Fit and fully acclimatised from from our Inca Trail, we set out to enjoy the old Inca Capital by ... doing absolutely nothing. Even the thought of going down some more steps was too much. No, no; much better to enjoy modern comforts like showers and proper beds.
Pisac - a market town built on Inca foundations
After about a day of aching muscles, we felt brave enough to venture back out into Cusco and took a city tour, which was a mixture of colonial (i.e. Spanish) buildings and Inca temples and forts dotted around the city. Whilst Machu Picchu gave us an idea of what the Incas could achieve (with alot of slaves), seeing the huge amount of ruins around Cusco showed us what the empire was like on a day-to-day basis. The famous Sachsayhuaman (another Inca temple, which they used as a fort in their last stand against the spanish) was also on the itinerary. A real marvel of the Inca skill at stone masonary was a huge rock (over 100 tonnes) cut precisely with 13 different angles to fit seemlessly with the rocks around it (you can´t even slide a piece of paper in between the joints).
Katie with the ´Inca Observatory´ behind her.
After a few more days spent in Cusco, enjoying the museums and cafes, we ventured out further afield into the start of the Sacred Valley (so-called because of the extremely fertile farm land and the sacred Urubamba river, which ran through the heart of the empire). Aside from small towns dotted around the valley (many of which still retain their Inca customs - our guide alledged that bartering started here, something which we took with a pinch of salt), there are dozens of former Inca settlements, whose reptuations are eclipsed by Machu Picchu´s, but are still stunning in their own right. In particular there is Ollantaytambo; a huge sturcture comprised of many terraces (used for farming), with huge images of gods seemingly carved into the mountain itself (one of which is perfectly aligned to be eclipsed by the sun during the summer solstice). Really quite remarkable for a civilization with no written language.
Terraces of Ollantaytambo - we couldn´t get the tourist in the jumper out of the shot...
With a little sadness, we decided that it was time to leave Cusco, which really is an incredible place on this planet.
Peru's Flag
Map of Peru