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Published: December 3rd 2014
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Today we leave Peru for Panama! But before we left Kelly and I did some last minute sightseeing, finally making our way up to Saksaywaman (pronounced sexy woman). Located on a steep hill that overlooks the city, Saksaywaman contains an impressive view of Cusco as well as the entire valley. While it is only a 20 minute walk up there, given our soreness and the high altitude we decided to take a cab.
Because of its location high above Cusco and its immense terrace walls, this area of Saksaywaman is frequently referred to as a fortress. In fact much of the fighting occurred in and around Saksaywaman as it was critical for maintaining control over the city. It is clear from descriptions of the siege, as well as from excavations at the site, that there were towers on its summit as well as a series of other buildings. The large plaza area, capable of holding thousands of people, is well designed for ceremonial activities and several of the large structures at the site may also have been used during rituals.
The best-known zone of Saksaywaman includes its great plaza and its adjacent three massive terrace walls. The stones used
in the construction of these terraces are among the largest used in any building in prehispanic America and display a precision of fitting that is unmatched in the Americas. The stones are so closely spaced that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones. This precision, combined with the rounded corners of the blocks, the variety of their interlocking shapes, and the way the walls lean inward, is thought to have helped the ruins survive devastating earthquakes in Cuzco. The majority of the stones are massive in size, estimates for the weight of the largest Andesite block vary from 128 tons to almost 200 tons.
Following the siege of Cusco, the Spaniards began to use Saksaywaman as a source of stones for building Spanish Cuzco and within a few years much of the complex was demolished. The site was destroyed block-by-block to build the new governmental and religious buildings of the city, as well as the houses of the wealthiest Spaniards. Unfortunately, today only the stones that were too large to be easily moved remain at the site.
Although the site was incomplete and had few walls remaining you could still tell how
different this place was from the other sites I visited. To begin with these walls were made up of rocks that were cut into perfect squares. The squares were then stacked on top of each other despite their massive size. In one of the attached pictures you can see me standing next to one wall and my height equals about two and half stones.
From Saksaywaman we walked over to “White Christ” or “Cristo Blanco”. This statue of Jesus Christ overlooks the entire city and is lit at night which is an incredible sight. The statue greatly resembles the "Christ the Redeemer" statue atop the Corcavado in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) but is much smaller in size.
While trying to find our way back to town Kelly and I ran into a woman running who offered to show us the way back. Unfortunately I did not make out her name but we learned that she is from Lima and was in Cusco for the weekend. The woman’s family owes an organic farm business and that business sponsors Peru’s two Olympic runners. The runners were in Cusco that weekend for a race so the woman accompanied them. She told
us about all the great products her family makes from all organic products that they grow themselves, including quinoa cake, protein bars, and a sugar substitute. The woman was very interesting and before we parted ways we all found each other on facebook.
Immediately upon returning to our hostel Kelly and I called a cab and were soon on our way to the airport. Peru was so incredible it was hard to leave it, though we were definitely over the high altitude. The experiences I had here were simply amazing and I write in this journal to make sure I remember everything for years to come.
We arrived in Panama at around 9:30pm. All the cabs have flat rates to the downtown area so we shared a cab with this young guy from Germany. With just a 30 minute drive from the airport I quickly noticed how different Panama was from Peru. The downtown area is often referred to as a “concrete jungle” and what an accurate description. Huge skyscrapers line the horizon with little to no green foliage visible anywhere. But our hostel was located in Old Town which was drastically different from the downtown area. The
streets here were narrow and the buildings were old and rundown, almost all were missing windows and/or doors. Every building had a locked gate blocking the front door and our hostel was no different. Our hostel was awesome though, marble floors and high ceilings. The only downside was the lack of AC which was definitely necessary. Panama was very hot and humid, a complete 180 from the weather in Peru. Our dorm room in the hostel was very impressive, it had two bunk beds each with their own side tables and lamps. This place was definitely one of the nicer hostels that I had been in!
The hostel gave us a map of Old Town and clearly marked the places to avoid, especially at night. Given these warnings Kelly and I choose not to venture too far for dinner. We picked an Italian place close-by which served home-made spaghetti and Peroni.
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