Peru - From The Andes To The Amazon HD

Quique Pinto is an expert in traditional Andean Amazonian and pre-columbian music and has been collecting musical instruments used by indigenous Peruvian cultures dating back more than 1,000 years his collection includes more than 400 traditional musical instruments including reproductions of instruments from pre-columbian cultures of the region we are in Lima home to one third of the population of Peru on our way to explore two important regions of this geographically diverse country the Andes and the Amazon you after arriving in Lima we flew to Cusco the center of the ancient Inca civilization and our gateway to the Andes after a week exploring the high country we flew to Iquitos located on the upper Amazon River system here we boarded the dolphin - for our exploration of the pacaya-samiria nature reserve Cusco located at an elevation of eleven thousand two hundred feet was the administrative center of the vast kill gay culture which occupied the region from 900 to 1200 prior to the arrival of the Incas in the 13th century it remained the center of the Inca Empire until the Spanish arrived in 1533 the many buildings constructed after the Spanish invasion have a mixture of Spanish influence over Inca indigenous architecture after destroying many Inca buildings temples and palaces they used the remaining massive walls as basis for the construction of a new city as seen here in the hallway of our hotel the monastario hotel was originally built in 1595 on the site of Inka Amaro koala's Palace as the seminary of San Antonio Abad in 1965 the building was remodeled as a hotel which is presently owned by the orient-express from the beginning of the Spanish invasion Cusco was the center for the Spanish colonization and spread of Christianity in the new world it became very prosperous thanks to agriculture cattle raising and mining bolstered by its trade with Spain the population of cusco stands at close to 400,000 and has been expanding rapidly due to a surge in tourism but the local market still fries offering us a peek into the daily lives of the andes people the Incas built Machu Picchu around 1450 but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish conquest although known locally it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham since then Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction since the site was not known to the Spanish during their conquest it is highly significant as a relatively intact cultural site modern archaeological theory suggests that Machu Picchu was built as a spiritual retreat for the last Inca Emperor water was channeled in from the surrounding mountains and its location offered excellent defense against invasion the site is roughly divided into an urban sector and an agricultural sector as well as the upper town for temples and the lower town containing warehouses the Inca established their capital at Cusco in the 12th century and began their conquests in the early 15th century within 100 years they had gained control of an Andean population of more than 15 million people making it by far the largest civilization in the Americas so how did a few hundred Spanish soldiers conquer this vast Inca Empire spread over an area larger than modern-day Peru first Spanish contact was in 1528 but fighting did not begin until Pizarro arrived with his army in 1533 when the Inca Empire was in the midst of a far-flung civil war over succession to the throne Pizarro exploited the chaos to gain control of cusco the administrative center and established a surrogate as the new Inca Emperor we're leaving machu picchu by travelpod member civilization the ceremonious site a sexy woman was originally built as a fortress high above the city of Cuzco and features a great plaza and massive terrace walls the stones used in the construction of these terraces are among the largest used in any building in pre-hispanic america and display a precision of fitting that is unmatched in the Americas the stones are so closely spaced that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones this precision combined with the rounded corners of the blocks the variety of they're interlocking shapes and the way the walls lean inward helped the ruins survive devastating earthquakes in cusco this simple animation shows the compound angles employed for every massive interlocking stone used in Inca construction a feat that would don't today's stone cut is using the latest technology archaeological calculations estimate that it took at least 20,000 skilled workers 100 years to complete the inca structures known today implying administrative expertise needed for feeding housing designing planning and building which is unmatched in pre-columbian America following the siege of Cusco the spaniards used sakuya man as a source of stones for building Spanish Cusco and within a few years much of the complex was demolished the site was destroyed block by block to build the new governmental and religious buildings of the city as well as the houses of the wealthiest Spaniards before we leave the Andes and head north to Iquitos in the Amazon let's take a look at present-day culture of the Andes people starting