Page 38 - Off the Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 1 of 2)

34 ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL SIGHTS 4 MORE SOUTH AMERICAN RUINS TO RIVAL MACHU PICCHU

Stone steps leading into the heart of the jungle at Ciudad Perdida in
Colombia’s Sierra Nevada
Ciudad Perdida

A cluster of visitors standing before the architectural ruins of a temple
at Tiwanaku, Bolivia
NEED TO KNOW
LOCATION Ciudad Perdida Tiwanaku
is hidden in the Sierra Nevada #BSSBORVJMMB
inland from Santa Marta, $*6%"%
northern Colombia 1"/"." 1&3%*%" most powerful civilization in the western
7&/&;6&-" NEED TO KNOW
VISITORS PER YEAR .FEFMMÓO hemisphere. Giant stone reminders are
Fewer than 3,000 1BDJmD
0DFBO #PHPUÈ LOCATION Tiwanaku is everywhere: the Kalasasaya (standing stones)
DAYTIME $0-0.#*" located at Bolivia’s extreme west
TEMPERATURES near its border with Peru, on statues and temple with their still largely
1&36
Jan: 79°F (26°C); Apr: 82°F southern Lake Titicaca #3";*- undeciphered motifs; the vestiges of the Akapana
(28°C); Jul: 79°F (26°C); &$6"%03 #3";*- VISITORS -BLF #0-*7*"
Oct: 73°F (23°C) 5JUJDBDB -B 1B[ pyramid, possibly the second-largest ever built;
1&36 PER YEAR 5*8"/",6
Approximately 50,000 4BOUB $SV[ the famous Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun),
DAYTIME 4VDSF whose artistic form influenced a continent for
Older by centuries than Machu Picchu, South TEMPERATURES centuries; the Templo Semisubterráneo (Sunken
Jan: 61°F (16°C); Apr: 54°F (12°C); 1"3"(6":
America’s northernmost archaeological site has Jul: 52°F (11°C); Oct: 59°F (15°C) $)*-& "3(&/5*/" Temple) with its rows of enigmatic faces along its
only recently reopened to the public after walls; and mysterious Pumapunku (The Door
intermittent warfare in the region between the of the Puma), with its thousands of 200-ton
government and guerrilla fighters. Ciudad Tiwanaku (often spelled Tiahuanaco or Tiahuanacu) blocks that this pre-Inca society somehow moved
Perdida, whose origins are unknown, is made up is one of South America’s most important to a height of 13,120 ft (4,000 m) without leaving
of 169 intricate terraces carved into a mountain, archaeological sites and is the former home of a any trace of how they managed this feat. All
a baffling maze of interconnecting roads, and remarkable civilization by the same name. Many these wonders are spread out over an area less
circular plazas with an entrance that can be scholars think the remnants of this people later than 3 miles (5 km) across, where your only
reached only after climbing over 1,200 stone formed the mighty Inca empire. But to this day companion will be intense silence, sometimes
steps in the heart of the jungle. The grueling but no one knows why the city – which, at its height broken by the mournful winds of the Altiplano.
infinitely rewarding journey averages five days, 1,500 years ago, may have held as many as a While the number of visitors arriving at
and is one of the last of its kind in South America. million inhabitants – disappeared around AD 1000. Tiwanaku is steadily increasing, it is still a remote
Legends of powerful emperor-gods (also priests, place. Many come for the spring equinox, to
for good measure), astronomers whose knowledge watch the sun rise exactly through the center of
Practical Information
of the universe astounds scientists today and the archway of the Gate of the Sun on the first
Getting There and Around Ciudad Perdida is a 12-mile (20-km) trek
from a trail leading from the region of Mamey in Santa Marta. There are no masters of long-vanished crafts abound. Their day of spring. Tiwanaku is filled with astronomical
roads or any other means of transportation. descendants, the Aymara, still live in the region, and mathematical legacies, leading some to
When to Go The best time to visit the Sierra Nevada region is Dec–Feb, in villages scarcely changed over two millennia. believe it is linked with ancient Egypt and
when there is very little rainfall and less humidity. The ruins of Tiwanaku visible now are Babylon, two other civilizations with advanced
Website www.hosteltrail.com/turcol impressive reminders that it was indeed once the astronomical calendars. While no one knows for

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