Cusco, Peru - March 2015

I flew into Cusco after three days in Lima, with Lima at sea level and Cusco at around 3360 metres I wasn't sure how my body would adjust. Luckily I seemed to adjust alright, with only a very mild headache on the first night, what was very noticeable however was how breathless I became with any kind of exertion, walking up the stairs in the hotel with my bags had me breathing heavily and wondering how I was going to carry my pack over a 4600 metre pass in a few days.

Hotel Siete Ventanas, my Cusco home.

A typical narrow road in Cusco.

Cusco was basically the Inca capital during its hey day, although the city pre dates the Incas by a very considerable time it was around the 15th century when it was in its prime. After the Spanish Conquistadors came they looted the city and trashed the buildings, using the Inca buildings as building materials to construct their own Churches and Monuments, which in a lot of cases were built directly on top of the Inca buildings and scared sites. Ironically after successfully subduing the Inca empire in Cusco the Spanish realised that they needed the capital to be near the sea and so moved the government to Lima.

The famous twelve cornered stone in Cusco, so famous it even features on the label of the local beer.

The view from my room, Cusco at night.

After checking into our hotel we went and explored the modern day Cusco on foot. I say 'we' as I'd now met up with my friends Petra and Rita, and I'd also met my new friends Rose, Greg and Deb who, along with our guide Pepe I would be trekking to Machu Picchu with in a few days. First up we checked out the famous 12 sided stone before heading to the Plaza de Armas to get a bit of a lay of the land. Pepe showed us around a little while we got our bearings before he then did what Pepe was best at and that was take us to a great restaurant for lunch, it was here over a great meal and a few drinks that the group got to know each other. With lunch over we retired to the hotel with instructions to take it fairly easy today until we got acclimatised, so the rest of the afternoon was spent checking out some of the nooks and crannies in Cusco. We had a fairly early night that night with Rita and Petra still pretty jet lagged, after popping a couple of head ache pills I slept well.

Tambo Machay.

After breakfast the next day we headed off to Tambo Machay to check out the Inca ruins, this involved a slight up hill stroll past a small market. Having never been to this altitude before for any length of time (I'd been this high on a bus trip to a volcano in Hawaii for a short time) I was still apprehensive as to how my body would adapt to the thinner air, so subconsciously I was constantly monitoring myself for any unusual symptoms of altitude sickness. Like a lot of Inca sites the exact purpose of Tambo Machay is not 100 % certain, but the smart money is on it being a site that was used in the worship of water, this is backed up by the cascading water fountain and also the quality of the stone work. The more important the site, the higher the quality of the stone work was the general rule in the Inca empire.

Tambo Machay in the hills above Cusco was the first chance to check out how our lungs would perform on the trip.

We all made it up to Tambo Machay with no obvious ill affects so after returning to the car park Pepe decided that we would walk to our next site Puca Pucara. This wasn't a risky decision though as I could of basically thrown a stone to Puca Pucara, it was a fairly short stroll. Puca Pucara is thought to have been a hunting lodge although some people think it may have been a military fort or checkpoint. From the knoll where Puca Pucara is located there were extensive views up and down the valley, its speculated that the Incas communicated using a series of these sites all situated on higher ground and thus got messages through a lot quicker than a man could run.

Puca Pucara from the car park at Tambo Machay, I reckon we'll make it.

Incan stone work at Puca Pucara, the hole was carved into the stone by the Inca's for drainage,

Looking down into the valley from the top of Puca Pucara.

From Puca Pucara we jumped back on our small bus and made the very short journey down to Q'enko. Q'enko was a fascinating site, basically limestone outcrop with tunnels cut through it. Its thought that Q'enko was a sacred site, and judging by the beautifully sculptured altar carved into the rock in the middle of the limestone outcrop I'd say they may be onto something. To get to the altar we made our way through a series of tunnels before arriving at an altar carved out of solid rock, a bit of natural light was filtering down onto the altar through cracks and crevices above us, which certainly is how I would imagine an altar to look, after quickly establishing that we didn't have a virgin in our group to sacrifice to the gods we headed off towards our next stop Sacsayhuaman.

Looking through the eucalyptus down towards Cusco from Q'enko.

