ONE DAY TOURS - CUZCO

      Tipón was built at the base of Cerro Pachatusan, a crucial point in the horizon that connected earth and heaven. During Winter solstice the sun appeared behind and over its summit and in Cuzco could only be seen with splendour from the placid surroundings of Coricancha. Tipón was erected by the Incas with masterful architectonic precision. This was a centre of agricultural research and a space to worship water and is still a mystic place where shamans and spiritual persons congregate to pay tribute to earth and to worship water.
      The Incas developed crops such as corn and potatoes, and the ancient farmers had their research-centre-temples on the terraces they built throughout the Andes. Tipón is a unique site, with twelve large stone terraces and water channels, where agricultural initiation rituals, research and experiments were performed. This tour is combined with a short visit to Kaira, the University of Cuzco's Andean Plant Research Centre, where technicians are trying to recover the lost forms of agriculture used by the Incas.