500 years? Seems like yesterday in the Andes

On a busy Peruvian street, crammed between a video store and a restaurant, is a narrow, stone storefront with the words “ransom room” carved above the door in Spanish.

Inside, in a small courtyard, sits the only significant Incan ruin in this Andean town. It is a smallish building, at least compared with the modern structures around it, and a garish, mismatched roof of adobe and corrugated metal tops its perfectly fitted stone walls.

Certainly, nothing about the building suggests the kidnapping of an emperor, a ransom of gold and silver, or the demise of an empire that once stretched from northern Ecuador to northern Chile.

But that is precisely what happened here nearly 500 years ago, when the Incan emperor Atahualpa offered to fill a room once with gold and twice with silver in exchange for his freedom from the Spanish conquistadors.

A fascination with the Incas -- and the Andes in general -- drew me to Cajamarca a couple of years ago, where I listened as tour guides related Atahualpa’s story. Getting to the city was not easy: It came only after a 12-hour microbus ride shared with a motion-sick woman, a rooster and a guinea pig. When the lights of Cajamarca finally appeared in a valley below me, I felt like kissing the ground.

But like most modern visitors, Spaniard Francisco Pizarro and his band of roughly 170 would-be conquistadors arrived from the opposite direction, from the coast. Today, a well-paved highway links Cajamarca with the Pacific.

In 1532, however, the path was so bad that the Spanish cavalry members often had to dismount from their horses and walk.

When he arrived above Cajamarca, Pizarro found a daunting situation. The valley was covered with the tents of the Incan emperor Atahualpa. His army, an enormous force, had just defeated troops loyal to Huascar, Atahualpa’s half-brother and rival to the throne.

Still, Hernando Cortes had already conquered Mexico’s Aztec civilization by taking its ruler hostage and pitting enemy factions of natives against one another.

In the aftermath of the Incas’ bitter civil war, Pizarro must have seen a similar opportunity.

Green valley and gold

Modern Cajamarca is a rapidly growing city of about 100,000 that is known for its fine cheeses, crisp air and extraordinarily productive goldmine.

The city is set in a green Andean valley and is surrounded by pre-Incan ruins, dotted with attractive colonial churches and generally infused with a take-it-easy vibe.

The area has been populated for millennia. In the eerie, treeless highlands above town, I toured pre-Incan irrigation canals that span the continental divide, diverting water bound for the Amazon to rivers rushing toward the Pacific. Carved from solid rock into right angles and smooth curves, the canals have a grade so slight that water appears to run uphill.

Nearly as impressive is Otuzco, a rock wall pocked with pre-Incan funerary niches. And in Cajamarca itself, the main plaza alone contains a 300-year-old fountain and two colonial churches. One of the churches houses a museum of colonial art, and I spent part of an afternoon there looking at darkly religious paintings and haunting a small catacombs littered with skulls and femurs.

Little remains of the people who interested me most: the Incas. To relive their story, you need historical perspective and a little imagination.

Cajamarca was an important stop on the Incan highway between Cuzco -- the capital and Huascar’s home -- and Quito, the empire’s northern hub and Atahualpa’s base. The Spanish, arriving in 1532, found the town nearly empty, however, as most of its residents had gone to the nearby hot springs, where Atahualpa was camped.

Pizarro sent 35 horsemen to meet him there. Surrounded by the Incan army, the Spanish were relatively gracious. They greeted Atahualpa, offered military aid and wheeled their horses, unknown to the Incas, around the courtyard.

Then they invited the ruler to return to Cajamarca to meet with Francisco Pizarro.

In what would prove to be a fatal mistake, the emperor agreed.

The Spaniards made the trip to the hot springs on horseback. My Ecuadorean friend Cyana and I arrived in a beat-up white Nissan microbus. We whizzed through Cajamarca and its outskirts, past hole-in-the-wall restaurants, legions of automotive stores and pastures filled with dairy cattle. And then, a few minutes later, we were in a town again, and the passengers around us were telling us that si, esto es, this was our stop.

We stepped out of the bus and into the carnival that is the town of Banos del Inca -- Baths of the Inca -- on a Sunday afternoon. Everywhere, someone was selling something, candy, deep-fried flatbread, TV antennas and single-use packets of shampoo-conditioner.

This last item was aimed at the throngs of visitors to the actual Banos del Inca, a complex of soaking tubs that use the same geothermal waters in which Atahualpa once bathed.

Around us, several families carted soap and shampoo into private rooms, apparently planning to bathe instead of simply soak. Finally, we got our turn in a small, white-tiled room, complete with a deep, wide pool for soaking. We filled the tub with nearly scalding water, and I sank up to my nostrils, closed my eyes and relaxed.

The entire effect was so pleasant that I couldn’t help but wonder why Atahualpa, described as 30-ish, chubby, noble, would have wanted to leave this place at all.

