Cusco

DAY 4: CUSCO, PERU

Cusco /
September 4, 2024

Our tour guide, Dennis, arrived at the hotel at 7 am to collect us for our private, all-day tour of the Sacred Valley. After a 45-minute drive, we arrived in Chinchero, a small Peruvian town at 3760 meters (12,336 feet) featuring Incan ruins and colonial 17th-century structures built on top of the destroyed ancient walls. The district is the center of Peruvian weaving; several local, traditionally dressed women explained and demonstrated the intricacies of harvesting, dying and preparing llama wool for weaving. It turns out this demonstration is one of several sites connected to the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC), the museum we came across in Cusco. A little corny, but the beautiful artistry is quite impressive. We purchased several textiles from their enormous shop before continuing.

The next stop, another half hour further into the valley, was Moray, the ruins of an Incan agricultural testing laboratory at about 3400 meters (11,500 feet) above sea level. Moray comprises three crater-like depressions, each with several circular terraces of varying sizes and depths, with an integrated irrigation system believed to have been used to grow hundreds of varieties of crops, including corn, grains, and potatoes, in various conditions. The terraces descend about 150 meters (490 feet); each of the three circular structures has about 12 levels of terraces, and the largest has a diameter of about 182 meters (600 feet). Moray is also quite an engineering feat, built using intricate stone masonry dating back to the 13th century. Unbelievable!

Nearby, San Francisco de Maras, a town of about 50,000 people, is known for its ancient salt mines, which have been used since Incan times. We drove down several switchbacks into a valley below Maras to view thousands of “pozos,” or wells, placed in the form of terraces that stretch down the entire valley as far as one can see, occupying a total area of approximately 1.5 to 2 hectares (4 to 5 acres). Each pozo is formed with retaining walls of small stones sealed with natural clay mortar, forming dikes of approximately 5m2 (54 square feet). The valley of pozos is flooded with saltwater fed by a hypersaline underground spring that originated 110 million years ago during the formation of the Andes Mountains. The salt dries according to weather conditions and is harvested by the local owners and sold in Peru and presumably worldwide. When the Spanish invaded the surrounding communities and discovered the mines, the settlers developed thousands more, copying the existing antique pozos over the ensuing centuries. Ownership of each pozo has been passed down from generation to generation, and today, they are still mined by individual families. Once a year, they hold a salt festival called Kachi Raymi, a celebration of the harvest and a spiritual celebration of the natural world.

We ate lunch at a relatively touristy stop, but it was a relief to relax for an hour out of the hot sun. We enjoyed the local cuisine and cold, refreshing chicha morada.

Afterward, we drove about 40 minutes further into the Valley to Ollantaytambo, another important archeological Incan site from around the same period, when, in the 15th century, Pachacútec continued to transform his chiefdom into an Empire. Pachacutec rebuilt the town, which provided lodging for the Inca nobility, and his men farmed the terraces leading to the Temple at the top. 

Today, Ollantaytambo is an Incan-colonial city at 2790 meters (9150 feet) that still maintains its layout and culture from the Incan period and its language, Quechua. It is a “dead” city, meaning few people still actually live there, and most of the houses have colonial architecture built by the Spanish on top of Incan ruins. But the ceremonial Temple of the Sun, made up of stone pieces that weigh as much as 100 tons atop a steep series of terraces, is more intact and a site to behold!

We spent several hours climbing to the top of the ruins, which was a challenging hike in altitude and very windy and dusty conditions; it was straight up! The walls are mainly intact throughout, including at least fifteen or more agricultural terrace levels, and it was easy to discern the apparent differences between the pre-Incan, lower fifth of each section, and the Incan structures built on top. Again, the precision of the Incan construction (perfectly positioned stones and identically sized windows, for example) was mind-boggling! From the unfinished Temple of the Sun at the top, we had a breathtaking view of the town below and the opposing mountain with its grain storehouses, called qullqas, built right into the top third of its cliff-like walls.  The Temple of the Sun featured massive slabs of stone, hauled up from miles away by hundreds of men, a feat that took decades, seemingly impossible, even by today’s construction standards.

Of course, the descent was again much easier than the accent, and we were content to nap on the 90-minute ride back to Cusco after a tour of an ancient place unlike anything we had ever seen. And there is so much more to see when we inevitably return!

The link to the photos and videos for day 4 is here: Cusco Day 4

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DAY 3: CUSCO, PERU

Cusco /
September 3, 2024

This morning, we set out to visit Sacsayhuaman, an hour’s climb straight up from our hotel. Sacsayhuaman is an Incan ceremonial temple of worship (later referred to as a citadel by the Spaniards) on the city’s northern outskirts at 3700 meters (12,140 feet) and the most prominent structure built by the Incas in that period. We walked the first 30 minutes slowly up beautifully adorned streets filled with shops and artisans’ tables. On the way, we noticed pairs of ceramic bulls on top of some houses. We later learned that these are given by the parents of the bride and groom when couples construct new houses. The bulls serve as protectors for the new family home. The second 30 minutes were more difficult as we followed a very sunny, hot, extremely steep, winding, rocky path to the entrance gate of the site. A very tiring hike, but worth it for the beautiful views of the city!

