The Valle Sagrado or Sacred Valley is filled with Inca outposts and fortresses, this is the Inca fortress of Pisac.
You enter Pisac through the perfectly fitted stone blocks of the main gate in the first pic, to the left of the photo is a 2,000' sheer drop, the massive wooden gate is long since turned to dust but the skillfully incised fastening points hewn out of solid basalt are still in perfect condition should a new gate need to be mounted.
Pic 2 shows the 200' long passage that you can only get through completely stooped over in a vulnerable and humbled stance, at no point can you get two men abreast so it serves as an effective choke point should the main gate be breached, the same 2,000' drop prevents skirting around the choke point and the steep mountain walls prevent passage over for several thousand more feet of elevation.
Pic 3 is the last leg of the passage to Fortress Pisac which leads to the Hitching Post of the Sun which is seen behind me in Pic 4. Most of the Hitching Posts of the Sun were destroyed by the Catholic Church but Pisac was so impenetrable that it was bypassed by the Spaniards when they invaded the Peruvian part of the Inca Empire. A favourite ploy by the Catholic Church was to build their cathedrals on top of the Hitching Posts as a clear message to the native people that their christian god was greater than their pagan gods.
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3 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I'm liking this a lot...and alot...and A lot....and a Lot.
MissaDixon
Level 7
Aug 11, 2018
1
That passage way is wild! Great photos and backstory. Thank you for sharing!
CelticFire
Level 7
Aug 11, 2018
1
I have some pics from Ollantaytambo around someplace, it's probably a 3 day walk through the Valle Sagrado from Pisac and the stonework there is amazing. I don't imagine I could replicate it without pulse lasers and some CNC equipment.
@Surfpirate ....Wonderful that you have been able to explore such amazing places!
@CelticFire I've seen a bit and I still have a great deal to see. It depends how much more I will get to see but I am happy to have been able to see Antarctica. It's possibly the only place on this planet where humans haven't managed to assert themselves, at least not yet.
@Surfpirate I know several people that go to the ice every year to work at the scientific station there. Did you work there or a visitor/tourist(?)
@CelticFire Tourist, it's the first place we went when we retired back in 2010.
@Surfpirate ...a much better way to visit! 
@CelticFire Our ship dropped off some scientists at the Polish station by Zodiac, they didn't look that pleased as they bounced across the swells of icy water.
@Surfpirate If I recall, the summer 'shift' is 3 or 4 months, and the winter one is 6. That's the one that's brutal...no sun...people get pretty gamey~
This is what the inside of the passageway looks like. It would be pretty easy to brain an invader as they tried to scramble through this tight passage.
@Surfpirate ...no kidding! Thanks for finding that!
@CelticFire It's actually kind of fun digging up these old pics and the memories that come with them, good and bad, fun and scary, it's all good.
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