MACHU PICCHU

It was a hundred years ago that Hiram Bingham, a  Hawaii-born Yale professor, became the first Westerner to view Machu Picchu.  After half a millennium since abandonment (possibly because of smallpox), the city had become a jungle, with a few locals farming the edges.  The  Spanish Explorers never found it, and neither did a swarm of other explorers.

Machu Picchu is one of the "new" seven wonders of the world.  This Globus tour I'm on took us to two more (there are 14 when you add the natural and man-made versions):  Rio Harbor and Iguassu Falls. They all deserve this ranking.  Machu Picchu met my expectations.

Of course, I'm doing this (world travels) to toss Pearl's ashes at sites she wanted to visit, but did not, mostly because I was reluctant.  Thus, I suffered through Yellow Fever and a few other shots, plus malaria protocols and spider bites to undertake this effort.  There are now more than a dozen such locations, but the big three were the Taj Majal, Mount Kilimanjaro and Machu Picchu.  Now that I've completed this mission, today, I felt a certain elation, not unlike gaining a PhD degree, where I'm now ready to start a new life.

The train ride to the base of Machu Picchu was the most relaxing I've ever had, with rapids on one side and views of snow covered mountains on the other.  The New Age Andean music was soothing.  The first view of Machu Picchu was spectacular:

The mountain in the background to the left is Machu Picchu, or "old mountain."  The Sun Temple is in the right foreground.

Olga, who appeared to have a different attire every day (but someone else brought 7 pairs of shoes--Olga just, in addition, had a hair dryer and expresso machine, but still kept her suitcase weight under 40 pounds--try doing that someday for a two week trip):

I laid Pearl's ashes at three spots:  at the entrance, just behind me next to some yellow flowers:

You will notice my high tech cane, which I forgot in a restroom, but bought a second one, which led to a subsequent stress test on how to get it back home.

The second was in the only area where a wide variety of flowers, including a coca plant, were growing:

And the third at the top, the Sun Dial:

Actually, I did not realize that a guard was watching me and was just about to ask me a question when the tour group showed up and I cleverly involved them in a series of photos that distracted him.

Machu Picchu, just under 8000 feet high, remains largely a mystery, although it is suspected that the city was built for Incan Emperor Pachucuti (who lived in the 15th century).  If the Spanish had gained access to the site, it would have altered or destroyed.

Finally, from the base of Machu Picchu, resting are most of the India contingent, all who arrived in the USA many decades ago, and are largely medical doctors scattered mostly throughout the Midwest (Upendra, Narendrakumar, Jashu, Ila, Rehka, Ansuya and Mulraj):

Richard and Rena:

To end the story, Bingham brought back to Yale a wide variety (5000) of collected artifacts, which are now being returned to Peru...at least in principle. This issue remains controversial.

A major flood closed the attraction last year for several months, where 2000 people needed to be airlifted to safety.  The roads are still being fixed, but all seems well today.  This is a sight worth seeing.

PEARL'S ASHES: Machu Picchu

I've been posting on dropping my wife's ashes on these nostalgic Tuesdays.  Here are three photos of her:  as a baby, graduation from Hilo High School and our wedding.

Continuing today, I realized I had miscounted, for I left you two weeks ago with Pearl's Ashes #24 at the foot of a statue of what looks like her at the Jindaiji Biological Park outside of Tokyo.  Part of this problem is that I have also written a book (which has not yet been published) with chapters.  For example, on 22March2017 I posted on Chapter 12:  Rio de Janeiro. 

As you have surely noted, I'm not exactly suffering on my quest to drop Pearl's Ashes.  Who's paying for all this?  I'm using her savings.  On 3 October 2011 I activated a monumental around the world trip, to quote:

Today I begin my final ash scattering journey.  I'll be stopping through Bangkok, Tokyo, Zurich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, Sao Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Las Vegas, Reno, and San Francisco.  

I called this global journey PaGA, for Pat's Grand Adventure.  About mid-trip, I flew from London to San Paulo, where I had lunch at Mani.  Here is Chef Helena Rizzo's version of Japanese fugu, which includes pequi, a supposedly dangerous fruit.

On to Rio de Janeiro, then Iguazu Falls, where I said I'd be dropping Pearl's Ashes #23, which should have been #25.

Then, eventually, I made it to Machu Picchu, where I almost got into legal trouble.

