It is interesting to note how many of the great scientific discoveries begin as myths

Central to the valley where we are flying is Cerro Condorcoto or Mount of the Condor. It is about 20 miles in the valley and at 8'000ft  it towers over it's neighbors. Much before we decided to do this expedition, we always heard a myth about eggs made of gold hidden at the top of the mountain. Last week while flying we saw round pirqas (inca stone walls) at the top. One wonders why would anyone climb an 8'000ft mostly rock mountain to build an animal pen?  Was it made by Incas to keep their Llamas or maybe later by the Spanish for goats?

I google'd around and found Empire of the Inca by Burt Cartwright, where he tells the story of  Pariacaca, the god of the sierra high places at the begining of the Inca civilization. He then mentions five golden eggs that appeared at the summit on mount Condorcoto, out of which hatched Pariacaca and his brothers, Pariacaca first act was to call down ruinous floods which carried away great destruction. (Now days we call those their quechua name "huaicos" or gigantic mudslides which occur every time the "El Niño" weather decides to show up.. like this year)

But before the mudslides..  Paricaca dressed as a beggar, visited the locals whom neglected him, except for a young girl who took pitty on him and gave him "Chicha" (A local alcholic brew made out of corn)  In gratitude, Pariacaca let her know about the great flood, so she and her children could escape.

The story is quite longer than that.  My point is to show the significance of the area to the Inca civilization and to share a nice tale about it.

We will make sure to be respectful to Pariacaca when we fly over his domains.. and we will do our best to drink some "Chicha" on his name.

Ps.
I just realized our glider happens to be called here  "El Condor" :)