Advertisement
Or if you prefer the Quechan translation
Qusqo . The navel of the Earth has a tourist ticket you are obliged to purchase for 70 Soles ($21approx) that expires ten days from purchase. With this ticket in hand stamped and certified you're on your way to visit the historic sites outside the city mainly, you guessed it!, INCA ruins of:
- Pkillacta and Tipon (day trip on local buses)
- Pisaq (day trip by far the best on the ticket)
- Tambomachay, Pucapucara, Cusillichayo, Q'enqo and Saqaywaman (bus to Tambomachay then following the road back to Cusco on foot)
- Chinchero (didn't visit basically rave about the church mmm seen plenty)
The boleto turistico gets you entry to many of the museums in the centre, too - they are MUSEO:
- de Arte y Monasterio de Santa Catalina (very good)
- Historico Regional (good aka Casa Garcilaso)
- de sito Qoricancha (okay)
- Monumento Pachacuteq ( if you have nothing better to do, maybe)
Not visited by us were:
- Municipal de Arte Conemporaneo
- de Arte Popular
- Qosqo de Arte Nativo Danza Folkloricas
On
our first day in town we were pretty tired after the over night journey from Arequipa...we rode on
Expreso CIAL an excellent service and less expensive than Ormeno, big comfy leather seats, served a snack, and given a blanket! Really, who could ask for more other than an actual bed but hey got a great night sleep on a bus. Who would have thunckit possible?
It's worth while droppin into the official tourist office on Calle Mantas to get an A4 size map o f the city - so much better than lugging around our wieghty out of date guide book.
So I digress , our first stop on the ticket was an underground museum of Qorikancha it was several rooms with pottery, jewelry and other artifacts it small but nice not much in formation in English and when you exit you end up in the garden. Side note about the garden, apparently locals had built dwellings on the site but the land was reclaimed by the government and the original remains restored, kinda crazy?
The garden is lush green with remnants of Inca past greatness. A large Inca wall that has survived many Earthquakes is visible
from the street a church was built upon it by the Spanish. It seems that the Spanish built churches or monastaries over everything Inca in the city centre.
Makes you wonder what the place might look like today had the Spanish not succeded - one local told me had
the Inca prevailed that Peru would be one of the most powerful nations today
Hmm, considering how much wealth left the country the may be on to something, sadly, that wasn't meant to be.
Off the tourist ticket, we went to Santo Domingo to see what the Spanish built on top of Qorikancha. A church of course and a lot of dire paintings of a very very bloody crucified Christ - When entering there is a huge sign saying this site is not included on the tourist ticket!
So we paid up for admission... the first room is impressive with bright vivid colorful murals then you walk through the court yard to see some of the Inca remains within and there is a room exhibiting contemporary art. Leaving the site we penned our names to the visitors book and noticed the following anonymous entry
I wish I could go back in time and destroy the Spanish
! The place is far from uplifting, it's quite sad to these great Inca stone walls robbed
of their original meaning.
One thing I noticed is that the walls seem fixed into the Earth and protected from natural disaster while the churches seem to be crumbling in certain places.
At museum Inca Garcilaso is a great building and home to the last Inca prince which it is named after probably has the most disturbing painting of what appears to be a nun with a baby breast feeding and a monk doing the same on the other breast! Personally, an image I could've done without seeing in my lifetime. But, hey, what do I know it may have some religous significance I'm unaware of?
Enough museums for a couple of days we plan a visit to Pisaq which was a great outing and we met some really nice people there - by passing the huge maze of an open market where there are plenty of local craft goods to be purchased. If you haven't read already
¿A relaxing day? The next day we took a local bus up to Tambomachay got off walked to the entrance got our ticket punched then walked about the site before crossing the road to Pukapukara enjoyed the view took phtos
Snto. Domingo church
built on Inca place of worshipthen carried on down the road to Q'enqo. It was hot and the road isn't exactaly what we were expecting country trail would have been prefered eventually we begin walking along these woods that run adjacent to the road as we walk and talk we see smoke in the near distance, seems someone has a makeshift campfire or shrine didn't approach as it really wasn't any of our business plus there was a stray dog that suddenly appeared and followed us until we got off the path near the temple fire...
Q'enqo from a distance looked like a part of the natural terrain it's only when you get up close do you see its hidden treasure. There is a "tunnel" with a ceremonial block and above there are other details carved into the stone one in the shape of a llama an other is a circle with a zig-zag where Chicha (corn liquor) was either made or used?
After crawling around, up and over Q'enqo eventually we make it to Saqawaman (sexy woman) the head of the Puma. Cusco was designed to resemble the shape of a puma and at Saqsawaman there are these massive jagged (zig-zag) walls
teracced on three levels. Some weighing several hundred tons - quite a site - these walls represent the teeth of the Puma. We knew there were tunnels at this site now it was just a matter of finding where they where... once located, we get the flashlight out because it is pitch black once you get away from the enterance and having one flashlight between us it was slow going sense we had to keep sending light back and forth to avoid head injury, actually it wasn't so bad but another light would have helped. We ended up back in a huge courtyard.
