On Thursday, we had breakfast at our hotel and then walked to the Main Square and purchased tickets from a travel agency for two tours - a city tour of Cusco and a tour of the Sacred Valley. Then we bought a Tourist Pass (Boleto Turístico) that allows entry to 16 different archaeological sites and museums. We won't be able to visit all of them but will possibly visit around 10 out of these 16.
We had decided that we would be doing the city tour of Cusco today (Thursday). The tour started at 2 pm and ended around 7 pm. We covered 5 sites (4 of which were covered by the Boleto Turístico) and also stopped at a factory that manufactures products made of Alpaca fur. Alpaca is a type of small camel-like animal that is found only in South America and its largest population is in Peru. Alpaca wool is famous for its warmth which is why it is quite expensive.
Our first stop was Qorikancha. It wasn't too far from the Main Square. In fact, we had seen it in our walk of the city yesterday. Peru was ruled by the Incas and their famous Incan Empire was ended by Spanish colonialists. Qorikancha is an Incan temple on top of which the Spaniards built a Catholic Cathedral. All that remains now are the central courtyard and a couple of temple rooms built by the Incas. The reason that the Incan structures are still intact is the high quality of stone masonry which was a distinguishing feature of Incan architecture. We saw a temple where mummies of female Incan royalty were stored and the other temple was used as storage for male mummies of Incan kings. We were also shown why the Incan stone masonry is so resilient - there was no mortar used to glue the stones together, rather they were carved out like Lego blocks or jigsaw puzzle and put on top of each other so that they fit into each other perfectly. Qorikancha was not included in Boleto Turístico and we paid a separate entry fee.
Our second stop was Tambomachay. It is a beautifully wrought ceremonial stone bath channeling crystalline spring water through fountains that have been functioning since the 13th Century or the time of the Incas. We also saw the remains of a signaling post and all that stands today is the base. From the top of this base, we could see our third stop of the tour which is the Pukapukara signaling post that was also used as a stopping point for travelers coming into Cusco. These travelers were required to pay an entry tax in the form of goods such as coca leaves or fruit from the jungle. We made a quick photo stop at Pukapukara and then moved on.
The fourth stop was Qenqo. The name of this ruin means zigzag. It's a large limestone rock riddled with niches, steps and zigzagging channels. These channels were used for the ritual offering of blood by letting it flow through. Underneath the rock is a cave which has a flat ritual table used for ceremonies and our guide said that women and children might also have been sacrificed there.
Our last stop was Sacsaywamán, the highlight of the day. This large ruin has both military and religious significance. The 9th Incan emperor remodeled the shape of Cusco city as a Puma such that most of the present day city was it's body and the Sacsaywamán temple was the head of the Puma. The gigantic zigzag rocks of the temple walls symbolized the teeth of the Puma. Today, only the giant rocks at the base of the building remain since this temple was mistaken by the Spaniards as a fortress and therefore destroyed. They also allowed the stones of the temple building to be used in the construction of other buildings. The giant rocks at the bottom could not be lifted so they remained intact. Just to get an idea of how big these rocks are, some of them weigh about 300 tons and are 30 feet high. We climbed to the top of the structure that remains today and saw a bird's eye view of Cusco city.
After visiting all these sites, we stopped at the Alpaca goods' factory to get a crash course in identifying pure Alpaca wool. We got an Alpaca blanket for our home that we plan to use as a throw in our lounge.
When we got back to the city, we walked to the San Blas district where we had dinner at a Western style cafe called Jack's Cafe. After dinner, we walked back and will now plan out our day for tomorrow. 4 sites from our tourist pass were covered in today's tour of Cusco city and 3 sites will be covered in Sunday's tour of the Sacred Valley. For tomorrow, we plan to visit a few museums from our tourist pass and other museums that we might like to check out.
We had decided that we would be doing the city tour of Cusco today (Thursday). The tour started at 2 pm and ended around 7 pm. We covered 5 sites (4 of which were covered by the Boleto Turístico) and also stopped at a factory that manufactures products made of Alpaca fur. Alpaca is a type of small camel-like animal that is found only in South America and its largest population is in Peru. Alpaca wool is famous for its warmth which is why it is quite expensive.
Our first stop was Qorikancha. It wasn't too far from the Main Square. In fact, we had seen it in our walk of the city yesterday. Peru was ruled by the Incas and their famous Incan Empire was ended by Spanish colonialists. Qorikancha is an Incan temple on top of which the Spaniards built a Catholic Cathedral. All that remains now are the central courtyard and a couple of temple rooms built by the Incas. The reason that the Incan structures are still intact is the high quality of stone masonry which was a distinguishing feature of Incan architecture. We saw a temple where mummies of female Incan royalty were stored and the other temple was used as storage for male mummies of Incan kings. We were also shown why the Incan stone masonry is so resilient - there was no mortar used to glue the stones together, rather they were carved out like Lego blocks or jigsaw puzzle and put on top of each other so that they fit into each other perfectly. Qorikancha was not included in Boleto Turístico and we paid a separate entry fee.
Our second stop was Tambomachay. It is a beautifully wrought ceremonial stone bath channeling crystalline spring water through fountains that have been functioning since the 13th Century or the time of the Incas. We also saw the remains of a signaling post and all that stands today is the base. From the top of this base, we could see our third stop of the tour which is the Pukapukara signaling post that was also used as a stopping point for travelers coming into Cusco. These travelers were required to pay an entry tax in the form of goods such as coca leaves or fruit from the jungle. We made a quick photo stop at Pukapukara and then moved on.
The fourth stop was Qenqo. The name of this ruin means zigzag. It's a large limestone rock riddled with niches, steps and zigzagging channels. These channels were used for the ritual offering of blood by letting it flow through. Underneath the rock is a cave which has a flat ritual table used for ceremonies and our guide said that women and children might also have been sacrificed there.
Our last stop was Sacsaywamán, the highlight of the day. This large ruin has both military and religious significance. The 9th Incan emperor remodeled the shape of Cusco city as a Puma such that most of the present day city was it's body and the Sacsaywamán temple was the head of the Puma. The gigantic zigzag rocks of the temple walls symbolized the teeth of the Puma. Today, only the giant rocks at the base of the building remain since this temple was mistaken by the Spaniards as a fortress and therefore destroyed. They also allowed the stones of the temple building to be used in the construction of other buildings. The giant rocks at the bottom could not be lifted so they remained intact. Just to get an idea of how big these rocks are, some of them weigh about 300 tons and are 30 feet high. We climbed to the top of the structure that remains today and saw a bird's eye view of Cusco city.
After visiting all these sites, we stopped at the Alpaca goods' factory to get a crash course in identifying pure Alpaca wool. We got an Alpaca blanket for our home that we plan to use as a throw in our lounge.
When we got back to the city, we walked to the San Blas district where we had dinner at a Western style cafe called Jack's Cafe. After dinner, we walked back and will now plan out our day for tomorrow. 4 sites from our tourist pass were covered in today's tour of Cusco city and 3 sites will be covered in Sunday's tour of the Sacred Valley. For tomorrow, we plan to visit a few museums from our tourist pass and other museums that we might like to check out.
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