved on.  The site was very well kept for how few tourists appeared to visit it and it was apparently a great location for the Incas use of hydraulics to get water from underground springs.

The best part was the walk back into town where I could see the town in action.  Men working making adobe blocks, women were using plows to dig up carrots, and I appeared to go unnoticed as I watched the kids play in the streets.

Afterwords I had lunch at a local restaraunt which was one of my primary purposes for coming to Tipon.  They are known for their cuy (guinea pig).  I have attached a picture, but some people may not want to look as the cuy is served whole (with head, teach and fingernails all intact).  I didn´t like it too much because there really wasn´t much meat on the bones so I felt like it was way too much work.  The Peruvians normally only eat it on special occassions (birthdays or other parties), but I would be happy with a nice alpaca steak for my birthday.

Tipon is located 25 Km southeast of Cuzco (around 45 minutes by car) via the Cuzco – Puno highway. The purpose and origin of the site are open to speculation but one of the theories says that Tipon is one of the royal gardens built by Inca Wiracocha. The archeological site is made of twelve terraces flanked by stonewalls with enormous agricultural terraces, canals, and waterfalls.

The water flows from the top of the mountain Patachuán though carved stone canals of Inca origin. The small fountains and decorative flows indicate that veneration rites to water might have taken place here. Because of its elaborate engineering Tipón is one of the best examples of the knowledge in hydraulic engineering developed by the Incas and the use given to this knowledge to provide irrigation to terraces in a location otherwise completely useless for agriculture.

One generally unsupported theory says that Tipon could have been the Royal House of Inca Yahuar Huaca when the he left Cusco as the army of the Chancas approached. They were later defeated by Yaguar Huaca´s son Wiracocha.

Overall, just as it happens with most Inca sites, little is known about Tipon´s real history or purpose and all theories are open to speculation. From a tourist’s point of view, it is a very impressive and well conserved (meaning restored) archeological site that serves as a showcase of Inca’s engineering prowess and also is simply an incredibly relaxed site to lie on the green grass and contemplate the surrounding mountains and the view of the valley.