The best magazine
Long after the Spanish had conquered the great Inca Empire, a group of rebels waged a guerrilla war from jungle hideouts where the Spanish believed they had hidden great treasure.
The exploits of these guerrillas have generated rumours of lost cities of gold and treasure in the mountains of Peru.
We westerners have dubbed it the “Inca Empire” but the Quechua people knew it as Tahuantinsuyo (four corners of the earth) for their control extended over a huge area that covered present-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile.
The Spanish had conquered this great empire with ease, for it was still divided by civil war between two brothers, both claiming the title of Inca, or King.
Instead, by 1532 both brothers were dead and the Spanish conquistadors had installed Manco Inca as a ‘puppet’ king.
Within years Manco Inca had raised an army of over 100,000 men to send the white men home. Instead, the native army found themselves retreating through their Sacred Valley to the high jungle of the Amazon basin. From his remote jungle hideout Manco staged a successful guerrilla war against the Spanish, unable to fight in the tangled vegetation.
Successive Inca kings resisted the Spanish another 40 years – and when they were finally defeated, the Spanish were disappointed not to have discovered the lost city of gold. In fact, the region was relatively poor, and by the mid 17th century the jungle had covered any of the roads to the last city of the Inca empire, Vilcabamba.
Though heavy summer rains washed away my hopes of hiking to the ruins of the last city of the Incas, still a five-day trip into the jungle, I decide instead to explore the route that the Spanish conquistadors took before their final victory.
Clambering up a muddy hill, in difficult jungle terrain, I understand why it took the Spanish conquistadors 40 years to finally put down the army of indigenous Indians.
My Peruvian friends make their way up the steep slope like mountain goats and I realise that more than empathy for the greedy conquistadors I admire these hardy Andean peoples.
From the charming and unspoiled jungle town of Quillabamba ( map ) we searched for transport into the deep jungle by waiting on the roadside. Locals know that all transport plying certain routes will stop by, seeing if anyone wants a lift.
After a five-hour wait on the curb, we were off in a boneshaker bus, climbing up through narrow jungle valleys, alongside cliff faces with sheer drops down into the river gorge far below.
The potholed track wound through dense jungle, across bridges spanning ravines so rugged and deep that it seemed impossible the Spanish conquistadors in their heavy armor could have crossed.
Now, coca and coffee make this a rich agricultural area with picturesque thatched houses dotting the hillsides, while trees laden with mangoes drop their fruit on the road. The roadside is splashed with the colour of impatiens and vinka plants.
Once we have arrived in a remote village, a friendly local points us in the direction of ruins of several Inca sites. He has pointed straight over a mountain, and we went upwards knowing that hiking is an achievement that fills your chest with pride while weary legs scream in agony.
Source: ...