Cusco - Day 2 (Saqsaywaman, Cristo Blanco, Tambomachay and Santo Domingo Cathedral)

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Overnight one of our group was stuck down with the dreaded TD so it was only 13 of us (plus Gina and Breytzi) who walked down to the front of the Dominican Convent of Santo-Domingo to board a bus that would take us on a tour of the Incan ruins to be found in and around Cuzco.

First we headed up to the fortress of Saqsaywaman along some very narrow, windy streets. On one particularly tight hairpin bend our driver Gregorio had some difficulty squeezing the bus through. The driver coming down the hill didn't want to back up to give Gregorio some room to move so we were at a standstill for a few minutes with the bus wedged between cars parked on both sides with only millimetres to spare! Eventually a motorcycle policeman arrived and the stubborn driver who wouldn't back up was convinced that perhaps he should do so. With a bit of extra wriggle room Gregorio managed to continue up the hill. He earned a round of applause for managing the tricky manoeuvre without scratching any of the vehicles involved!

Once again Breytzi amazed us with her knowledge and her passion for Peru's history and culture regaling us with a complete run down of the Inca's who ruled throughout the Incan Period. Breytzi explained that 'Inca' was actually the title given to the rulers of the people rather than the name of the population inhabiting the Andes from the mid-15th to the mid-16th centuries before the Spaniards arrived.

After our brief introduction to the Incan lineage, Breytzi guided us around the ruins of the Saqsaywaman fortress pointing out the most important features of the site. We were all almost equally captivated by the sight of alpacas roaming the site grazing. We stopped for photos at the far end of the site where the largest and the heaviest stones in the construction still stand.

From the fortress we could look across to the next hill to Cristo Blanco, the white Jesus statue that looks down over Cuzco from the hilltop. Gregorio had driven the bus around to meet us and drive us over to the next hill, but some of us elected to walk between the two sites. Hmmn, that may not have been the greatest idea given that we were all still struggling a bit with the altitude! But, with much puffing and gasping, we slowly made our way to the top of the next hill where we took photos of the statue and the view down over Cuzco.

We re-boarded the bus and continued on to our second Incan ruin for the morning, Tambomachay. This structure was an Incan water temple. To this day the natural spring continues to run through the original aqueducts constructed by the Incans. This site was a little further away from the city so Breytzi was able to point out some of the rural dwellings and the cow and cross adornments on their rooftops that (allegedly) bring luck and prosperity to the inhabitants.

As we left the site I took a photograph of a Peruvian woman with her Llama (which Gina tells us is correctly pronounced Yar-Ma). There are women and children willing to pose for tourist photos all around Cuzco and at the sites of Incan ruins for a price, of course! Gina had told us that an acceptable payment would be 1 Peruvian Solis (S/.) - about AUS$0.40 - per person i.e. one person = 1S/. A group of two or more = 1S/. per person in the group. This has to be paid to each person individually - you can't give a group of five women 5S/. and expect them to divide it amongst themselves! Gina also asked us not to photograph children as this encourages them to make money posing for tourists rather than going to school.

We drove back down into the city where Breytzi took us to the Plaza de Armas and then for a tour of the interior of the 17th century Cathedral of Santo Domingo. The cathedral is very extravagantly decorated with gold and silver ornamentation everywhere. The cathedral has a great many chapels, each of which has been adorned with a variety of religious artefacts donated by wealthy Spanish settlers. The overall effect is rather ostentatious.

From the cathedral a number of us ventured up to Jack's Cafe which Gina had recommended as a very good lunch/coffee option. Gina had told us that it is common for people to have to queue for a table and that the serves are on the large side. We timed our arrival perfectly and secured a table for nine of us immediately. When our meals started to arrive we all started to realise that we should have taken Gina's advice about large serves into account and shared meals. John and Carol were the only sensible ones who did this! For goodness sake, I ordered a toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwich that could have fed a football team and Bernie ordered a BLT sandwich that almost had an entire pig on it!!

After lunch we all went our separate ways. We went to the supermarket and bought some food to take with us for lunches over the next two days when we will be exploring the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. Gina warned us that it might be difficult to buy food that we would recognise while out and about and that it would be expensive. With this advice in mind, we stocked up on crackers, tinned tuna, nuts and chocolate.

With food purchased for the next two days we went in search of an optical shop to repair my sunglasses. We couldn't find anything between our hotel and the Plaza de Armas or within another block of the square. We eventually asked one of the many traffic police that are stationed around the city. Even with our virtually non-existent Spanish and her equally poor grasp of English we got the gist of where we needed to go. Amazing, we actually did find our way to an opticians even though Bernie thought she said two blocks and I thought she said 'cuatro' which I thought meant four blocks!!

We went into the store and showed the sales assistant (receptionist?) the problem. She went looking for the necessary tools and returned with some tiny screwdrivers to undertake the repair. Voila, it was easy with the right tool!! She didn't want any money for the repair job so I gave her the Aussie key tag that I had attached to my bag as a gesture of appreciation.

With my sunglasses fixed we headed back to the hotel, picking up our laundry on the way. It was ridiculously cheap to have all our dirty clothes washed and folded at only 6S/. per kilo. Our bag of laundry, which was dropped off late on Monday afternoon and ready to be collected by 1.00pm on Tuesday afternoon, only cost us 24S/. or roughly AUS$9.60. And it was much easier than trying to hand wash it and get it dry in our hotel room.

After putting our feet up in our room for an hour or so we headed out for a meal at 'Don Tomás' another restaurant recommended by Gina. After my HUGE lunch I ordered cream of corn soup for dinner. I don't know how he managed it, but Bernie ordered a lamb skewer that was accompanied by vegetables.



Steps 15,534 (11.48km)

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Comments

[Cheryl Blanchfield]

Jacks Cafe
Tracey, some of your descriptions of things, such as your lunch are just so funny!

[Caroline Brunner]

"Sexywoman"
I'm loving every minute of your touring in/around Cusco, it's bringing back so many good memories. Were you told that Saqsaywaman is pronounced "sexywoman"? Certainly helped me to remember it. Simply LOVE your panoramic photo of Cusco. The day we were at Cristo Blanco it was very dark and overcast and we couldn't see much of Cusco at all. You had glorious weather. Hope the remainder of your trip stays like this. All that flooding I mentioned is in the south of Peru so you should be safe. Cheers. Caroline