Cusco and the Sacred Valley

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From Lima, we flew to the city of Cusco. At 3,326 m (about 11,500 feet), it took us a couple of days to acclimate and get ready for the next phase of our trip. Mate de Coca (coca leaves) is served everywhere to help fight the symptoms of altitude sickness. Cusco (originally called ¨Cosco¨which means ¨belly-button¨in Quechua) was the center of the Inca empire. It is also apparently the continent´s oldest continuously occupied city. Many of the Inca buildings here were destroyed by the Spanish, who built many of their buildings on top of the Inca foundation walls. There are many Inca ruins outside of the city center and in the Sacred Valley outside of Cusco along the Urubamba River (which becomes the Amazon in Northern Peru and into Brazil).
Cusco is a big city (approximately 350,000 inhabitants) but the city center is all narrow, windy, cobblestone streets with many examples of Spanish Colonial buildings. Tourism is the city´s biggest industry, now, though, and hotels, travel agencies, shops and tourist restaurants are abundant. We were amazed at the amount of Pizza and Italian food served here!

Next Stop: The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

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Photos

Inca Stonework
Cusco was the capital of the Inca empire and there are many examples of their amazing masonry in the city and surrounding areas. All of their stones were irregulary shaped and locked into the next stone without mortar for increased strength. Through the detailed connections between stones and at corners, and the layout of the walls, the Incas made their buildings very seismically resistant.

Quechua Weavers
Weavers in their traditional costumes demonstrating their craft. The textiles here are very ornate and tightly woven (and are just about everywhere you look!)

Quechua Weaver with sheep
Quechua woman in traditional clothing. She put this hat on for the photo in place of the more common sunhat that she had been wearing. These women (and children) are sitting all over the place waiting to be photographed (for a price - about 35 cents).

Spinning yarn
Quechua woman spinning sheep´s fleece into yarn. You see them spinning yarn all the time, often while walking down the street.

Rebecca at Puca Pucara
Puca Pucara (meaning Red Fort) is one of the four major ruins outide the city of Cusco. We took a local bus to the farthest one and then visited the rest while walking back to Cusco. Rebecca takes a moment to sketch and figure out the plan of this building complex.

Moche (actually Conopas)
Conopas are seen on the rooftops of most of the houses. They are good luck charms used to ward off evil spirits. These Conopas were originally native animals that were more connected to Inca culture (such as pumas and condors) but have now taken on more of a Spanish influence.

Don at Qenko
Quenko (which means zig-zag) is a ceremonial Inca ruin outside of Cusco. It is speculated that these channels were used for ritual sacrifices of chica (fermented corn beer) or blood. We saw pottery like this in the Inca museum in Cusco and a man told us (in Spanish - I think we understood!) that this pottery was used to drink chica and determine whether it would be a lucky or unlucky year (depending on the path that the chica followed).

Rebecca with Llama
Walking back into Cusco from the ruins (in the rain), we spotted a Llama on the sidewalk. Couldn´t pass up the opportunity for the photo.

Cusco
City of Cusco and the Plaza de Armas

Viva el Peru!
Seen on the hillside outside of Cusco

Cooking Class
We signed up for a cooking class in Cusco. The teacher picked us up and took us to her house where we prepared Quinoa Atamallada. The dish was very rich and full of protein. Ingredients included quinoa, potatoes, onion, cheese, milk, garlic, cumin, ginger, salt and pepper. Here we are sitting down to eat after we finished.

Musica Folklorica
A show at the local native dance center demonstrated dance and costumes from 6 different regions in the Cusco area.

Agricultural terraces at the Pisac ruins
Pisac is in the Sacred Valley about 30km outside of Cusco. The Pisac complex is bigger than Machu Picchu and includes agricultural terraces, dwellings for Inca royalty, administrative and military buildings, tombs, and temples. Incas are famous for their agricultural terracing - they constantly experimented with different plants and different climates and reproduced their successful expirements throughout their empire. They produced an incredible amount of crops (potatoes, corn, beans, quinoa) and because of the extreme climte were able to freeze dry their food and store it for decades.

Pisac Ruin Templo del Sol
Templo del Sol at the Pisac ruins. The building is in the shape of the head of a condor (which was worshipped as a messenger to the gods and afterlife).

Pisac with the Germans
Sharing a beer with Irmi and Bernie, a German couple that we met and shared a taxi ride and guided tour of the Pisac ruins with.

Quechua Boy
Quechua boy drinking his father´s Coke. It took a lot of effort to get the drink to his mouth, but he finished most of it himself!