with a visit to a llama farm llamas alpacas by cuneus and guanacos on members of the camel family and have been used as work animals and as a source of wool and meat for thousands of years corn okosan vicunas also live in the wild while our pakka's and llamas exist only as domesticated animals llamas have a fine undercoat which can be used for handicrafts and garments the corset outer guard hair is used for rugs wall hangings and lead ropes by Cunha wool is popular due to its warmth and is finer than any other wool in the world while our pack of wool is soft durable luxurious and silky and has no lanolin which makes it hypoallergenic it is also naturally water repellent and difficult to ignite the Center for traditional textiles is supported by a National Geographic grant and works with local women weavers to improve their skills and increase their access to market there by revitalizing an endangered weaving tradition while affording the women with a reliable source of income profits made through the sale of weavings are reinvested back into the project and the community the passo horse descended from the horses introduced by the Spanish in the 16th century it is reputed to be the world's smoothest horse the breed is rich in tradition and is an expression of Peruvian culture often referred to as a national treasure its trademark is a uniquely smooth inherited and natural four feet lateral walk called the Paseo Yano for our last night in the Andes we would treat it to a special program of vibrant dance based on Peruvian folklore we're on a small tributary of the mighty Amazon River the largest in the world averaging a discharge of almost 8 million cubic feet per second greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined it also has the largest drainage basin in the world and accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow these tributaries have been supporting local fishermen for hundreds of years with catfish and River eels and abundance piranhas a local staple is always of interest to the tourists we are here at the beginning of the dry season aboard the Delfin - operated by Lindblad expeditions in conjunction with National Geographic it is a modern comfortable boat serving excellent food and staffed with first-rate guides crew and expedition leaders it holds 24 guests you we went for walks in the rain forest on many occasions but rarely saw any wildlife in fact the rain forest here was especially quiet absent the screech of birds and monkeys today is special however since we are on our way to see Victoria amazonica the giant water lily that is endemic to the region its leaf can measure up to 9 feet in diameter and was named in honor of Queen Victoria first discovered in the mid-1800s it is said that the plant can support the weight of a slender person but nobody volunteered for the experiment another treat was a walk over a jungle rope bridge constructed by the local landowner for the delight of the visitors it stretches a total of one half mile suspended over the rainforest floor it looks pretty secure but to play safe we were told to limit ourselves to four people at one time Oh kids will find fun any place they can that a mudslide looks like the perfect place we are visiting a local village of less than 100 people they make their living by fishing and of course selling handicrafts to the local tourists I had to jump in the Amazon just to be in the water with pink and gray river dolphins they were around us but rarely broke the surface so they are very hard to capture on video piranhas also live in these waters but their reputation is largely undeserved piranha teeth are often used to make tools and weapons by the indigenous population and they are also popular as food so we are 20 minutes into the video with no wildlife footage although we are in a Peruvian National Park this area is essentially devoid of wildlife and the most barren rainforest we have ever visited after spending six days spending three to six hours each day looking for wildlife fred managed to get shots at a sloth way up in a tree and a 2 foot water lizard next to the boat and I took a few good bird shots however this was certainly the most disappointing wildlife trip we have ever taken the Peruvian Amazon the fourth largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world occupies 60% of the country and is one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth but the destruction of habitat over the last twenty years has taken its toll deforestation due to gold mining oil extraction logging and expansion of palm oil plantations has had a devastating effect on the wildlife and on the indigenous people a visit to the Andes was wonderful and I'll visit to the Amazon was disappointing but we hope you have enjoyed exploring these regions with us and learning a bit more about this very diverse country

Channel: Fred Heiman

Views: 86,393

Keywords: Peru, Andes (Mountain Range), Amazon, Peruvian Amazon, Machu Picchu, Inca Empire (Location), Inca, Cusco, Cuzco, Lima, Sacred Valley Of The Incas, Llama, Giant Water Lily, Amazon Rainforest (Region)

Id: FL_5_9rBGnQ

Length: 22min 1sec (1321 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 11 2014