"We seldom get into trouble when we speak softly. It is only when we raise our voices that the sparks fly and tiny molehills become great mountains of contention."
Forever
I have been amazed to travel and learn more about the cultures of the
world. Peru is one of the most fascinating places that I have ever
traveled. It is a mix of the original people that lived here and the
European people who came after Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca
nation in 1532.
As
one of my friends here said, “We are mostly a mixed race now,
but my heart will always be Inca.”
The
Inca people still live in the high Andes where the original capital
of the Inca civilization was in 1450 to 1532. Cusco was the capital
of the Inca civilization and is where you will go if you are going to
visit these beautiful people.
Cusco
is a city of about 500,000 people and is 11,000 feet above sea level.
It still has many of the narrow original streets and some of the
original roads that were built by the Inca people. I would like to
share with you some photos that were taken by one of my fellow
traveler Beth Garn last week on my trip to see and visit Machu
Picchu, a sacred city in the high Andes.
Here
is a photo of Cusco. It is very much like Salt Lake City, Utah, in
the fact that it is in a valley surrounded by high mountains.
The
Inca people are not very tall. In this photo they are dressed in
their native costumes wearing the hats that Inca women customarily
wear and leading a herd of alpacas.
The
Inca women are the ones that care for the sheep. We saw this little
lady who was out one morning with her sheep.
This
photo shows plants that are used to dye the wool from the llamas,
alpacas, and sheep, together with the finished wool product. Just
like the American Indians, Inca women boiled plants to make the dyes
they used to dye the wool they used to weave their beautiful clothing
they wear.
Women
still weave just that as they have for hundreds of years. The
patterns are created as they weave.
We
visited the salt mines, which were pools of very salty water that
come out of the mountain and then are channeled into pools and then
left to evaporate and then bagged and exported. Each pool is own by
a family, who then come and process the salt from their pond.
The
main attraction that people come to see from all over the world is
the city that the Incas built in the Andes, which was never found or
touched by the conquering Spaniards.
It
is believed that this was a sanctuary built for the Inca Emperor
Pachacuti, who was their great leader and the person who built this
great nation that is still loved and admired by the Inca descendants
and the three million visitors who come here every year.
The
Inca people did not have any need to write, so the history of these
amazing people has been lost.
Dian Thomas was blessed with the good fortune to be born near and raised in
the remote, breathtaking Manti-La Sal National Forest in southeastern Utah,
where her father was the forest ranger. She took the skills she learned in the
outdoors and turned them into a New York Times best-selling book, Roughing It
Easy. Her appearance on the NBC's "Tonight" show with Johnny Carson
boosted her into the national media scene, where she became a regular on
NBC's "Today" show for eight years and then ABC's "Home Show" for six years.
After more than 25 years of media exposure and 19 books, she now shares her
practical insights and wisdom with audiences who want to savor life.
A former Relief Society president, Dian is currently serving as a visiting
teacher. Visit her website at www.DianThomas.com
