Tiwanaku, Bolivia

At the sleepy town and ruins of Tiwanaku (over 13,000') we meet up with archaeologist Manolo Torres and his wife Donna who are studying the iconography of the ruins. The Tiwanaku empire was much earlier and more mysterious than the Inca. The civilizations expansion was not based on military might, but seemingly on a religious paradigm, convincingly expressed through the direct experience of an entheogenic vilca snuff made from Anadenanthera seed. Tiwanaku came to an abrupt end in the 13th century when climate change disrupted the vast canals that irrigated this region of the altiplano. We explore the ruins with their massive and beautifully carved rocks. Thousands of pieces of pottery shards and the bones of millennia are scattered over the landscape of the surroudning area and embedded in the adobe walls of the "modern" town.

 

the Altiplano, photo R. Wagner

 

the Altiplano, photo R. Wagner

 

Tiwanaku, photo H. Waller

 

Tiwanaku, photo H. Waller

 

Kalasasaya, Tiwanaku

 

Kalasasaya, Tiwanaku, photo H. Waller

 

 

Kalasasaya, Tiwanaku, photo H. Waller

 

Ponce stela, Tiwanaku

 

 

Sun Gate, Tiwanaku

 

Tiwanaku

 

Tiwanaku, photo H. Waller

 

carved details, once overlaid with gold, Tiwanaku

 

Archaeologist Manolo Torres discussing Tiwanaku, photo H. Waller

 

 

Discussing the endangered flora of Tiwanaku with Manolo Torres, photo H. Waller

 

 

endangered Senecio sp. Tiwanaku

 

Mahueniopsis boliviana, Tambillo, near Tiwanaku

 

Spanish church built with stones from Tiwanaku

 

 

Aymara herbalist and healer , Rufino Paxsi Limachi with his medicines, near Tiwanaku