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Published: July 21st 2008
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We travelled on to our next stop, Cusco, by bus, passing some great scenery along the way. As we reached the highest pass, there were snow capped mountains and the inevitable market stalls selling all sorts of llama and alpaca clothes that you can find everywhere in Peru! After the pass, we headed down through the scenic valley, passing little villages and towns... a taster perhaps of things to come on the Inca Trail!
When we arrived into Cusco, the city was really busy. We stayed near the main square, Plaza de Armas and the road outside was full of children dressed in colourful local dress. After we checked in, we watched as hundreds of children danced down the road outside of our hotel to Peruvian music, heading into the main square. Apparently there are always parades going on around the square in Cusco! We had seen the main square on travel programmes so many times it was all a bit surreal wandering around, especially with parade going on at the same time.
Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire and around the area are there are a few Inca sites remaining. Unfortunately, when the Spanish arrived in
Cusco to take over the city in 1533, they destroyed most of the city, including the Inca buildings, palaces and temples leaving just a few ruins. They then tried to change the culture of the people and their religion too. Most of the Inca temples and palaces were covered in gold so it must have been amazing to see Cusco in those days, it must have been some city!
We spent quite a bit of time in Cusco and it could well be one of the most beautiful cities we have visited so far in South America, with great colonial architecture and fantastic plazas dotted around the city. The main square is the site of the cathedral, which, quite common in Cusco, was built on the ruins of an Inca palace. It houses lots of artwork which is a mixture of Catholic and the local Andean religion, the best example being a piece showing the Last Supper... but on the dinner plate is a guinea pig!!!
High up above Cusco is the site of Sacsayhuaman, incorrectly pronounced by “gringos” as "sexy woman”, close but not quite! No one is really sure what the site was, as the Incas
did not write any of their history down. When the Spanish arrived they wrote stories of what they found and believed it to be a huge fort... it is now thought that it could have been a temple. The stonework is incredible with huge stone blocks which have been carved so accurately that they fit together with no gaps between them. What is left is impressive enough, but apparently it is only a small fraction of what the original site used to be. We visited a few other ruins on the hills above Cusco, including the Inca baths fed from a natural spring and Q'enko, a small site that has a huge rock monolith that casts a shadow of a puma on the winter solstice.
As Cusco is situated not too far from the world famous Machu Picchu, it is full of tourists, and well set up to cope with all the “gringos”... we even managed find an English restaurant selling a decent cup of tea... PG tips imported all the way from the UK!!! Despite the gringo feel, we spent our time visiting a couple of churches and a few museums, including the interesting Inca museum. When we
weren't learning what we could on the fascinating Incas, we were sampling some of the many fantastic restaurants and bars, trying local dishes such as alpaca and llama and the ancient Peruvian chicha beer.
We finally left Cusco, heading for a tour of the Sacred Valley before starting the Inca Trail the next day. We stopped at a local community to see how they make the colourful alpaca clothes, before heading on to the ruins at Pisac, perched high up on the side of the valley above the modern town of Pisac. The terraces and ruins were a spectacular site from the valley floor, and climbing the long path up to them and then around the ruins gave a spectacular view down the valley. The paths were narrow and clung to the side of the mountain, sometimes with sheer drops to the valley below... an indication of what is to come on the Inca Trail perhaps!
Back on the bus down the Sacred Valley, we stopped at a small farm to taste some more locally brewed chicha beer... one was flavoured with strawberries and tasted more like a cocktail and was definitely the best we tasted! After this
quick stop, it was on to Ollantaytambo, a small village in front of some huge Inca terraces built into the side of a steep mountain. It was a very steep climb up to the top, where an unfinished temple was located. Again, there were seemingly impossibly large stones carved out of rock and fitted together without any gaps, just amazing... especially located where it was!
We were staying in the village below the ruins for just one night, but still had time to have a quick look around some of the market stalls in the village square, before having a quick bite to eat. The next morning, we were starting the Inca Trail... and neither of us could wait!!!
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