March 8 Cusco city and nearby ruins

I know there are certain of our friends and followers who are interested and enamored by great hotels, and the Belmond we stayed at in Cusco was certainly an exceptional hotel.  For them I offer the following pictures.

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We began our day early, as usual to explore some of the important sites in Cusco, the historic capital of the Inca Empire. Our first stop is at the Cathedral.  Construction on the church stared in the 16^th century and took over 100 years to complete.  The church’s foundation is an ancient Inca temple known as Kiswarkancha.  You can see the original foundation walls all throughout the church.  Here you can see from the outside the original Inca walls.

Inside, you can see the remains of the original temple that were exposed only after an earth quake.  Note there is no mortar used in the Inca construction and all the stones were cut using other stones as they had no metal strong enough to cut stone.  The stones were made to fit via a Lego like system.

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The work is amazing and a testament to the ingenuity of the Inca and the foolishness of their conquers who imposed their own techniques which were clearly not as strong as those of the indigenous people.   The Cathedral has many beautiful alters and chapels and includes the figure of the Black Christ, a wooden crucifix that has darkened over time from centuries of smoke and dust. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed in the Cathedral.Fr

Fom the city we ventured out of town to Sacsayhuaman (pronounced like sexy woman, that is what the guide said, so don’t blame me).  This is an ancient citadel overlooking the city.  Most of the stones were taken by the Spanish to build the Cathedral in the city. Of course, there are alpaca in the fields around the citadel.

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Speaking of alpaca, from here we went to Awanacancha, a llama and alpaca “farm”  where Cathy got close to the animals.

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Then we went shopping.  Cathy bought me an alpaca scarf, only it’s a do-it-yourself kit.

After lunch we had time to walk around the city on our own.  Cusco is a blend of history and modernity.  Very quaint.  Many tourist shops mixed with “high end” boutiques. 

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A late dinner with Pisco Sours and then it was off to bed, for an early wake up call for our flight tomorrow back to Lima.

Connections have been sketchy so I will try and catch up as I can. We are in Rapa Nui (AKA Easter Island, tomorrow we will catch the sunrise).