TRAVELS AROUND THE WORLD: 2014_09

GOOD MORNING CUSCO!

Up early - view from our balcony!

Connie just commented that "a nights sleep in an oxygenated room is a wonderful thing". She feels oxygen is a "wonder drug". I agree - feeling great this morning.

Had a wonderful breakfast today at the hotel. This place is really special! The wait staff was super attentive - pretty much anything you asked for was provided right away. I should have taken some pictures of the food.

At 9:30 we met our guide for the day from Mountain Lodges of Peru Liz. VERY pleasant young lady who took us around for a Cusco city tour. Liz is the only female trip leader on the trek that we will be doing to Machu Picchu. She says she has done it about 60 times! Unfortunately she won't be able to lead us on our trek - she is scheduled to lead another group 2 days after ours :( She told us later that she is a mountain climber (for fun) and has climbed a bunch of real high mountains in both Peru and Ecuador. I mean real high - over 6,000 meters (19,685 feet). She says she is as uncomfortable at that altitude as we are in Cusco (11,200 feet). I guess! Told us a bunch of stories at lunch about mountaineering including sliding down 1,500 feet out of control tied to her boyfriend on a glacier. On her first mountain climbing trip. Wasn't hurt at all! And she kept at it!

First stop - Saqsaywaman (Temple of the Sun). Also known as Sexy Woman (I agree!)

Closeup of Inca rock construction at Saqsaywaman.

Panorama of Saqsaywaman. This place must have been spectacular. It sat high above Cusco and was considered in the heart of the Inca empire.

The best-known zone of Saksaywaman includes its great plaza and its adjacent three massive terrace walls. The stones used in the construction of these terraces are among the largest used in any building in prehispanic America and display a precision of fitting that is unmatched in the Americas.^[10] The stones are so closely spaced that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones. This precision, combined with the rounded corners of the blocks, the variety of their interlocking shapes, and the way the walls lean inward, is thought to have helped the ruins survive devastating earthquakes in Cuzco. The longest of three walls is about 400 meters. They are about 6 meters tall. The estimated volume of stone is over 6,000 cubic meters. Estimates for the weight of the largest Andesite block vary from 128 tonnes to almost 200 tons.

The group at the highest point of Saqsaywaman overlooking Cusco.

Guide Liz giving us the history at stop 2 - Q'enqo. Off to the right is a naturally occurring rock formation that the Inca called a wak'a. They believed that these rocks defined a holy place. It is believed that scarifies and mummification's occurred here.

Down in the cave where the sacrifices and mummification processes occurred.

The group in front of ruins at stop 3 - Tambomachay (The Temple of the Water).

Closeup of the aqueduct water feature - Water has been flowing continuously from underground springs since it's construction.

Stopped for a view of The Red Fortress, named for the red color of the rocks. Click on the image to enlarge it. You might see the fortress behind this guy.

We headed back to Cusco for a lunch at Pachapapa (Father Earth) in the San Blas artisan's district. The appetizer would have been enough! But then there was the main entree and dessert. Pretty great! Some of us are still a bit off and didn't eat too much. I made up for them I think.

After lunch we were on foot - walked back to The Plaza of the Armas - more images of that tomorrow. We visited the main cathedral Cusco Cathedral. I thought the amount of art and silver displayed on the walls and alters was stupefying! We were not allowed to take any images in the cathedral but I will takes some from the internet.

Exterior view of Cusco Cathedral.

The most famous painting in Cusco Cathedral. The artist Marcos Zapata slipped many Inca images into the painting. The most obvious in the guinea pig (cuy) on the main platter in the center of the table. The first person on the right is Judas Iscariot with the head of Francisco Pizarro (the Spaniard credited with the capture and execution of the Inca emperor Atalualpa. "Judas" is also clutching a bag with pieces of silver under the table. Pretty subversive artwork and it apparently got by the censors!

Walking the narrow cobblestone streets of Cusco.

Inca rock construction in Cusco. These huge stones were cut and fit in place using no mortar! Somehow!

It's been said that you can't fit a dime between the joints of the stones. We used a Peruvian Sole and it didn't go in very far. This gap was actually one of the wider ones. I was too lazy to move over a bit to a tighter joint.

Closeup of the stones. Each of the cuts had to be made exactly to allow the next stone to be fitted.

Later in the museum we saw that not only were they cut exactly to the correct sir they ware also made to fit together with these locking mechanisms. You never saw this part of it fro the outside. It is thought that this also helped the Inca walls survive earthquakes.

Looked like stormy weather on the way to Qorikancha (The Temple of the Sun) The white building. Never rained though.

Along the way.

Inside Qorikancha. You stood up on a stone to see through three consecutive windows on three walls. This depicted how exacting the Inca could build their walls.