Just how ancient is Tiwanaku?
October 2009 update: The Tiwanaku pyramid of Akapana, risks losing it's status as a UN World Heritage site because authorities and villagers decided to renovate with adobe. Tiwanaku is also commonly spelled Tiahuanaco phonetically. It isn't really clear just how old the city is and most of the ruins have not yet been unearthed. When I was little and living in La Paz, the road to Tiahuanaco wasn't yet paved and it was a 2-3 hour drive to get there. The museum was just a row of skulls in a room and there was nowhere to buy lunch! Today it is paved and you can take a day tour easily from most tourist-oriented hotels for about $12. Most leave at about 8 in the morning and return at about 4 pm. You'll have lunch near the main square of town between visits to the Puerta del Sol, the Tiwanaku ruins and temples (with their amazing monolitos - monolyths) and the adjoining museum. You can also either take a small van on your own straight across the street from the cemetery in La Paz for about $11 each way or pay just a bit more at a travel agency for a full tour (about $22). Tour groups enjoy lunch and entrance into the ruins included in the price, along with a guide (some speak English, some don't speak it well at all). The Hotel El Dorado has a tour of its own that leaves at 8 am. It's a pretty good tour although I find their lobby personnel rather annoying. Some scientists do believe that Tiahuanaco is at least 14,000 years old, which coincides with the Aymara calendar and legends. However, this ancient city remains a mystery, really. It is not an Aymara nor an Incan relic. The Tiahuanacotas were a completely different civilization and apparently very advanced in mathematics and astronomy; possibly moreso than the Incas themselves. Rather than obligating you to read the entire history of the Tiahuanacota civilization (which is indeed interesting) I found a wonderful video series which I think is much MUCH more interesting because it allows you to actually see what I would be telling you about. I've been visiting Tiwanaku off and on for the past 30 years and not much has changed in the way of excavation, amazingly. However, the ruins have become a much more popular tourist stop and it's exciting to see that scientists continue to be baffled by this city. Today the Aymara and Quechua residents of the altiplano have claimed Tiahuanaco's history as their own and celebrate the Equinox once a year on this spot. However, that was not the case just a 20 years ago when I was growing up in La Paz, and most of them are not descendants of the Tiahuanacota civilization. These events didn't take place there when I was young, although the Puerta del Sol was always a popular attraction because the stones from which it is made do not exist anywhere near this zone. When you're in Tiwanaku try to spend a quiet moment truly absorbing the historical significance of this site. If you're really really quiet and put your camera down for a moment, you might hear a message in the wind...
TIAHUANACO – THE OLDEST CITY IN THE WORLD? GEOGLYPHS IN BOLIVIA PART ONE GEOGLYPHS IN BOLIVIA PART TWO GEOGLYPHS IN BOLIVIA PART THREE GEOGLYPHS IN BOLIVIA PART FOUR Return from Tiwanaku to Home Page
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