But leave he did, parading into Cajamarca to meet the Spaniards with an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 men, many wearing gold and silver finery, none of them heavily armed. Pizarro’s men were hiding in the buildings lining the square. When Atahualpa rejected a priest’s demand that he convert to Christianity, the Spaniards swarmed out of their hiding places, brandishing swords and yelling battle cries.

It was a slaughter, historians say. Swinging swords from horseback, the Spaniards massacred several thousand largely unarmed Incas, who threw their bodies in front of their ruler or trampled one another in a panicked attempt at escape. Amid the chaos, Pizarro himself led a group that took the emperor hostage.

For unknown reasons, the tens of thousands of Incan troops camped on the hillsides never came to their leader’s rescue.

Noting the Spaniards’ fixation on precious metals, Atahualpa decided he could buy his way out of his predicament. He purportedly offered to fill a room once with gold and twice with silver in exchange for his freedom. The Spaniards quickly accepted.

I ran my fingers along the perfectly carved stone blocks that make up the “ransom room.” Archeological excavations had pitted its floors, but the building’s walls were still largely intact, right up to the red line indicating the height to which Atahualpa supposedly promised to fill the room with treasures.

The ruler’s fate

As a blue-vested tour guide named Jorge explained (for a tip), neither the room nor the line is now thought to have much to do with the emperor’s ransom.

Instead, the building may well have served as the Inca’s cell, the room where he lived during the eight months it took to accumulate the promised riches.

That was no small task: By July 1533, the Spaniards had melted down 13,420 pounds of gold and 26,000 pounds of silver -- a quantity that would be worth more than $86 million on today’s bullion market.

This, however, did Atahualpa absolutely no good. On July 26, 1533, with the ransom in hand, the Spaniards went back on their word, wrapping a rope around Atahualpa’s neck and killing him on Cajamarca’s plaza. Apparently worried that the Incan ruler was summoning an army to free him, the Spaniards decided to play it safe and execute him, according to some historians. They say Atahualpa avoided being burned at the stake only through a last-minute conversion to Christianity.

In a final indignity, the Spaniards also gave Atahualpa a Christian name upon his conversion -- probably Francisco, after Pizarro.

On one of my last days in Cajamarca, I climbed Cerro Santa Apolonia, the huge hill in the city’s center. On top, I found a stone called the Silla del Inca, the Chair of the Inca. Although a guide told me that the stone probably was a pre-Incan ceremonial altar, legend has it that Atahualpa used to sit on it as he reviewed his troops.

Looking across the green pastures and red-tiled roofs of Cajamarca, I imagined the valley as it would have looked to Atahualpa in the days before the Spaniards’ arrival, covered with troops, tents and campfires. Perhaps it gave him a sense of security.

After his death, the Incas fought a series of losing battles against the Spaniards. But their best chance for victory had ended with Atahualpa’s death.

The Spaniards -- who had repeatedly assured the Incas that they came in peace -- won a stunning victory in Cajamarca by virtue of surprise, deceit and superior weaponry. And they did not lose a single man in the effort.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Land of the Inca

GETTING THERE

From LAX to Lima, Peru, nonstop flights are available on Lan Airlines; direct (stop, no change of plane) flights are on AeroMexico and connecting flights (change of plane) are on American, Continental, Delta, LACSA and Copa. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $439.

From Lima to Cajamarca, Aero Condor (www.aerocondor.com.pe) and LC Busre (www.lcbusre.com.pe) have daily flights. Round-trip fares begin at $207.

TELEPHONES:

To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 51 (the country code for Peru), 76 (the regional code) and the local number.

WHERE TO STAY

Hotel Laguna Seca, 1098 Avenida Manco Capac, 894-600, www.lagunaseca.com.pe, is not in Cajamarca but just outside the town of Banos del Inca. The attractive, sprawling country estate has its own thermal pools, spa, Turkish baths, and horse and bike rentals. Doubles from $107.

Hotel Casa Blanca, Plaza de Armas, 446 Dos de Mayo, Cajamarca; 362-141. Rustic courtyard and a lovely lobby with a stained-glass window. On the main plaza. Slot machines in the lobby are a minor annoyance. Doubles from $31.

Hotel Plaza, 669 Amalia Puga, Cajamarca; 362-058 . This is a decent choice in the budget category. The rambling old building has some rooms with a plaza view. Doubles with shared bath begin at $8.50. Doubles with bath cost $14.

WHERE TO EAT

El Batan, Gran Bufet de Arte, 369 Jr. del Batan. This is Cajamarca’s best restaurant. It boasts an attractive courtyard, excellent and varied food, and even an upstairs art gallery. Entrees run $4-$6, with a three-course lunch special for about $3.50.

Cascanuez Cafe Bar, 554 Jr. Amalia Puga. A nice spot, especially for coffee or dessert. Entrees $4-$7.

TO LEARN MORE

Consulate General of Peru, (213) 252-5910, www.peru.org.pe.

Enjoy Peru, (888) 223-6772, www.enjoyperu.com, is a consortium of travel agencies.

-- Ben Brazil