Cusco

This is a picture of the entrance to our hostel in Cusco. There was no heat in the place as far as I could tell. As you look through the doors, you can see a hallway which leads to some steps up to a lobby/breakfast area. It was cute and quaint. The lobby area was open to the sky and there was a tarp which could be pulled over when it rained. The rooms, probably 10 or so, opened off the lobby, down little nooks and crannies. Our room was down some steps from the lobby. At night it was pretty cold in our room, but our beds had 6 wool blankets on them, so we were cozy, once we were under the covers.










This is a view of our room---pretty cute and cozy. There were three beds and we had our own bathroom. There was no hot water in the sink--typical, and the shower had an electric heater in the shower head. That was interesting. I will post a picture later. Our windows opened onto the street and if you remember the street was quite steep, so we had a nice view. There was a restaurant below us and on Friday and Saturday night, it was party central. Those were the two nights that neither of us was feeling very well, so rather than go join the party, we just laid in bed and tried to sleep and ignore the noise.

There was a street protest and I took a picture (duh). A woman who was on the street by me asked me where I was from. Her English was pretty good--- so I was able to ask her what the protest was for. She said these people were angry with the president---Alan Garcia---because they had lost their jobs and were middle to older age and felt they would not be able to find another job. She was very nice to talk to. She told me she had worked on a cruise ship off the coast of Florida, but she was from Cusco. In the background you can see a giant mural which depicts the history of Peru.

This more modern structure had a fountain on the opposite side. It was in a park south of the main square. I don't know all the things represented, but you can see the puma, which is how Cusco was laid out by the Inca Pachacuti.

I felt right at home with a billboard advertising feminine hygiene products :-). What was even better was that the advertisement said "Discover the wonder of the world" and then showed a picture of Machu Picchu. Oh, my.....

Q'enko

Q'enko, another Inca ruin above Cusco, is about 1/2 mile from Sacsayhuaman. The hike was fairly easy, fairly flat along a road that was not very busy. But, I was feeling the effects of the altitude that day and it seemed a lot farther than 1/2 mile.

In this picture you can see the carved out remains of a large ceremonial chair. Q'enko is a small ruin believed to have been the site of ceremonial rituals of fertility and solstices.

This picture shows a large table believed to have been used for sacrifices.

Q'enko is primarily a series of carved stones which were used for tables, chairs, and other ceremonial uses. They sit atop a hill underneath which are caves and tunnels---at least that's what the guide book said. Grant and walked the perimeter of the ruin and couldn't find any way to get under the ruin. There were no guides at the site---in fact we saw only two other people the whole time we were there.

The site of Q'enko was beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing. Even Grant welcomed the chance to sit and relax.

We were there on a Monday which was probably part of the reason there weren't many people. We also happened to be visiting the ruins in the off season.

This day, December 5, also happened to be my mother's birthday. She would have been 92.

This is the view Grant saw as he sat at Q'enko. You can see Cusco below. Cusco sits at an altitude of 11,000 feet. I don't know the altitude of Q'enko and Sacsayhuaman, but you can see that they are considerably higher. I would have loved to have had a GPS on this trip.

This picture also shows the remains of another structure, perhaps something for storage.

Here Grant is heading up the hill away from Q'enko. You can see the wall of Q'enko on the right and on the left is a grove of trees that I was enthralled with. I haven't been able to identify them. The bark looked like the bark of a cedar tree, the leaves were long, thin, and smooth. The "nuts" were small with a point on each end and on the ground they were opened across the middle and had a star design on the inside.

There are two more ruins above Cusco. The next one is about a mile from Q'enko and the last another 1/2 mile or so from it. When we left our hostel that morning, we had planned to visit all 4 ruins. It didn't seem like a bad hike---two miles each way. Two miles at home are nothing, but two miles at 11,000 + feet was something else. We decided to return to Cusco after visiting Q'enko. We were hungry, thirsty, and feeling the effects of the altitude. I worried that Grant would be disappointed and feel he had missed out because he was with an "old" woman, but I think he was ready to return also.

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.

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.