Book Extract: Lake Titicaca, Boliva

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Book Extract – Journey’s To Ancient Worlds: Arrive in La Paz, Bolivia

By the time I arrive in La Paz, it is 7.30pm and darkness is beginning to fall. The traffic is manic. I think I have hit rush hour traffic – but in La Paz it turns out this is the norm. Hundreds of cars fill the network of main roads like schools of fish swimming into a roundabout from all sides. Car horns blare constantly. A high level of energy pulses through the night sky. I am already shaken with excitement and I haven´t even got out the taxi yet. This place is electric!

The Importance of the Andean Cross to the Inca and Earlier Cultures

To the Inca and other ancient Andean cultures before them, the Andean Cross, otherwise known as the Southern Cross or the Chakana was not just a sacred symbol that reflected the constellation of the stars, but represented the entire conception of life on Earth. It is also sometimes referred to as the Inca cross by guides – although this is wrong!

The symbol was used other Andean cultures long before the Inca ever existed. The earliest known use was found in a temple at the settlement of Ventarrón in the Lambayeque Valley which dates back some 4000 years.