CUZCO, PERU

We travelled from Santiago to Lima and then up to Cuzco, arriving at about 1:30 local time.  Our new Hostel Amaru is very charming.  The rooms all surround a beautiful courtyard with a view of the mountain sides that surround the city.

We went for a walk this afternoon to check out our new surroundings.  This city is very different from anywhere else we have been.  Everything is made of stone at street level and each place blends into the next.  In order to find out what is inside you have to go through the doorway and in most cases you can find very nice places.  Each entry way is very tiny at the street but opens up into amazing spaces behind.

This is a typical street in Cuzco, our hostel is located half way up he hill.  The tiny raised rock on the right is the sidewalk, just big enough for 1 person to walk on.  If someone is coming in the opposite direction you both have to turn sideways to get by.  The cars and delivery vehicles drive down the middle.  At night when there are a lot of people on the street sometimes you have to duck in to a door way to let someone by.  If it is tight the cars honk to let you know to squeeze over.

 The main square is located in the centre of the city.  The buildings around the square are magnificent.  They are mostly churches and museums. The larger more elaborate buildings take years and years to complete and employ hundreds of people.

This rock work is typical of the Inca buildings.  Each rock is strategically place with no mortar.  These buildings have withstood many earthquakes over the years and have barely shifted at all.  Quite amazing.

 The second day we were in Cuzco, it was getting a little easier to breathe so we decided to go for a walk up to an archaeological site located just above the city called Saqsaywaman (pronounced sexy woman).  So we packed our day bag and set off walking up and up and up.

 At the bottom of this last climb we met a local fellow that spoke some English.  He told us the site was located at the top, but then told us about two additional sites we could see by horse back if we were interested.  We could also get close enough to Saqsaywaman to see it without paying the entrance fee.  So we decided to take him up on his offer and set out to climb the last segment.

As we ascended in altitude breathing became more difficult.  Our new friend picked some mint that was growing in the wild, told us to rub it between our palms and then inhale the aroma.  It was like menthol and was suppose to open up your airways in order to breathe easier.  At this point we were game to try anything.  Not sure if it actually worked or was just a mental thing but it did seem to make it easier to breathe.






 The first site we came to was the Temple of the moon.  It was located in this very quite valley, with a small creek running through.  We were the only people around so it was very tranquil and beautiful. 

We entered the Temple through the small entrance located above the steps in the above picture.  The Inca's believe in three levels of life.  The past, present and future.  Each of these levels is represented by an animal. The past is represented by a snake, and on the entrance to the cave this snake was carved into the rock at the bottom leading into the cave. The next level is a puma which was carved about half way up leading out and the future was represented by the condor which was carved into the floor as you were leaving.  At the end of the temple was an large flat stone which was used as an alter to make offerings to the God.  Located above this stone was a small hole in the top of the cave which lined up with the summer and winter solstice moons.  As the moonlight moved over the hole during these two times it would directly shine on the alter.  It was very interesting to see and hear about from this local fellow.

 We mounted our horses and rode for another 20 minutes or so and came to another site of a series of caves.  Some were very small but others were large enough we could walk through them.  Each cave had small in caves carved into the walls where the Inca's used to keep there idols and offerings.  It was amazing to see all the different passage ways through what looked like a large rocky hill.

At this point we were overlooking the city of Cuzco with Saqsaywaman located about halfway down on the right.  We jumped back on the horses and rode them down to just above Saqsaywaman.  Our guide then told us that if we walked down the road a ways there was a path we could take back to where we started.  If were were questioned by any one we were to tell them we just wanted to go through the site to get back to town.  If we were lucky we could get some pictures of the site without paying the entrance fee.

We past this lady on our way down carrying her load from the fields to market.  The Inca people are very small, but extremely strong and do everything manually.

As we entered the path the security guard asked if we had our entrance fee.  I explained we just wanted to walk through to get back to Cuzco.  After a few moments of him speaking Spanish and me speaking English and not understanding one another I think he just gave up and let us pass.  By this point it had started to rain  so we just walked back down the hill and didn't try to enter the site as he was standing on the top of the hill watching us.

When we arrived at the entrance of the site there was a taxi, so we negotiated a price and got a ride back into town to the main square.

We thought this was a good start to train for the Inca trail.  Little did we know at the time that this climb was nothing compared to what was ahead.