City Life

On special occasions, such as paying taxes or taking part in religious celebrations, government administrators and subjects headed to the Inca cities. Cuzco served as the Inca capital, but each region had at least one major city where government officials lived and religious ceremonies took place.

At a time when European cities had open sewers and garbage was dumped into the streets, Inca cities had clean running water and a complex sewer system. Some city engineers tapped into underground hot springs to provide nobles with hot and cold running water.

Expert weavers, potters, masons, and metalworkers congregated in cities to ply their trades. These jobs, like farming and herding, were passed from generation to generation. Children of craftsmen began studying for their trades at about six years old.

Even in the cities, few children attended schools. With no written language and a strict social structure that limited advancement, children had no need to know more than they could learn at home. Formal education was limited to sons of nobles, sons of provincial rulers and con-

Quered leaders, and the Chosen Women. Noble boys went to the school in Cuzco for about four years, where they learned history and military strategy, religion, and the use and development of the quipu. Teachers-amautas-disci-plined their students by beating or whipping them, a practice acceptable to Inca parents.

Llama Jerky

Inca wives were experts at preserving llama meat to make charqui. This meat product, pronounced CHAR-kee, is sold today in convenience stores and supermarkets throughout the United States as jerky (although here it is usually made from beef).

Traditional charqui (unlike modern jerky) consisted of seasoned and dehydrated meat packages that included bones. The Incas used the frosts and climate conditions of high altitudes to accomplish the dehydration.

Charqui preserved meat for storage in government and religious warehouses and fed families during the long Andean winters. Pieces of the meat were added to potatoes, other tubers, or dried corn to make wholesome stews. Traditional style llama charqui is sold in Peru's open-air markets and remains a staple protein for many who live in the Andes.

City life was not much different from rural life in that people were expected to work sunrise to sunset. They used their homes for sleeping and performed all other daily tasks outside.