Sacsyhuaman

Grant and I visited Sacsayhuaman, an Inca ruin located above Cusco. It was a steep hike up the mountain ---about 30 minutes. Historians believe Sacsayhuaman served as a religious temple, although the zig-zagged walls give the appearance of a fortress. My picture doesn't do justice to the size or dimensions. It was an impressive site because of its size and the size of many of the stones. The stone you see in the background of this picture is 11 feet tall and said to weigh 300 tons!


Many of the stones in the walls are placed to be the design of an important animal to the Incas. Can you see the llama in this picture? Luckily our guide showed us a few---I wouldn't have been able to find them without help.








Here the guide is showing us the outline of a pigeon.

Can you see the guinea pig in this wall? Guinea pigs have been an important staple in the diet of Peruvians since Inca times and before.

In the upper left hand edge of the wall you can see some small rocks placed. Some well meaning people placed the small rocks in spots where the walls had begun to deteriorate. Historians and archaeologists do not want this to be done because they believe it ruins the integrity of the site.

Here Grant shows his fist to resemble the puma paw fist. Cusco was designed by the Inca Pachacuti, who carefully walked out the design of a puma. Sacsayhuaman, which sits at the top of the hill (mountain) overlooking Cusco is said to be the puma head, with the walls being the teeth of the puma.

Sacsayhuaman was the site of the last major battle between the Incas and the Spanish conquistadors. The Incas held fast and almost defeated the Spanish, but in the end, with better weapons, armor, and horses, the Spanish were just too much.

Cusco

Cusco was the seat of the Inca empire. This is a picture on the Plaza de Armas---once a great square where celebrations, sacrifices, etc. took place. The Spanish tore down the great Inca palaces and built their churches on the foundations. The picture on the left is of the Templo de la Compania de Jesus. It is built on the site of the palace of the Inca Huyana Capac, said to be the most beautiful of all rulers' palaces. On the square you can see a group of schoolgirls. I enjoyed seeing all the kids in their uniforms.


This picture, also on the Plaza de Armas, shows La Catedral. It was completed in 1669 and has a painting of the Last Supper showing the apostles drinking chicha (corn beer--drink of the Incas) and eating cuy (guinea pig). It is built on the site of the Inca Viracocha.








This picture shows Grant by an Inca wall that remains standing on a side street in Cusco. As you look at the wall, notice how smooth and straight the stones are. They fit so tightly together (without any mortar) that nothing can slip between them. They have withstood many earthquakes which have devastated other buildings in Cusco.




Here Grant stands on the site of Qoricancha, the former Temple of the Sun, said to be the most sumptuous temple in the Inca empire. It housed 4,000 of the highest ranking priests and was said to be a glittering palace---Qoricancha means "golden courtyard" in Quechua. Hundreds of gold panels lined the walls, life sized golden statues, solid gold altars and a huge gold sun disc which reflected the sun were on the interior. The Spanish emptied the temple of the gold, which they melted down, ransacked and tore down the temple and then built on its foundation the Convento of Santo Domingo. You see it in the background.

Another view of the former site of Qoricancha. Looking closely you can see the remains of an Inca wall. The grassy area was part of the original temple and was built over with houses that were damaged in earthquakes. In an effort to clean up the area in the late 1990s, the shacks were torn down and in the process, treasures of the Incas were found, including pottery, mummies, weapons, and jewelry. Because these were buried underground, they were not found and destroyed by the Spaniards.

Nicole

I'm going to veer a little from the Peru postings to congratulate my niece Nicole on receiving the Paul M. Bator award. The award recognizes a young academic—under the age of 40— who has demonstrated excellence in legal scholarship, a commitment to teaching, a concern for students, and who has made a significant public impact. Nicole is a law professor at Notre Dame University. Check out the link: http://law.nd.edu/news/10766-prof-nicole-garnett-wins-paul-m-bator-award. We are very proud of Nicole for all the achievements she has accomplished.

Cusco---Calle Resbalosa...

We arrived in Cusco at around 6:30 a.m. We took an overnight bus trip which left Arequippa at 9:30. As we expected there were tons of taxis waiting. Grant would never take the taxis closest to the bus stop, so we walked down the street a little and got a cheaper taxi. I had checked out some hostels in our book and gave the driver a name and zoom, we were off. He drove as close as he could to our street, but if you look at the picture, you can see that our street was really a stairway and no cars drove on it. We unloaded from the taxi with our backpacks and headed up the stairway. It was quite a little jaunt---and at an altitude of 12,000 feet, it was taxing. Once we settled into our room, we took a little nap. Sleeping on the bus was fine, but not the most restful.
Oh, about the bus trip---we left in the dark and before we were on the road even 20 min., we were doing switchbacks. There was no light and I was praying that we wouldn't go over an edge that I couldn't even see. I was glad to fall asleep. I did wake up a couple of hours later when we were obviously no longer on a paved road. I was a little disappointed not to be able to see all that we were passing through---I imagine it was pretty impressive.


