Incan Code Pumapungo Museum-Cuenca

    Walking through the Museum, and the grounds below, gives footnotes of the past. All that is left of the past here are rock walls of homes and stone walls built to terrace land so crops could be grown on hillsides. The soil is deep, dark, rich, and, with light and rain, it is not impossible to see it feeding an Empire. Standing on this hill, clouds seem like you can touch them. It is hard to reconcile this peaceful place with human sacrifices but blood has always been how you pay Gods back for transgressions. The Incan Empire grew through conquest and peaceful assimilation. They built roads, like the Romans, and developed infrastructure and capabilities to organize large numbers of people. When you climb over hills, look out, stomp in the dirt and see water, flowers, birds, animals, you can understand the Inca civilization that grew out of nature. The Incan Code was do not steal, do not lie, and do not be lazy. We sacrifice humans today, but we do it in slower, more treacherous ways. The Incan’s, very slowly, are starting to look less savage than I have been taught to see them.