• Machu Picchu is one of the new Seven Wonders of the World,  and is an Inca site high in the Andes mountains.
• To quote

Of course, I'm doing this (world travels) to toss Pearl's ashes at sites she wanted to visit, but did not, mostly because I was reluctant.  Thus, I suffered through Yellow Fever and a few other shots, plus malaria protocols and spider bites to undertake this effort.

• The Sun Temple is in the right foreground.

• I laid Pearl's Ashes at three spots.  Entrance, #26.

• The second, #27, in the only area with a wide variety of flowers, plus a coca plant.

And #28, at the Sun Dial, perhaps the most sacred monument in Peru.

Notice that large crack?  An unarmed large warrior was guarding it.  When I thought he wasn't watching, I dropped one of Pearl's Ashes gelcap into a crack.  A minute later, now holding a large long bo staff, he began peering down the crack.  He was about to question me, but at the same time, my tour group showed up, so I was able to avoid him, and as unobtrusively as possible, swiftly made a beeline for the entrance (it was about a 15 minute fast-walk away).  In my mind was a headline indicating, American professor arrested for defacing the Machu Picchu Sundial.  I was able to leave the premises, and found our bus, which was close by.  A couple of others were sitting, so I slouched in a seat so I couldn't be seen from the outside.  I escaped from Machu Picchu, my only possible incident during the 50 or so ash tossings.

There is a second story about Machu Picchu having to do with Yale Professor Hiram Bingham III.  He was born in 1875 to a prominent Hawaii family, which  founded Tiffany & Company.

• He was the westerner who discovered Machu Picchu in 1911.
• Wrote an article that year in National Geographic, and the New York Times called it the greatest archaeological discovery of the age.  Bingham became a worldwide sensation.

• 
  Brought back as many as 40,000 artifacts to Yale, all "legally" exported from Peru.
• In 1920 Peru asked Yale to return the objects, and the university did send back items brought in by Bingham from his third and final expedition.
• In those days, museums ignored any threats.
• In the 2000s, attitudes shifted towards repatriation of these artifacts, especially to Greece and Italy, who themselves were getting pressure from Egypt and other Middle East countries.
• Negotiation between Peru and Yale began in 2003, and Peru sued Yale in 2006.

• 
  In 2010, Peruvian President Alan Garcia reached out to then President Barack Obama, who must have convinced Yale to return everything, the solution in 2011 being for Yale and Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco to partner in the creation of a museum and research center in Peru.
• All artifacts were return in shipments into 2012, financed by Yale.
• So it took a century to work this all out.
• 
  Was elected governor of Connecticut in 1925, for only occupied that seat for one day, as decided to represent that state in the U.S. Senate, and was there until 1933.
• Historian Christopher Heaney published in 2010, Cradle of Gold:  The Story of Hiram Bingham, A Real-Life Indiana Jones.
• His exploits inspired the founding of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. 

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MY LIFE: PART 3g Pearl's Ashes--Machu Picchu

The cruise continues with two days at-sea, getting into St. John's, Newfoundland on Thursday, August 20.  I'll be including activities on board, but this period allows me to provide further episodes for a couple of series I earlier began.  Today, Part 3g of My Life.

The story of My Life began  as a post on 31May2026, after I realized that, from the age of 5, my life could be represented by three periods of 27 years:  education, work and retirement.  To summarize:

• The average person spends the first 20 to 25 years growing up and going to school, the next 40 years working, and the final phase in retirement, generally only around 10 years.

• 
  My life:
• I was born in 1940, and my life expectancy was supposed to only be 45.  
• This comes from Google AI citing Our World Data.
• I was born in Hawaii, not then yet part of the USA, but if I asked Google AI, what would my life expectancy be if I were born in the U.S. in 1940, the answer was 61.4.
• Were I to ask, since my ethnicity is Japanese, what was the life expectancy of a baby born in Japan in 1940, the answer would be 50.
• This question for someone born today would be:  Japan 85 and USA 79.
• In other words, in 1940, a baby born in the USA would be expected to live 11.4 years longer than a baby in Japan.
• However, today, this expectation is reversed.  A baby born in Japan is expected to live 6 years longer than a baby in the USA.
• What has happened?  
• Incidentally, today, anyone born in Africa has a life expectancy of 61.5.   Just about what it was in the USA in 1940.