Sacsayhuaman was originally thought to be a fortress but since archaeologists discovered Inca tombs here its now generally thought of as a temple and a place of worship to the sun, whatever the reason for its construction its a stunning place. Remembering that everything was constructed without machinery, its mind boggling how the Incas managed to move rocks that have been calculated to weigh up to 361 tonnes around and then slot them into walls that appear almost seamless. Sacsayhuaman was in fact used as a fortress for a short time at the end of the Incan empire as Manco Inca unsuccessfully tried to reclaim Cusco from the Spanish. Pepe took us through a series of tunnels carved into the rocky hillside before we popped out into the daylight near the Amphitheatre which was overlooked by an Inca Throne and some huge smooth rocks which were thought to used by high ranking Inca officials to observe ceremonies down on the Amphitheatre. Passing through the bustling car park we re grouped and headed up the grassy esplanade towards the highest point on the site, this basically involved following the enormous three tiered stone walls gently up hill. This is the mind blowing section of Sacsayhuaman, just trying to get your head around the effort and ingenuity that the Incas must have used to manoeuvre these rocks around. The walls used to be topped by three giant towers but the Spanish razed these to the ground after defeating Manco Inca, Sacsayhuaman was then unfortunately used as the site of an unofficial quarry so some of the smaller stone work was purloined by the Spanish to build their houses and monuments, despite that its still a very impressive spot.

The giant rock slides and amphitheatre at Sacsayhuaman.

Pepe took us through a series of these passages tunnelled into the rock.

The largest stones were set at the apexes of the zig zagging walls for structural strength.

The tolerances on the stone work is amazing considering that the Incas had no machinery to help them and what we would consider rudimentary tools.

Check out the size of some of these blocks of stone, there is one here at Sacsayhuaman that weighs 361 tonnes, remember they were moved and worked on with no mechanical aids.

Looking up to the foundation of the Muyu Marco Tower, one of three large towers that were originally on the site, the Spanish razed them to the ground when they defeated Manco Inca.

Returning to Cusco we went out to lunch in another great restaurant (surprise, surprise) before wandering down to the historic Coricancha & Santa Domingo Monastery. This site was originally the centre of the Incan religon with four small buildings around a central courtyard, it also housed some of the most important Inca mummies which were reportedly perfectly preserved. once again after the Spanish conquered Cusco they looted and destroyed the site, eventually be-questing the site to the Dominicans who built their church over the site. Somewhat ironically seeing that the monastery was built to emphasize the superiority of the Christian religion over the Incan beliefs a big earthquake in 1950 destroyed the monastery but left the fine Incan stonework intact. I slept well that night after a fairly busy day, happy that I seemed to be showing no ill affects to the altitude yet.

Part of the old Inca Sun Temple that survived at Santo Domingo.

The courtyard at Santa Domingo.

Clouds building late in the day over the hills around Cusco.

Looking out over the roof of our hotel just on dusk.

Next day we packed up and headed off towards The Sacred Valley, on the way we stopped at a fascinating place called Chinchero. Chinchero is 400 metres higher than Cusco, a small village on the the Anta plains, once again it has an impressive colonial church built over an Inca site. The village is mainly comprised of small adobe houses and narrow Inca lanes. there is also some impressive Inca terraces and stonework. My highlight of our visit was a demonstration by some of the local ladies on how they weave and colour the Llama wool, it felt like we had been invited into their home. They ladies demonstrated how they use ingredients found locally to colour and stain the wool, while doing this they were wrangling a couple of toddlers who were wondering what these gringos were doing in their yard. After saying our goodbyes to the Chinchero ladies we boarded the little bus and headed off into the Sacred Valley......

The Anta plains, around 400 metres higher than Cusco.

Chinchero

Three of the Chinchero locals in their traditional dress.

As was reasonably common when the Spanish defeated the Inca's, the colonial church at Chinchero was built on top of an Inca site, the alter inside of this church was very impressive but no photos allowed.

The split level plaza at Chinchero, and the obligatory craft market.

Some of the local ladies demonstrated the techniques they use when working the Llama wool.

Colouring the wool.

Weaving the wool, the quality of the finished product was way above what we normally buy back home.

Some of natural ingredients (is that right?) that the ladies use to colour the wool.

The Dirt.
We stayed at Hotel Siete Ventanas in Cusco, it was a nice clean place with extremely friendly staff and free wifi in the rooms. From my room I had a bit of a view out over the roof tops to Cusco and the surrounding mountains, the best thing though was that it was an easy stroll to the Plaza de Armas and all its attractions. Unfortunately I can't really remember the names of all the restuarants that we ate at in Cusco, maybe that's something to do with the Pisco Sours that we were drinking, but I do remember that we didn't go to a dud restuarant while we were there. Cusco is a big town and can supply all your needs if you're trekking, as well as providing an ideal base to get acclimatized to the altitude for a couple of days. Most of the archaeological sites around Cusco require an entrance fee but its possible to buy a pass that's valid for ten days and it may be a cheaper option if your planning to visit a few of the sites. Overall I really enjoyed my time in Cusco and if time and money weren't an issue I could easily have stayed longer.

Late afternoon at the Plaza de Armas, Cusco.

The Cathedral.

Morning peak hour Cusco style.

The roads in Cusco weren't really designed with buses in mind, it pays to keep an eye out if your on the footpath in case your collected by a passing mirror!

The inside of the Cathedral at Cusco on the evening of Easter Saturday.