cusco

(by Basil) On our last weekend in Peru we decided to visit the crown jewel of the Incan Empire which of course was . . . wait for it . . . Ecuador, but since Ecuador was too far away we settled on the Capital city of the Incas, Cusco. Just so we we are clear right off the bat, Cusco with an s is the way they spell it in Peru. Cuzco and Cusco are both accepted in the US, but Cusco is now the official name. We would use the Incas spelling except they didn't have a written language, just a bunch of ropes with knots. Below you can see the standard building style of downtown Cusco--Incan stone work that has been used for a base for a Roman Catholic something. The something here is a cathedral that has been turned in to a museum. Here is a closer picture of the wall Kit and Rhoda were standing in front of. Those stones that fit together perfectly at the base are original Incan and have not been changed in hundreds of years. Those Incas sure knew how to make things last.

Here Rhoda and Kit are getting their picture taken with a baby llama, llama-lady, and llama-girl. There were lots of people like this on the streets of Cusco offering to let people take pictures for a tip. Unfortunately, this is the only source of income for many of these people.

In the picture below you can see the narrowness of the original Incan streets. The Incas did not have horses or wagons and did not have a need to make big streets. Pretty cool, eh? My stomach almost spans the roadway. Oh, and yes the ditch down the center of the road was fairly standard. You see it on most original Incan streets.

From the area where we took those initial picutres, we walked to the main plaza to have lunch and go to the cathedral. We actually did the cathedral first, but pictures weren't allowed inside. So we took one from the balcony of the restaurante we ate at. The cathedral itself is actually made up of 3 cathedrals built in different time periods. The first we entered was the Holy Family cathedral which had many images of Christ, The Virgin Mary, and Joseph. The second cathedral is the one you can see in the front of this picture. It was started when the Spanairds first arrived, but took so long to complete that the other two cathedrals were finished first and used for years before this one was open.

It contains lots of beautiful paintings and many statues of the Virgin Mary and Crucified Christ. One of these Christ statues is called "Senor de los Temblores" or Lord of the Quakes. This image survived being burnt in a fire after the biggest of the earthquakes in Cusco (which is a quake ridden area). So, I just talked to Kit, apparently during a big earthquake it was taken out into the streets and the earthquake immediately stopped. The Christus is now taken out every year for a festival. One of the most interesting things about it is that it represents an Incan pagan god as well as a Catholic Christus.

The last cathedral was the first to be completed. It is the smallest, least gaudy, but also has the most interesting relics. Above the altar at the front of the chapel is the first cross that was ever brought to the Americas by the Catholic church. It was huge. I didn't realize how big the crosses were that priests carried back in the day.

This next picture is further back and shows more of the main town square. If you look closely you can see the other chapels connected to the big one, but they are set further back.

A nice guy in the restaurant offered to take our picture in front of the cathedral. We look good!

The next leg of our Cusco adventure took us to Sacsayhuaman. Sacsayhuaman is believed to have been an Incan fortress for use during an invasion. Unfortunately, most of the stone work was torn down by the Spanairds who used the stones for their cathedrals and Mc-mansions. Yes, even back then they had high-cost, low quality Mc-mansions. Luckily, some of the stones were so big that the Spanairds couldn't move them. For some of the others, they weren't cut as nicely so the Spanish left them. The result is what you will see in the next series of pictures. Just as a quick comment about the picture below, Look at the freakin' huge stones! Also, notice how perfectly they fit together and have weathered 500 years, earthquakes, and such. Pretty amazing eh?

Below you can see me sporting my new Inca Kola T-shirt in front of what was most likely a stone quarry behind me in the distance. The stones immediately behind me were likely part of an Incan outhouse for the invadors. The Incas were very hospitable. Okay, so maybe I had had a bit to much Inca Kola when I made that up.

Here is Kit in that same area. Notice the big stone quarry to the left and the Incan terraces to the right.