While walking around we ran into an American couple who where from Arizona and Colorado - when we exchanged greetings they asked where I was from I said California. Then they asked what my nationality was? Huh, umm, American I said but added that my family originate in Mexico. Seems most US Americans I happen to meet are amazed with my EXCELLENT English speaking ability until I let them know I'm Californian and even then they wonder about my citizenship?! Kind of strange ...
Then all the Peruanos say but you look Peruana! so, again,
I go through a similar process in reverse while speaking Spanish. Like when Sean and I were in India back in 2000 a lot of people thought I was native there...
The way I'm beginning to see it; is this is a positive discovery. It means I'm able to basically fit in and not stand out too mush as a tourist which is great people tend to give me a better deal if they think I'm native. Definately a bonus.
Especially when Peruvians refer to tourist as Kangaroos because they all carry back packs or a waist bag on their front that is obviously filled with their most valuable possesions like a kangaroo. We basically leave everything of value in the hotel safe until we are ready to depart to our next destination.
Well back to the ruins next on the list are Pkillacta this ruin is pre-Inca Wari and you see the difference in the brick work design it isn't as refined and smooth like the Inca buildings. We wandered around the walls at times having to scale up and over to continue on our unorthodox path as we didn't follow the marked arrows - making
our own way the place was basically desserted with the exception of a two vendors selling their crafts while being shaded from the heat of the Sun by a eucolypus tree.
Walking towards the main (only) entrance we are told by the woman in charge that there is a museum we can visit so we are like great, let's go! We head towards the back of the building as she seemed to indicate the entrance to the museum should be, finding a litter of little pups barking and whining and through the windows we can see the items on display but all the doors are locked! Eventually we head back upstairs to the office where we realize is also the way into the exhibit - small but very cool. Doesn't seem many visitors to the ruin actually drop in on this gem of a museum as most travel via taxi on to the next site of Tipon.
Strolling down towards the main road we see in the distance the Inca gate called
Rumicolca it's a sight to see! We didn't see it from the road when we got off the bus to visit Pkillacta but Sean
bones
museo at the entrance office to Pkillacta very cool thing sense it was soo unexpected knew it was in the area it's about 500 meters around the bend of the road from where the bus lets you off. At the impressive gate a couple of local boys who seem to be watching their flock of sheep get to play tag all over this ruin it's like a big toy they get to climb on to run down and all around seems to nice to have this in you back yard... We use the steps to get to the top and it's high and you can see the over growth inside what looks like an aquaduct system at least what remains of it. The wind is very strong once on top of Rumicolca as we take in the view we see a young lamb fall into the 'well' while both young boys scale effortlessly to rescue it Sean and I go to help but find we aren't as agile as the boys and in the end didn't need our assistance sense they were so quick.
Leaving the gate we head back to the 'bus stop' basically a big rock on the side of the road heading back toward Cusco direction to visit Tipon. We get
aboard a local bus as we reach our drop off point I notice a sticker on the inside that basically translates to
better the chola I know than the gringa with AIDS
AIDS in Spanish is SIDA tried to snap a photo of it but we where ejected from the bus - they don't give you any time you jump off while others do their best to squeeze on.
We get a taxi to Tipon which is very high on the mountain above the city. We asked our driver to wait for us while we had a looksy 'round the site. Kept seeing mounds of stones in a circular shape, musing they might be tombs or something of other significance I ask one of the security men what they are and to my dissapointment he informs me that the fallen rocks are collected in this way and eventually used for restoration on the site. These acient ruins yet they appear so modern especially when the water system still functions as originally inteded.
Our driver waiting in the shade, we all get into the car drive down the narrow, rocky, pot-holed road as we go down every hair-pin turn the driver ask if we are interested in having
lunch at the best place to eat in town. We're like sure why not, the Place is call Don Tomas and is further down the road in Cusco's direction about 10-15 mnutes.
Seems really busy with locals with nice garden seating. Entering through the main door walk towards the garden where we take seats and have a look at the menu. Everything seems yummy and the prices aren't bad either. There 's a cool breeze in the air so we collect the menu's and head indoors for warmth. At some point we change table, I forget why, but the waiter takes the menu's from us and assures Sean that we'll be attended to promptly. The said waiter returns to our new table near the door and extremely loud speakers that are blasting the most horrible Spanish/Quecha rap music, handing us menus, right? Turns out these our the
tourist menus with prices listed a third higher than the menu's we had previously! Outrageous, really, so I call the waiter over and ask for the original one's that are only in Spanish as opposed to the bilingual tourist menu - translation services may be costly but not sure if the
cost should be passed on to the end user. In the end this place was a mistake the food was nice but the service and atmosphere was awful not recommended.
After lunch we head back out to the main road to catch a bus back to town. As always, it's an adventure and you gotta laugh out loud for the craziness of the world in general.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.263s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 20; qc: 86; dbt: 0.1034s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
marty solis
non-member comment
fun
I am happy to see that you are having.