On the trail of the Incas

---

Our base for this trip was Cusco, which is at 3,400 metres above sea level so we both suffered a bit of altitude sickness. The local brew to combat altitude sickness is coca tea which is available everywhere. Suzanne said it was barely palatable and drank it like medicine. Cusco is a charming although poor city, which is heaving with cars, tourists and street vendors. The combination of high altitude, number of cars with poor quality emissions led to high air pollution.

We had a slight hiccough with our first meal when we tried to put the bill on our room but were politely told we weren’t staying there – to be fair both restaurant and our hotel had similar names.

Our first taste of Inca culture (Cusco was the Inca capital) was a tour led by a guide we nicknamed ‘Maradona’, who over-egged everything the Incas ever did and was always slagging off the spanish. He also said that the Cusco football team was once FIFA’s 13^th best in the world and that Jesus was its patron saint.

On the second day, when we visited the Sacred Valley, Suzanne pulled a sicky and needed an emergency nurse who checked her blood oxygen level (it was OK). It was more an upset tummy – the first illness of the holiday. Despite this John really enjoyed the day and climbed hundreds of steps. A nice diversion at the end of the day was a visit to a craft centre where a traditionally dressed girl showed us how to dye alpaca wool and entertained us with her amusing anecdotes.

The next day was another 04.30 start to catch the train to Machu Pichu. In the wet season (ie now) the first part of the journey has to be done by bus because of landslides. Finally a bus took us up the mountain to the ruins. What a mind-boggling sight it was especially as some of the mountain peaks were shrouded in clouds. They were smart builders and farmers these Incas; pity they never wrote anything down as a lot of the interpretation is speculation. A torrential downpour took us to our hotel to dry off - bliss, there was a heater to dry the clothes.

---

Photos

The Woods at Machu Pichu
Note the style-conscious Suzanne wearing the latest in rain ponchos

Coffee in Cusco
Enjoying coffee opposite the cathedral.

Courtyard in our Cusco hotel
It was a colonial building with interesting courtyards

Santa Dominica
This catholic convent was built on the site of an Inca temple in 15th century

Remains of Inca temple in Santa Dominica site
Note the closely fitting stonework. This was the highest quality used for temples and palaces. Walls were always leaning to combat earthquakes. It seems to have worked.

Saqsayhuama
An Inca temple just outside Cusco - commonly called sexy women to help pronunciation for tourists

Sacred valley
This was an hours drive from Cusco (Suzanne's sicky day). The terraces were used for crops. They were different widths to absorb different amounts of sun - different temperatures for different crops.

John in Pisac
Another Inca ruin

Inca stones
Typical second grade stonework used for houses and civil buildings - note no mortar.

Inca tombs in Pisac
They buried their dead as high as possible to ensure an easy passage to the next life.

Calendar rock at Ollantaytambo
The Incas used this mountain as a calendar by noting where the sun rose according to features on the mountain.

Face in the rock at Ollantaytambo
See if you can see this face in the previous photo. The Incas carved this image of a god in the granite sheer mountain face.

Comments

[Emily]

Just looked through all your photos and blog from last two entries. Amazing! Some great pictures, we did laugh at you in your inca costumes- I hope you will be wearing these next time we see you! Mum, just how many scalfs have you bought so far? I can spot one new one. I remembering doing lots of case studies

[woodsinsa]

skirts and scarves
Emily: The skirts was something out of this world. It had a tape through the waistband to fit any size. Thought you may like one! Only a couple of scarves so far.