Tiwanaku

High up in the mountains, where the clouds float by, I sit beside a big, shiny lake. I am made of giant, heavy stones. Some of my stones have faces and pictures carved right into them. They are like a storybook made of rock. It took many strong hands to lift each stone and place it just right, like building with the biggest blocks in the world. Who could have built such a wonderful place so high in the sky. I am Tiwanaku, a city built by clever hands a very, very long time ago.

My builders were the Tiwanaku people. They were so smart and so strong. A long, long time ago, around the year 400, they started making me into a big, beautiful city. They built a giant pyramid that looked like a staircase to the sky. It was called the Akapana. They also made a special doorway from one single, giant stone. It is called the Gateway of the Sun, and it has pictures all over it. For hundreds and hundreds of years, I was a happy home. I loved to hear the sounds of children laughing and families talking. Farmers grew yummy potatoes nearby, and everyone gathered for happy celebrations.

After many years passed, around the year 1000, the people moved away and I became very quiet. The wind was the only sound for a long, long time. But I am not forgotten. Today, friends from all over the world come to visit me in Bolivia. They walk carefully around my stone walls and look at my carved pictures. They wonder about the people who lived here. I am a whisper from the past, reminding everyone that people can build amazing things. And I am here to teach you that old stories can still be heard, whispering on the mountain wind.