Adventures in Peru: Cusco
There are always local ladies available for a photo op. I guess Kate took this one at a distance so she wouldn't have to pay up.
Once we all met up in Lima it was time for the touristy bit, so we flew to Cusco and met our new guide, Edison, at the airport. We were booked into the loveliest guesthouse: there was a gorgeous courtyard full of flowers (not to mention the swing) and a terrific view of the city from the balcony outside our rooms. We stayed in the old section of the city, all windy cobblestoned streets and quaint churches and whatnot--even the touristy streets weren't as annoying as we were expecting. I wish we could have stayed in Cusco longer than one night.
We had coca tea (alleviates symptoms of altitude sickness) at the guesthouse before going on a little walk through town to the Church of Santo Domingo, which was built on the Incan Temple of the Sun ('Coricancha'). Incan stonework juxtaposed with all the usual Catholic art and pomp.
One of my very favorite pictures from this trip.
The afternoon was a whirlwind of four Inca sites--Sacsayhuaman (a fortress with zig-zagging walls made of mind-blowingly huge stones), Q'enko (a religious site where animals were sacrificed to predict the harvest), Pukapukara (mostly a residential complex, if I remember correctly), and Tambomachay (another religious site featuring fountains from cold springs--I didn't appreciate this one as much because it was the end of the day and the site was really crowded).A couple of shots at Sacsayhuaman (I giggled for ages at this, and then I realized that EVERYONE laughs at it, and felt stupid):
Spencer looking epic. (Not posed.)
On the hill between Sacsayhuaman and Q'enko was a park with a big ol' statue of Jesus, where lots of people were out flying kites. (It was a Sunday afternoon. How do I remember this? I was sad because I couldn't visit the yarn store Mary Jane had suggested!)
Q'enko. There's a slab in this cave where bodies would have been laid out.
Pukapukara. Glorious panoramic view from the top.
I forgot to mention a funny story from way back at Sechin. Kate had gotten one of those nifty platypus water bags that go in a backpack and have a long straw with a thingy you gently bite down on to release the water, and when she laid it on the floor outside the restroom at the museum a hairless dog came up and licked it. She could have tried to disinfect it, but decided to ask Elliot to bring her a new mouthpiece. We told Spencer what happened ('The hairless dog was sucking my nip!'), and he goes, 'I got my rabies shot, girl! I'm bulletproof!' (Which is something you should not say unless you are trying to jinx yourself.)Next post: Pisac, the Salt Mines, and Ollantaytambo.