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Published: March 10th 2007
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Cuzco´s Plaza De Armas
Cuzco´s Plaza De Armas (every town in Peru has one with the same name!) Jen here... (apologies this is so late - it's hard to keep up with the blog, pictures and emails!)
As Andrew explained, we arrived in Cusco on Tuesday, February 6th, in rough shape after our second overnight bus ride. Unfortunately, the bus arrived early, so there we were, in Cusco´s famous Plaza De Armas, at 6 am with bags under our eyes and nowhere to go as nothing had opened yet! Fortunately, we didn't have to wait too long for the restaurants to open their doors, so breakfast killed the time to when we could check out the accommodations. After viewing a few hostel options (we´re getting better at asking the right questions and checking important things like: are there sheets on the bed, is the bed reasonably comfy, is there hot water, is there a toilet seat, etc.) we finally found a great room! The room was seriously half the size of our old apartment, with 3 beds, private bath and a very small balcony... although I didn´t try, I could have done cartwheels across the room it was so big! It was also really nice to know that we had 3 nights in the same place, and to
Waiting for Peruvian Busses
In South America, nothing runs on time...mummy from the Incan museum in Cuzco be able to spread out all of our stuff (we each got a bed to empty our backpacks on!). As our room was not ready when we arrived, the hostel was nice enough to give us another room to sleep in until ours was ready - it was sooo nice to stretch out on a bed and get some zzz's! The rest of the day was uneventful - we walked around town a little, and had lunch at a pub (sometimes familiar food is really comforting!) which had a great view of the main plaza, and later Andrew set up the laundry line in our room and we did some much needed laundry knowing that everything had time to dry!
The next day, we decided it was time for some culture. Having purchased our Boleto Turistico, which gives you access to most of the main attractions, we started at an underground museum built below the Inca site of Coricancha and the colonial church of Iglesia de Santo Domingo. The museum houses artifacts found when the surface area was excavated and turned into a city park. In short, the Spanish conquistadors looted and destroyed much of the Inca temple, and
Sexy Woman
A very Sacsayhuaman! It is truly one of the most impressive sites we´ve ever seen....massize stones all fitted perfectly together then built their church on top of the Inca foundation (today, the church still occupies part of the building which is off limits to the public). As the building sits atop a hill, there were many artifacts found in the courtyard area below, which is now a little park. As you will see in the pictures, Andrew is facinated by the mummies (he calls the picture, "still waiting for the bus"!). We then visited the Coricancha/church, which has excellent examples of Inca stonework, including a perfectly fitted, curved, 6m wall on the outside of the site which has withstood all of Cusco's earthquakes.
Our third day in Cuzco was my favorite: we grabbed a local bus to take us 8 km out of town to the farthest of 4 ruins, and then walked back to town visiting each of the sites on the way. The first 3, Tambo Machay, Puca Pucara and Qenko, were each interesting and fun to explore, but by far the most impressive and facinating is Sacsayhuaman, which sounds like "sexy woman"!. Although the site seems huge, what visitors see is only 20% of the original structure. It is impossible to capture the site in pictures,
Train to Machu Picchu
Our train to Machu Picchu. It´s the lazy way to get there, but the Inca trail is closed in February for clean up. but you'll see from those we took that some of the stones are simply massive (some weigh over 300 tons)! The fort saw one of the most bitter battles of the conquest between the Spanish and the Inca. The grounds are today used for Inti Raymi, an annual festival held on June 24th.
Once back in town, we purchased our train tickets to Machu Picchu and bus tickets to Puno (our next and final stop in Peru). I'll hand off to Andrew for Machu Picchu...
This portion of the blog is written by Andrew…we´re splitting this one because this is my first time seeing Machu Picchu (Jen was here four years ago when she did the Inca trail with her friend Sarah).
Machu Picchu is an amazing place, mostly because of where it is located. It sits on an almost impossibly remote mountain peak…it really feels like the middle of nowhere. The mountain is narrow, with very steep drops down to fast flowing rivers on both sides. The mountains are covered with lush growth with ever-present clouds that offer brief glimpses of the surrounding peaks. Very mysterious place to build a little city. Not exactly my idea
Machu Picchu with Wayna
Machu Picchu with Huayna Picchu in the background. of a perfect summer palace location, but that´s mostly because the cold beers are all the way down in the valley.
The highlight of our visit was climbing up Huayna Picchu, the higher peak that looms over Machu Picchu. It was closed (too wet) when Jen was here four years ago, so it was a first for both of us. The climb is basically an hour long stairmaster from hell up a rock path that switches back as it hugs the side of the mountain. It´s not a difficult path to negotiate, with steel cables acting as railings on the inside where it gets really steep. What makes it interesting is the absolutely incredible views, and the fact that there are no railings on the outside. For most of the trip, the only thing between the path and a sheer cliff several hundred feet high are a few ferns. At the top, you lose the ferns. It started to rain the moment we got to the top, which made the trip down a little challenging.
And back to Jen...
The train to Machu Picchu starts and ends in the village of Ollantaytambo, which sits in the Sacred
Andrew with view
Andrew almost at the top of Huayna Picchu... Valley. On our way back to Cusco, we stopped in Ollantaytambo to visit another ruin. The Inca fortress here marks one of the few places where the conquistadors lost a major battle. At this point, however, we were "ruined out", and decided to head straight back to Cusco for a little rest, some shopping and our final night in the beautiful city of Cusco.
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