This is the view of the Plaza de Armas from the patio of our hostel. The buildings around the square were all built by the Spanish. They tore down the Inca palaces and left the foundations upon which they built their churches.

This is the view of our street looking down from our hostel door.

Calle Resbalosa means slippery street and it was slippery. The cobblestones are worn smooth and the steps of the street slant downwards which makes going down them precarious---especially if they are wet.

Here's a shot of Grant at the top of the Calle Resbalosa, the street our hostel was on. The street is quite long, you can't see our hostel from this view. We hiked to the top of the street and continued uphill for about 30 minutes to get to the ruin which overlooks the town. In the picture you can see Grant holding the husk from an ear of corn we bought on the street---choclo con queso. Peruvians love their corn and believe it to be the best in the world. The ears of corn are shorter and fatter than ours and the kernals are very large and puffy. It is good---but our little purchase of choclo con queso on this day didn't prove to be very good for either of us. Grant got really sick, with fever and chills. I just had diarrhea---in fact we both did for almost a week. It was the queso--not the cheese. I thought when I tasted it that it tasted funny, but sometimes cheese tastes funny, so I didn't worry---quess I should have.

Can't upload pictures

I've been trying the past couple of days to upload some pictures, but it hasn't been working. So, if you're looking and wondering why I haven't put up any pictures lately, that's why.

Cruz del Condor/ Colca Canyon

This picture at Cruz del Condor is of Grant and Emily, from Holland. Emily was with our tour. She grew up in Holland, but lives in Switzerland. She was traveling around Peru for 5 months by herself. She was nearing the end of her travel.














Here Grant is studying the depth of Colca Canyon. In the distance you can see a town in the valley. Living in little towns in the valley hasn't changed much over the years. The towns are very isolated due to the difficulty getting in and out. Electricity has only recently been added. The residents are pretty much self sufficient.













Here I am posing for a picture with a little girl and an alpaca. The alpaca was very friendly and decided to give me a kiss.










Grant is pictured here with Brodie and Todd, from Seattle. They, too, were with our group. They were on a 6 week trip to South America. They have a friend in Seattle who grew up in Joplin, and we shared some of the observations about the midwest, the election, and travel.







This eagle is native to the Colca Valley. We are not sure of the kind of eagle it is.
The town is Maca, a little colonial village near Chivay. The Spaniards build little churches in all the little villages and most of them had arched entrances.

Cruz del Condor

This picture was taken on the road from Chivay to Cruz del Condor. The holes in the side of the mountain were used by the pre-Inca people of the valley for various uses, including food storage and burial. The more important the person, the higher up the mountain they were buried. The bodies were taken up the cliffs by ropes. Most all of the bones have been stolen by grave robbers so the holes are now empty.

Here is Grant at Cruz del Condor, Colca Canyon. We arrived here about 8 o'clock in the morning in hopes of seeing the condors. Unfortunately, we did not see any condors. The best time for viewing is June through September and we were there in December. I was disappointed because the condors supposedly fly right over your head and you can get great pictures. But, the view of the canyon itself was wonderful enough. Colca Canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world. The deepest canyon is Cotahusi Canyon, which is also in Peru, not far from Colca Canyon, but more difficult to reach. Colca Canyon at its deepest is 11,150 feet, more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The canyon is formed by volcanoes, so it does not have the steep drop offs like the Grand Canyon.

Grant and I are at the canyon. We are standing on a rock, but it wasn't nearly as dangerous as it looks. Beyond the rock is a more gradual decline. But, beyond that, the mountain falls pretty steeply to the floor of the canyon.

This picture shows the view across the canyon. I zoomed in as closely as my camera would allow and if you look closely, you can see paths zig zagging up the side of the mountain. Close to the top you can see some buildings. I couldn't tell if they were homes or not, but I think they were probably animal enclosures. You can see a path leading horizontally across the mountain. These roads are just donkey paths, therefore making travel through the canyon slow, to say the least. Even on our side of the canyon the roads were dirt and bumpy. Cruz del Condor was only 31 miles from Chivay, but it took us 2 hours to make the trip.

Along the way back from Cruz del Condor, we stopped several times to take pictures of the views. This little girl was posed with her llama at one of the stops, but she was not pleased with his behavior. Llamas can be quite obstinate and this one is trying to eat her hat.