We left Friday night on an overnight bus from Trujillo to Lima, then flew from Lima to Cusco. Feeling good, Saturday afternoon we decided to tour the city and surrounding sites. This turned into more than we expected coming from sea level. (Cusco is around 3400 meters, or 11200 feet, above sea level.) This tour turned out to be a lot more hiking on a lot less rest than we anticipated. We are so glad, though, that we got to see these cool sites!
The first 4 photos are from the Qorikancha (Coricancha) temple, one of the coolest juxtapositions of Incan and colonial culture that we got to see during our trip. In the second photo, you can see the original Inca temple walls. When the Spanish came, they built the Church of Santo Domingo on the existing site of the temple (see the architecture in the first picture?), and the church and convent are still there today, along with some fabulous colonial artwork and other artifacts. Fun fact: during earthquakes, the colonial structures were damaged, but the older Incan structures, built out of interlocking stones (no mortar used!) survived without damage.
In the photos above and below you'll see the difference in Incan construction and the later colonial masonry.
In some locations, the Spanish would dismantle the Incan stone structures and use their stones in their foundations...I think we have some good pictures of this from other days, so stay tuned!
The next 3 photos are from Saqsayhuaman. I'll
leave it to you to do the historical research on your own, but the size
of these stones was AMAZING! Some of them weighed up to 120 tons, we were told. In the third picture, you can see the cool zig-zag shape these walls were in. The original walls were likely much taller than the ruins; the Spaniards would use the smaller stones from the top to build their own houses, churches, etc. The very large stones, of course, would have been too heavy for them to easily move and re-purpose.
The last photo (left) is from Tambomachay. Although there are theories about
the source of these fountains, no solution has never been proven. Our
guide subscribed to the idea that there is an underground lake. Of
course, they would have to tear apart the ruins to find out for sure.
Those are my highlights from Day 1 of our vacation! I have so many more pictures and stories to share, so we'll just have to get together when we come home from Peru! -C
We spent the last days of our trip in Puno, a city on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, and it borders on Bolivia as well. On May 22, we spent the day busing between Cusco and Puno, with a wonderful tour guide and some really interesting stops along the way. We first visited a beautiful cathedral with a rich history (no photos allowed, though!) that has the nickname "the Sistine of the Andes." It was quite incredible! Next, we went to Raqchi, beautiful ruins which included a temple, and an amazing display of astronomical study in the construction of their homes, streets, etc. The further up in altitude we went, the COLDER the temperature was. We were glad we brought sweatshirts, mittens, and jackets!
