After more than two months of almost constant motion our bodies are demanding another easy day. Christi and I begin with brunch at the fabulous San Jose’s artisan sandwich shop: 3 slices of bread with two separate wafer-thin layers incorporating combinations of ham, tomato, cheese, egg, and beef. The dessert trays are equally tempting – I defy anyone to resist the dulce de leche-filled pastries. Just too yummy for words.
Later we visit one of Salta’s preeminent museums: the High Mountain Archaeology Museum. This museum displays the exquisitely preserved bodies of three Inca children (a 6 year-old girl, a 15 year-old girl and a 7 year-old boy) and their funereal accoutrements. The children were sacrificed some 500 years ago on the summit of the remote 22,110 feet Mt. Llullaillaco (good luck pronouncing that one: yu-ya-yaco is pretty close!), some 200 miles west of Salta on the border with Chile. And it was the same American climber and archaeologist who found Juanita, Johan Reinhard, who recovered these three victims. The bodies are exquisitely preserved, especially the 15 year-old girl, who is known as the Llullaillaco Maiden. Recent analysis of their hair reveals the children’s diet changed dramatically in the year before they were sacrificed. Out went their vegetarian peasant food which was replaced by maize and animal protein – the food of the elite. The children were literally fattened up in the year before undertaking the arduous trek to the mountain. This further suggests the victims may have been chosen from among the Incas’ conquered subjects and killed not only to pacify the mountain gods, but also to instill terror and respect for their Inca masters. At the time of their sacrifice each child also had high levels of coca metabolites in their bodies. In effect, they were drugged to avoid any unseemly struggles. It is believed the girls died of exposure while the boy was suffocated. Such a chilling end to such young lives.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching tale
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