Back in La Paz, we returned to the Hotel Quantu, which felt a little bit like returning home. It was starting to sink in that our tour was almost over and people would be leaving soon. At 16:30, Daniel took us on a walk through the artisan market and explained how the local people make offerings to Pachamama. They start with a llama fetus (No one really knows where they get so many llama fetuses.) and then add sugar representations of whatever it is that they hope to receive. Of course, coca leaves are included. Offerings are typically made on the first Friday of the year and the first Friday of August, the month of Pachamama. Items are wrapped in paper and burned. If the offering is reduced to ashes, it is believed that Pachamama has accepted the offering. If it burns out before being consumed, the process must be repeated.
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| Offering to Pachamama |
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| Shrine to Ekeko |
Another tradition is making offerings to Ekeko, the god of abundance. People offer him coca leaves, cigarettes, and small effigies of whatever they desire. Usually, this is money and his shrine was covered in counterfeit bills.
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| Cecilia, Me, and Janine in Our New Fleeces |
After our little lecture, we all bought double thickness, Patagonia fleeces and repaired upstairs to the Lucky Llama, an Irish pub, where we spent the evening drinking and playing jenga and pool. It was our last opportunity to celebrate all together and felt bittersweet. Cecilia, Janine and Sylvan left that night.
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| Party at the Lucky Llama |
I spent Thursday shopping and hanging out with Kasia, Emily, Cheryl, Denise, and Steve. We went for lunch and then wandered through the artisan market. I bought hats for my friends in California. Kasia and Emily were leaving in the wee hours, so we met for a late dinner and then they went off to nap. Cheryl, Denise, and Steve were catching a bus in the morning.
July 19, 2025
Mexico City Airport
Mexico City, Mexico
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| Driving Towards Tiwanaku |
As the sole remaining member of our group, I had scheduled a tour to Tiwanaku for Friday. The tour bus came for me promptly at 8:15. We spent another 45 minutes collecting the remainder of the tour group and then set out up the hill, across El Alto, and into the countryside in the direction of Lake Titicaca. We arrived at our first stop, Puma Punku, about 10:30.
Officially, the Tihuanaco civilization arose about 1600 BC and disappeared abruptly about 1200 AD, 200 years before the rise of the Inca Empire. Little is known about them except what can be inferred from the remains of their constructions. The Puma Punku, or Puma Gate is so called because the three tiered platform sported three sets of puma sculptures. The entrance faced Lake Titicaca. The platform was constructed from huge slabs of stone that had been transported from the Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca. These immense slabs, weighing as much as 20 tons, were joined together by “staples” made by pouring molten metal into slots carved into the stone. While currently toppled, the gates originally aligned with each other and the movement of the sun.
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| These Huge Slabs Came from Isla del Sol |
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| Toppled Gates |
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| These Stones Were Secured By Metal Staples |
The stones were precisely carved, but no tools were found. How the stones were transported to the site remains a mystery, although it is possible that the level of the lake, now 19 kilometers distant, was once higher, allowing them to have been floated across to the site. No one knows what became of the Tihuanacos, either. Three theories exist: rising lake level due to too much rain, a catastrophic earthquake, or prolonged drought. While the Tihuanacos and the Incas did not overlap, their influence is seen in the Inca symbology and cosmology. They may have dispersed into other pre-Inca civilizations
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| Excavation at Puma Punku |
Excavations at the site were extensive. The walls of trenches dug around the site were surfaced with adobe and capped with a layer of straw that overlapped the walls and protected them from rain. Native plants grew over the layer of straw. We wandered around the site for half an hour and then reboarded the bus for the short drive to Tiwanaku.
At Tiwanaku, we first visited the Lithic Museum, where all the original sculptures from both Puma Punku and Tiwanaku are housed. The crown jewel is the Pachamama stele, standing 7.5 meters high, that was discovered in the subterranean temple at Tiwanaku by an American archaeologist named Bennett in 1932. The huge icon is intricately carved with pumas and condors and circular shapes that might represent fish mouths or possibly units of time. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the museum.
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| Ascending the Akapana "Pyramid" |
The pumas from Puma Punku are also in the museum, although they were defaced by early Christians concerned that they were pagan idols. Many other icons from Tiwanaku are housed in the museum, some of which had been decapitated during the decline of the Tihuanaco civilization, possibly out of desperation.
From the museum, we proceeded outdoors and ascended the seven tiered, 19 meter high “pyramid” of Akapana. The “pyramid” originally sported a reflecting pool in the shape of an Andean cross that was used to observe the stars. The pool drained to Lake Titicaca through a series of carved stone channels. Curiously, stalactites in the drain channels are dated between five and six thousand years old, calling the dates for the Tihuanaco civilization into question. Was there an even earlier civilization there?
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| The Pool Drain Hole |
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| Double Walled Rooms |
Unfortunately, the pool had been mostly obliterated by treasure seekers. Recent studies using ground penetrating radar have revealed a chamber within the artificial mound, but it has yet to be excavated. Double walled cells atop the mound were possibly used for food storage or as quarters for priests. The rear side of the “pyramid” shows some of the original retaining walls. The carefully fitted stones are rounded, now, as a result of weathering over the centuries.
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| The Rear of the Akapana "Pyramid" |
Next, we visited the subterranean temple where the Pachamama sculpture was found. This sunken area was walled with stone studded with carved heads in various styles. Some have posited that these represented different races, while others think they might represent aliens. Some of them did resemble recent depictions of alien beings.
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| Principal Gate of the Kalasasaya Temple |
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| The Kalasasaya Temple from Above |
The Sun Gate, which once aligned with the temple entrance, had been moved to a more convenient location. This four by three meter stone was covered in a bas relief of pumas, with a central figure believed to be Pachamama because pumas usually represent the female. A metal plaque with nearly identical symbols was found in China. The central figure on that plaque is undeniably female.
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| The Sun Gate at Tiwanaku |
We took a few moments to examine the Fraile stele, that had lain partially submerged in water near the bottom of the Akapana “pyramid.” While there was no other evidence of human sacrifice, ten decapitated skeletons were found accompanied by the remains of many llamas in the same area. Was this sacrifice a last ditch effort to stave off whatever caused the demise of Tiwanaku? Many icons were also decapitated about the same time. We may never know the reason for these events.
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| The Fraile Stele |
We descended some very steep steps, possibly designed to encourage a reverant approach, and hurried to the bus for a ride into town for lunch. Having eaten too many heavy tourist lunches, I declined to join the rest of the group and instead spent the time wandering around mostly deserted Tiwanaku. I found a snack bar near the entrance to the archaeological site and bought some snacks.
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| Very Steep Stairs |
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| Snow on the Mountains Above La Paz |
The ride back to La Paz took a couple of hours, including nearly an hour threading our way through the traffic in El Alto and downtown La Paz. The bus dropped us off at the Franciscan church and I then hiked back up the hill to the hotel. I spent the late afternoon writing and then had a late dinner and one last singani sour before lying down to sleep for a few hours before I had to get up at 1:30 to meet my taxi to the airport.
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| One Last Singani Sour |
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