Inca sites around Cusco

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There are many Inca sites around the pretty city of Cusco and it is worth buying the big tourist ticket which includes entry to many of them. Our first stop was Tambomachay which is a water fountain still running today. The Incas were very clever at directing water from the mountain springs to wherever they needed it. Next stop was Puka Pukara a sort of fort where the stones are perfectly cut and aligned. Next we went Q'enqo an interesting labrynth in the middle of which is a very cold slab on which the Incas preserved the very important people by mummification. They remove the organs and then dry the body. On we went to Saqsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman!). Here are really massive stones which had to have been moved from 3 to 5 kilometres away. We still don't know how they did it, but it puts Stonehenge to shame. Every stone is so perfectly carved. Unfortunately thanks to the Spanish we only see about a third of the height of the original as stones were removed for building churches and houses. The Peruvian government has only fairly recently woken up to the fact that the Inca ruins are really worth preserving as tourism is now one of the mainstays of their economy. Following this last visit we walked back to the centre of Cusco via several hundred steps. Don't come to Peru if you have bad knees as there is a lot of climbing up and down steps. The Incas may have been little people but they certainly made some big steps. The centre of Cusco is quite pretty with some squares bordered by lovely colonial buildings and churches. There is a huge central market which is worth visiting if you want to get souvenirs. We tried to buy lemons for our tea but they only seem to have limes. Interestingly the butchers sell one kind of meat, so you go to a pork butcher or a lamb butcher. Peru also has over 2000 varieties of potato and lots of dried corn. In the centre we stopped at Valerians, an attractive restaurant where you can sit outside and have a drink and a sandwich. In the evening it was back to our favourite Pisco bar after which we tried a Chinese restaurant. The food so far in Peru has not been that great but every time we try a foreign Chinese we know it will not be as good as back home . The portions were huge and it wasn't that bad. As it was still early it was back to our favourite bar for a nightcap.

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