• 
  In any case, I will 86 in a couple of weeks.
• So if you subtract 5 years from that number, you will get 81.  Divide that by 3 to get 27,
• Turns out that my life has had three 27-year periods of education, work and retirement
• Thus, I have so far in this blog site posted the following.
• K-12 = 13 years, college up to a PhD = 7 years, and first job with the sugar industry, which I consider too be a learning experience = 7 years.  The total education is thus 27 years.
• I started teaching at the University of Hawaii in 1972, and retired in 1999 = 27 years.
• I thus have been retired for 27 years.  1999 to 2026.
• So in my series on My Life, I went through school as Parts 1a and b, work as Parts 2a and b, and am into Part, 3g the seventh episode of my retirement years.  You can read all of them if you wish: 
• MY LIFE: Part 1
• MY LIFE: Part 1b
• MY LIFE: Part 2a
• MY LIFE: 2b
• MY LIFE: Part 3a
• MY LIFE: Part 3b
• MY LIFE: Part 3c
• MY LIFE: Part 3d
• MY LIFE: Part 3e Pearl's Ashes
• MY LIFE: Part 3f Pearl's Ashes--Mount Kilimanjaro

Today, I continue my effort to place my wife's ashes (in gel caps) in places she desired to visit, but did not because of my reluctance.  This particular ceremony at the sun dial of Machu Picchu turned out to be almost something out of Indiana Jones (who, as you might know, is most based on the life of Hiram Bingham III, a person from Hawaii).

My 31May2017 posting provides the full story:

• I go on to say:

Hiram Bingham II also became a missionary to the then Kingdom of Hawaii.  His son, Hiram Bingham III, was born in 1875, graduated from Punahou and went on to Yale, Cal-Berkeley and Harvard, where he earned a PhD in 1905.  He went on to work under Woodrow Wilson at Princeton, then joined the faculty of Yale in 1907 as a lecturer in South American history.

While, yes, other Westerners might have previously visited Machu Picchu, Bingham is credited with bringing the site to the attention of the world in 1911, a century before I arrived in 2011 to drop Pearl's Ashes.  The road that carries tourists buses to the site is called the Hiram Bingham Highway. 

• Here is where I made three ash drops, #25, #26 and #27:

• I would have been fine if I did not at the last moment make my 27th ash drop into this crack of the Sun Dial, a sacred monument watched over by a muscular guard.

• 
  Notice that large crack?  An unarmed large warrior was guarding it.  When I thought he wasn't watching, I dropped one of Pearl's Ashes gelcap into a crack.  A minute later, now holding a large long bo staff he began peering down the crack.  He was about to question me, but at the same time, my tour group showed up, so I was able to avoid him, and as unobtrusively as possible, swiftly made a beeline for the entrance (it was about a 15 minute fast-walk away).  In my mind was a headline indicating, American professor arrested for defacing the Machu Picchu Sundial.  I was able to leave the premises, and found our bus, which was close by.  A couple of others were sitting, so I slouched in a seat so I couldn't be seen from the outside.  I escaped from Machu Picchu, my only possible incident during the 50 or so ash tossings.

The Sun Dial.

• Called Intihuatana, the hitching post of the sun.

Moreover, Intihuatana likely held spiritual significance for the Inca people. It was believed to be a sacred site where the sun was ritually “tied” to the earth, ensuring its continued journey across the sky. Rituals and ceremonies may have been performed at Intihuatana to honor the sun god Inti and to seek his blessings for a bountiful harvest and prosperity.

• The knob at the top casts a shadow that aligns with various carved marks on the stone platform.  These marks are believed to have been used by the ancient Incas for determining astronomical and agricultural events.
• While Machu Picchu is open daily from 6AM to 5PM, the Intihuatana can only be visited from 7AM to 10AM.
• Apparently, the crack was caused by a camera which accidentally fell at that point.  Anyway, that's what I read.  It is is a huge crack.

To close, I can report that a tropical depression 17 just formed in the West Pacific.  Now only sat 30 MPH, it will become a typhoon in two days, and could well strengthen into a Category 3 or stronger in only a couple days.  The eye is headed for Okinawa.

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PEARL'S ASHES: Chapter 14--Machu Picchu

After Brazil, I passed through Buenos Aires where I enjoyed a particularly excellent meal for less than $100, incredible when you include the following drinks:

• I created BOCA, for Bitter Orange aperitif with Champagne in Argentina, as Boca Juniors is their famous soccer team with Maradona
• Sur de Los Andes Chardonnay
• Sur de Los Andes Malbec Grand Reserva
• Finca Domingo Torrentes
• Luigi Bosca Gewurztraminer Seleccion de Giznos Nobles, an almost Chateau d'Yquem

The grouper with Morel Mushrooms (prune looking morsels) was the  highlight, for the mushrooms concentrated the essence of dish juices as I've never had before.

