Friday - Cusco tour
It's interesting that we are finally at the most famous city of the Incas and it's at the end of our tour. This is the city where the kings built their palaces. There were more than 14 total which spanned the roughly 400 years of the Incas. Each one built a new palace and also had to keep paying for the previous palaces which needed servants and upkeep. They believed in afterlife another old kings were still there in spirit.
The city sits at 11,400 feet which causes problems with some of our crew. Oxygen was available to help but mainly you drank a ton of water and walked slowly. It has 14 million people and is still growing - in all directions. Traffic is completely crazy!!!
We started at one of the many palaces to understand the quality of the work. This is the absolute peak with joints so tight you can close your eyes and run your hand across the stone and not feel the joint - crazy. Koricancha was the name of this king.
Then we headed to the top of the hill above Cusco to the Sacsayhaman palace. This is a set of stonework to honor one of the greatest kings. What you see actually goes much deeper because they filled in 20 feet of dirt to help support the walls. It runs two football fields wide and rises 100 feet tall. As usual the stonework was fantastic with some of the biggest pieces we had ever seen - some 100 tons in size. We have been arguing amongst ourselves on how a proper without hydraulics and steel could somehow manufacture stones this size and place them precisely. Like the pyramids we just don't know for sure.
Then on to a visit with llamas and alpacas. We got up close and personal at a local ranch which also displays and sells high end clothing made from the local animals. We are coming home with several items for ourselves and others.
Then on to the Basilica but no pictures were allowed inside. It was a huge place build using Spanish plans but the work was done by locals. So you can find where Inca symbols and design were built into the structure. For example the columns use of an Incan design made up of an orthogonal pattern.
We had lunch and then headed out to the local market. What a crazy place where you can buy everything from high end clothes to meat and fish down to tourist junk. It was a great way to end our visit to Cusco.
The city sits at 11,400 feet which causes problems with some of our crew. Oxygen was available to help but mainly you drank a ton of water and walked slowly. It has 14 million people and is still growing - in all directions. Traffic is completely crazy!!!
We started at one of the many palaces to understand the quality of the work. This is the absolute peak with joints so tight you can close your eyes and run your hand across the stone and not feel the joint - crazy. Koricancha was the name of this king.
Then on to a visit with llamas and alpacas. We got up close and personal at a local ranch which also displays and sells high end clothing made from the local animals. We are coming home with several items for ourselves and others.
Then on to the Basilica but no pictures were allowed inside. It was a huge place build using Spanish plans but the work was done by locals. So you can find where Inca symbols and design were built into the structure. For example the columns use of an Incan design made up of an orthogonal pattern.
We had lunch and then headed out to the local market. What a crazy place where you can buy everything from high end clothes to meat and fish down to tourist junk. It was a great way to end our visit to Cusco.
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