Day 50, E.T. Was Here

The following takes place on Sunday, January 16, 2011

You gotta love conspiracy theorists. They like to claim aliens hands in many things. The pyramids of Giza. The Nazca Lines. How George W. Bush got elected a second time(well, maybe that’s just me). At times you can easily laugh it all off. But then there are times where you have to step back and wonder if it is at all possible. Especially when it comes to these ancient monuments. The precision, the undertaking that had to have been taken to erect these structures, and even the simple question as to “why?” is enough to make one think “maybe, just maybe.”

Just outside of La Paz is a site called Tihuanacu. It predates the Incas by hundreds of years. And for the longest time it was hidden, buried under the ground. Ground used by locals as a potato field. It’s currently in the midst of being excavated. It’s estimated that, so far, only 10% of the site is actually uncovered right now.

I was picked up at the hostel fairly early and still had to wait on the street with three other people as well as the gent who was grabbing us from our hostels for nearly forty minutes before the bus showed up. When it did it was a pretty easy hour and a half drive to Tihuanacu.

We started the tour in the museum which housed the largest stone monument/statue that had been found on the site. Like all the statues of human like figures on the site, it is covered with numerous planetary symbols and other such things, including exactly 365 carved circles around its base. But the one peculiar thing about the statues at Tihuanacu is to do with the left hand of each and every statue. The fingers are bent the wrong way. If it was just the one statue, you could chock it up to a mistake. But for every statue to have its hand in such a position, it has got to mean something. What exactly is the question.

We wandered around the site looking at the giant underground pyramid archaeologists are currently excavating. When alls said and done, the pyramid will be seven tiers high, and in the shape of half of the Inca symbol. Quite impressive if you ask me.

We continued our tour of the site, stopping at a few more of the statues(including the one pictured above) as well as some interesting stone work including the Sun Gate and a rock with a hole carved in it in the shape of the human ear such that it would act like a megaphone.

The last section we were able to visit was what is simply called the Subterranian Chamber. It’s not really underground anymore, but one does have to go down a number of stairs to reach the floor. All around on each of the walls are carved stone faces, said to represent the different races that inhabit the earth. Though, When one of the faces looks like an alien . . . .

I left the site with more questions than I came. We discussed these oddities over lunch, myself and a few other people, and used the bus ride back to La Paz to contemplate the question of whether we are, in fact, alone. Fox Mulder might have had it right all along!