From the top of Sacsayhuaman, you can see all of Cusco. It was an ideal place to check on your enemies in the valley. In the distance you can also see that the Peruvians have one of the same traditions that we do in the western US-- writing things on the side of mountains. They do this a lot and even have advertisements up there.Looking the other way from summit of Sacsayhuaman you can see the little valley between the two hills that make up the fortress. You can also see sticks put in the ground by archeologists who are continuing to excavate the site. They really looke like crosses don't they?

This is one of the corridors of the fortress that was used to help keep invadors at bay. Pretty hard to fight against an army if you can only come through one to two at a time.

Here is Kit showing off one of the huge archways. By now you have probably noticed the blurry smudge right in the center of all the pictures. We aren’t sure what caused this but it was pretty disappointing.

Looking up from the other side of the archway. The stairs were steep. Again, enemy armies beware--rolling Basil's gather no moss.

Kit and Rhoda looking very cute as they take a break from defending the city.

I guess we can see where Rhoda gets her climbing genes from. Luckily the Incas didn't leave many hand holds, even for these intrepid girls.

We are not sure about the purpose of this hole, maybe for communicating messages, but it was probably 10 feet long. We looked at each other from opposite ends and shared some secret battle plans.

It looks like Kit made it to the top of the wall afterall (by walking to the other side and hopping up a few steps. She got a lot of whistles, but not in a good way. It was a whistle from some kind of park ranger who patrolled the area. We weren't sure if he was whistling at us, but he stopped when Kit got down.

This picture is supposed to demonstrate the amazing rock architecture of Sacsayhuaman, and it fails. Sorry.

This is me trying to show off the size of this large rock. Nicely cut eh?

The picture below is one of my favorite from Sacsayhuaman. Steep steps, impressive rock walls, and beautiful ladies . . . ladies.

Below you can see Kit trying to figure out the angles of the perfectly cut rock.

Below is a picture ,from the valley, showing off one of the main parts of the fortress. Yes, the middle of every shot was made blurry by the camera, but look at those ins and outs. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Below you can see Sacsyhuaman and a statue of Christ on a nearby hill. Just imagine how big this place would have been before the majority of it was taken down by the Spanish.

These next few pictures were from the other hill in Sacsayhuaman. It doesn't appear that the area was finished. Either that or the Spanairds stole the rock. Its a pick-your-own version of history adventure! (At least for those of us who didn't buy a guide to tell us the truth. Ignorance is so liberating.)

Rhodie was pretty excited about the place after she woke up from her nap to discover a big field and lots of rocks to climb.

Sacsayhuaman means satiated falcon in Incan. Here is Rhoda pretending to be a falcon. . . . that has been satiated by a good, long nap on mama.

Rhoda loved this game and gave some very falcon-like giggles.

Now looking back at Sacsayhuaman from the Quarry. The rock on this side was pretty incredible as well. It had gentile waves and was quite smooth.

Rhoda and Kit taking a break at the quarry in a spot where one of those perfect Inca stones was carved out.

A picture of the main hill of Sacsayhuaman, blurry in the middle, grrrrrrrr.

So I all know what you are thinking. Didn't Kit get to do anything crazy during the trip? Motherhood hasn't made her completely responsible has it?Well, to answer this question look at the next two pictures.

Yes, that is right, Kit slid all the way down the natural grooves in this rock hill. It was even higher and steeper than it looks. She says this may have been her favorite part of the whole trip. Who knew that the Incas understood the advanced concept of water slides?

We decided to leave Sacsayhuaman by the back entrance. On the way, we found beautiful ruins that had not been restored. The one below was likely terracing for agricultural use though it looked like a circular amphitheater. Actually one other thing happened, but we don't have picture of it. While we were walking to the bus stop a very drunk, very old man and his wife asked us to help him push his vending cart up a hill. We agreed and I helped push while his wife repeatedly apologized explaining that he was drunk. I didn't mind, it was kind of fun, but I felt bad for them.

And that my friends, takes us to the end of Sacsyhuaman, Cusco, and our last weekend on our Peruvian adventure. There is just a bit more of the trip to write about but Kit says she will put up some more current stuff first.