The site is enormous, almost twelve square miles encompassing several archeological sites, and much of the original massive stonework remains; huge, finely cut polygonal blocks, many over 4 meters in height, make up the walls of the fortress, and like at Qorikancha, the fine shaping of the stones was so precise that mortar was not necessary. However, here, the rocks varied in size and shape and still somehow fit together perfectly, whereas, at the latter, all the stones were cut in precisely the same size and shape. Incredibly, at both sites, the Incas used bronze bars and interlocking cutouts to secure the stones, which rendered them largely earthquake-proof; five hundred years of earthquakes have done remarkably little damage to most Incan structures. The corner of each zigzag in the primary temple wall is anchored by a massive stone weighing between 90 and 125 tons. Archeological scholars estimate that over 20,000 people worked on the construction, and the stones were brought from as far as 20km away. The walls reveal various symbols of animals typical of the region, arranged or carved by the Incas, including serpents, pumas and falcons (I’ve outlined a falcon in one of the photos). In addition, there are ruins of residences and towers, sanctuaries, warehouses, and aqueducts. In 1536, during the Spanish conquest, a significant battle occurred at Sacsayhuaman between Incan and Spanish forces. The Incas caused considerable damage to the Spanish but were ultimately defeated, and unfortunately, many of the structures were destroyed.

Sacsayhuaman was an important temple where the Incan Festival of the Sun was held every winter solstice, in which offerings and sacrifices were likely made to honor the sun god. Today, a reenactment of the ceremony is still held each year. Only partially due to the altitude, the place is undoubtedly sacred and emits a mystical, spiritual feeling as you walk amongst the ruins and marvel at the architecture. Truly a remarkable site to see.

After the (much easier) decent, we ate a late lunch at a tiny trout ceviche place near our hotel. I have never had better ceviche (and we were in the mountains)! Then, after checking out the artsy San Blas square, we headed for a siesta and finished the day with dinner at another popular, nearby restaurant, Pachapapa.

The link to the photos and videos for day 3 is here: Cusco Day 3

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DAYS 1 and 2: CUSCO, PERU

Cusco /
September 1-2, 2024

We flew directly from Mendoza to Lima and then caught a plane to Cusco. You fly into the city around the mountains and then into the valley below; it is quite a landing with a breathtaking view of the valley, revealing a city of half a million people.

Our hotel, the Atoq San Blas, is a 20-room boutique hotel built into the mountainside, like most structures in Cusco. Our altitude was 3000 meters (9,800 feet), about two-thirds of the way to the very “top” of the city. After coca leaf tea to help with the altitude, we headed straight for a siesta. We began climbing the winding, narrow streets early in the evening to reach the Limbus Bar & Resto. It was relatively close to the hotel, but boy did we feel the altitude getting there! The cocktail/dinner spot was at the top of one of the city’s many hills with 180-degree views. And they served fabulous drinks for $3 US dollars apiece, plus ceviche and a fresh, grilled trout to die for!

After breakfast on our first day, we started for the center of the historic district, a steep downhill trek through cobblestone alleys, stairways and narrow roads. We stopped at several textile shops along the way and finally came to one of the significant ruins, the excavated canals of the Incas. And just beyond, we arrived at one of Cusco’s most important temple ruins, the sacred Incan Sun Palace, Qorikancha. We met a lovely woman offering a private tour, who explained the Incan construction methods, religious practices, and the structure’s fate after the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. Built by the 9th Incan Emperor, Pachakutiq, the walls were once covered in gold, and the courtyard was filled with gold statues, all stolen by the Spanish.

We next found the Artisanal Market, a bit of a disappointment full of the same sorts of products sold in Jujuy and the Atacama Desert—handmade goods, alpaca sweaters and other textiles, woven table runners, etc. Cusco, Peru, Jujuy (Argentina) and Atacama (Chile and Argentina) were all part of the Incan Empire, so, unsurprisingly, many of these markets look the same. Traditional weaving and other arts and crafts have existed for generations throughout the old Incan Empire.

On our way to lunch (climbing back up toward the hotel very slowly), we passed through the Plaza de Armas with its tourist shops and restaurants and evidence of colonial influence, with many Catholic churches and cathedrals. We also came across a few high-quality textile shops, including the Museum of Weaving. A nonprofit collaborative, the museum (Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco) includes excellent exhibits on weaving and the lifestyle of the people over generations. The adjacent store featured goods made by artisans from small towns all over Peru. 

The link to the photos and videos for days 1 and 2 is here: Cusco Days 1 and 2

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