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THE REAL HISTORY

Dear Readers,
After the conquest of the Inca's Empire, there were still a group of natives that dreamed with freedom and with a return of a sovereign to Cusco. Sadly, the Manco Inca rebellion was not successful due to the lack of union and compromise between the different ethnic groups along the Andes. We all know that the Spaniards had the weapons and the cavalry required to stop it, and any victory would have been really brief. But at least there will be a sense of dignity. Maybe that is all we need: a common force to pursue some dignity against poverty, injustice, terrorism and war. Finally, almost 300 hundred years later, we get back that dignity and proclaim the independence of Peru. And that is something good to remember.
Join us into this dramatic episode of our history and celebrate not only the Manco Inca rebellion but all of our traditional feasts. Learn about the Huari culture, the creators of the "Andenes" irrigation system and discover the beauty of the Llareta, a nature prodigy at over 4,000 meters.
So do not waste your time, get in touch of Peru and feel this unique mixture of melancholy and joy that identify us.
Regards,
José and Cynthia

THE REVENGE OF THE INCA

After Atahualpas's death, the Spaniards named his successor, Manco Inca, also son of Huayna Capac. The war between his two half-brothers, Huascar and Atahualpa, for the succession of the power, placed him as an enemy of Atahualpa, this was the reason why he came to Francisco Pizarro, and immediately the spanish conqueror proclaimed him "Inca and Lord of the Four Suyos Empire" ("Tawantinsuyo", in quechua language). Manco was convinced that the Spaniards were Gods and the avengers of his favorite brother Huascar, died by Atahualpas's hands. He was then 15 years old.
In due time Manco Inca disabused of the Spaniards, they were not gods, he realized they were just men with great merits and also unforgivable defects. One of them was their gold ambition. To obtain the precious metal, they extorted the Indians. Even he was also extorted continuously. The day Manco was no more generous; he was locked and chained, treated like a prisoner.
With the excuse of a gold statue, Manco asked for permission to go to Lares to bring it. Hernando Pizarro, brother of the conqueror Francisco Pizarro which was in Lima founding the capital city in a place at border of the sea to facilitate the shipments of gold to Spain, accepted and Manco was released.
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THE TRADITIONAL FEAST

Contemporary Andean festivals have their historical roots in the great pre-Columbian ceremonies that partially survived Spanish colonization. The Colonial religious authorities adapted these ceremonies to Baroque culture brought from Span in the early seventeenth century. The common thread between the two cultural expressions was the goal of expressing authority through a show of performance, and to use the show as an instrument of education and power.
It is impossible to list the number of festivals taking place in Peru every year. Each day sees no less than ten patron saint feasts in different parts of the country. The ideal of creating a permanent calendar is also made difficult by the constant variation in dates and holy images, illustrating the astonishing vitality of Andean religion.
A superficial observation of Andean town life reveals a ceremonial calendar that runs parallel to the civic rituals dictated by the capital city of Lima. Marches and parades in honor of the country or on days celebrating parents, teachers or the like, are entries on the official calendar.
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HUARI CULTURE

At the end of V century A.D., the urban centers of central Andes, especially around the Ayacucho zone, maintained commercial and cultural relationships with other developments as the Nasca and Tiahuanaco cultures. But since 500 A.D., the so called Conchopata tradition appears as the origin of the Huari culture. Between the year 500 and the 900 A.D., this culture achieves its highest apogee, which is associated with the development and the expansion from its capital, carrying the same name.
EXPANSION
Shortly after its beginnings, the Huari get to expand there selves by the south up to Acarí, by the north coast until the Santa valley and by the Andes they reach the "Callejón de Huaylas". With the consolidation of the empire, it extended from Sicuani and the Arequipa region up to Cajamarca by the Andes and from Ocoña and Sihuas to Lambayeque by the coast.
The evidences show a great Huari culture expansion, but they also show that it was not only a military conquest of foreign territories, but an assimilation process of this people to the Huari administration and other patterns of its culture, specially the religion and urbanism.
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LLARETA, GREEN PRODIGIOUS

At 4,000 meters above sea level, the fertile and green World of the Andean valleys is transformed INTA a yellow blanket that looks towards the snow. It is the kingdom of the ichu and tola grass and vizcachas and cameloids, but above all it is the home of a winner of the evolutionary process: llareta.
At first sight, llareta (Azorella yareta) looks like enormous moss stuck to a rock, but this is not the case. It grows in the form of a little pillow over flat land and it does this up to a meter high and at the average rate of one millimeter per year. Some examples of llareta this size are found close to the Colca valley or in the Salinas Aguada Blanca reserve and it is included among the oldest plants in the world.
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