In Quechua, the language of the Incas, Samaipata means 'rest in the highlands'. The town lies two and half hours south west of Santa Cruz where three seperate eco-systems join together; the Amazonian Plains, the Gran Chaco, and the Andes mountains. For this reason the area has been a geographic and geopolitical melting pot for inter-related cultures for centuries. First the Mojocoyas and Chane peoples from Gran Grigota used the area has a ritual and religious centre from 800 to 1,300 aD. Later at the end of the 1300s it was used as a pass-by lodge for Guarani warriors. Afterward it was a meeting point, trading centre, ceremonial site, and administrative centre for the Incas during the 1400s. Finally it was a fortress and a trading and storage town during the Hispanic colony era linking Asuncion, Paraguay and Lima, Peru.
Rest is what I found both spiritually and physically when my friend Jamel and I spent 4 days following Christmas h...
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