You can't leave the country without beef, which is lean, a bit tough, but tasty...and tango.  The dance is performed in a manner which makes you feel like a voyeur.  The wines tend to be red and free and generous.

Next, on to Peru, where the plane landed in Cuzco at an elevation of 11,000 feet.  As I had recently been to Mauna Kea, which goes up to 13,800, that should not have been a problem.  However, maybe it was  the Pisco Coca Sour--where the Coca goes on to become cocaine--but I did get a headache.  We visited the Sun Temple, and I show this piece of art because on Machu Picchu I did something related to a national sun monument, which could have been disastrous for me.

Let me start with Hiram Bingham the first, who was the leader of the initial group of American Protestant missionaries sent to the Sandwich Islands in 1819.  He was said to be responsible for the local government banning prostitution and drunkenness, and was involved with the creation of the spelling system for writing the Hawaiian language.  He designed Kawaiahao Church.  

Hiram Bingham II also became a missionary to the then Kingdom of Hawaii.  His son, Hiram Bingham III, was born in 1875, graduated from Punahou and went on to Yale, Cal-Berkeley and Harvard, where he earned a PhD in 1905.  He went on to work under Woodrow Wilson at Princeton, then joined the faculty of Yale in 1907 as a lecturer in South American history.

While, yes, other Westerners might have previously visited Machu Picchu, Bingham is credited with bringing the site to the attention of the world in 1911, a century before I arrived in 2011 to drop Pearl's Ashes.  The road that carries tourists buses to the site is called the Hiram Bingham Highway. 

He became a lieutenant colonel in the Army Air Sevice during World War I, and was influential in creating our Air Force after WWII.  He became Governor of Connecticut in 1924, but only served one day because Senator Frank Brandegee passed away in the interim after Bingham's election, so he won a special election to the U.S. Senate (that's him as a senator), where he served for 8 years, for he was later re-elected to a full term.  He was known as the Flying Senator.  He passed away in 1956 at the age of 80 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

His book, Lost City of the Incas, became a bestseller in 1948, and Indiana Jones is mostly what Hiram Bingham III was.  In 2007 an agreement was reached between Yale University and Peru for the return of 40,000 objects brought back to America by him.

The first shipment of artifacts left New Haven without fanfare, but its arrival in Cusco on June 22 was another story. A crowd of dignitaries, a company of national police, and 15,000 people turned out to cheer on the parade of trucks that transported the artifacts from the airport to their new home in the center of town. An actor dressed as an Inca king greeted their arrival with the words "The people from Cusco and the world celebrate that the archaeological pieces of Machu Picchu, which were once gone, have returned now. Everyone in Cusco must feel happy.

So with that backdrop, here is where I first dropped Pearl's Ashes, now up to #25:

PA #26 was placed here:

At the very top of the the tourist area is the Sun Dial, a sacred monument with a muscular guard.  I scouted around and thought no one saw me drop PA#27 into that crack:

But staring at me was the guard.  He returned a few moments later with a long stick that was like a spear.  As I walked away he peered into the crack.  I hastily hiked down to the entrance as fast as I could.  I could imagine the headlines:

     Hawaii Professor Jailed for Defaming the Sacred Sun Dial of Machu Picchu

On the way out I said goodbye to a llama:

Having safely escaped to Lima, I enjoyed two of my better meals of this entire around the world trip.  This city has two of the 100 Pellegrino Best World Restaurants.  Rosalia and Leonid joined me at Astrid Y Gaston, located only a block away from the Casa Andina hotel where Globus put us.  Giant Peruvian corn to the right.  Here above is Rosalia contemplating which dulcement to select.

My lunch the following day at Malabar might well have been the best of my life.  I walked in at 1:30PM and was the only diner.  I wondered if I had missed the Board of Health sign outside.  However, by 2PM there were fourteen others dining, with the men all in jackets and ties.  I had a Pisco Sour, plus a Chilean Sauvignon Blance and Argentinian Malbec.  The highlight of the meal was grilled pacha (left and below):

I'll end with a Peruvian dance:

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