Show Transcript
Dr. Ramiro Matos, Curator, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
The tambo is simply a lodging place. Tambos were supplied and constructed to accommodate individual travelers, groups, or llama caravans.
You see, it’s a space, a rectangular enclosure with a door, where travelers spent the night and the troops could sleep. And it was an enclosed space, closed by a single trapezoidal door. And now we will enter the open space, which is also an important part of the tambo. Here in the open space, people could relax, sit, cook, eat.
There were tambo managers, almost like employees. They lived there, the man and his family, his wife. So he waited with water, with some herbs, and some food. And with a space for the llamas.
It’s almost the beginning of hotels, accommodation services.