Friday, March 18:  Cusco (Continued)

From the Weaver’s shop, we all got back in the bus and headed to Cusco. 

3905 Winding through narrow Cusco streets

Our next stop was an impressive archeological site on a hill overlooking Cusco.  Saqsaywaman is thought to have been primarily a religious temple serving Cusco, which was considered the capital of the Inca people.  Although it is frequently referred to as a “Fortress”, most scholars think that it served more of a religious purpose than military.  After all, for most of their reign, the Incas really had no significant enemies to defend against.

3920 You can see the multiple levels of stone walls.

Apparently, the appearance of the site today is deceiving.  The walls that today are about 10 feet high, were described by the conquering Spanish as 30 feet high.  For hundreds of years after the Incas were overcome, this area was declared a source of building materials for the growing city of Cusco, so most of the reasonably portable stones and blocks have been removed and “recycled” in the valley below. 

3940 Imagine this wall being 40 feet high instead of 15

No photo can convey the size and scope of the site, but  4205 this video might give a better idea.  Remember that I said above that the “portable” stones and blocks had been removed: therein lies one of the fascinating things about this site.  The Inca used three different quarries to obtain the huge stones and boulders for this temple.  Besides the site itself, the other quarries were one mile and 5 miles away.  Based on the kinds of rock, geologists determined that many of the boulders weighing 20 tons or more had been brought from 5 miles way.

3950 The cornerstone is estimated to weigh over 100 tons.

The Inca did not make extensive use of wheels and had no strong animals to pull the large stones: everything was done my man-power.  There are several theories on just how the builders did this, but I’ll leave further research to the reader.

3965 The stones dwarf our guides: Rocio and Edgar

While we were there, some Alpacas were doing their assigned job of keeping the grass under control.

3980 The Alpaca were used to visitors and ignored us.

3985 The view of Cusco was also pretty nice.

After leaving Saqsaywaman we headed back to Cusco but stopped for a view of the city and a pretty square.  It turned out that we would be seeing more of this square.

4010 Cusco and its main city square in the foreground

Our next stop was at Qorikancha, a former convent that has been converted to sort of an architectural museum with a religious and Inca flavor. 

4030 The interior courtyard resembles a convent.

One point that was made here (although it had been described to us previously) is how the Inca were very aware of the threat of earthquakes.  All major buildings had features that made them less susceptible to earthquake damage.  Note the shape of the windows in the photo below.

4040 These are actual Inca walls, not recreations.

The trapezoidal shape actually makes the windows and walls stronger and better able to resist earthquakes.  This window shape was used in most buildings by the Inca, including Machu Picchu.  Part of this site included a large church that had been build by the Spanish in the 1800s.  In 1950 there was a severe earthquake in Cusco that destroyed or severely damaged many buildings in the city, including the church.  But the walls that had been build by the Inca, which were right next to the church, were undamaged and are still there in their original state today. 

The church has been rebuilt and restored, but the undamaged Inca walls are a testament to the skill of the Inca craftsmen.

Speaking of churches, our next stop was at a church or Basilica that is on the square, which we had looked down at earlier.  It was a very impressive cathedral with lots of silver and gold decorations.  However, no photos were allowed inside, so I only have a photo of the exterior of the basilica.

4160 The name is, interestingly, “Basilica Cathedral”.

After touring the Basilica, we walked across the square to a restaurant on the upper floor of a building.

4175 The excellent restaurant was on the upper, yellow, floor.

The food and service at the restaurant was very good and during the meal there was some kind of 4260 procession in the square, complete with a marching band and dancing.  We also had a nice view of the square and the Basilica from the restaurant.

4200 The restaurant overlooked the square and the Basilica.

It was a slightly late lunch so by now it was mid afternoon so the bus picked us up and took us the very short distance to our hotel, the Palacio Nazarenas, another former convent that had been converted into a very nice hotel.  The hotel was almost in back of the Basilica, so it was convenient to the square and other downtown areas. 

4250 The pool area certainly did not look like a convent.

After checking in and finding our nice room, it was still fairly early and several hours until dinner, so we decided to take a walk.  We found our way to the main square and walked beyond it to another smaller square a block or two away.  It was not as big or busy as the main square, but still very nice with some very colorful flowers.

4220 A smaller, but very relaxing square

We wandered around the area for a while and finally made our way back to the hotel to rest and clean up for dinner.  If you go back to the photo of the pool area, the restaurant is on the opposite side of the pool.  We went for dinner and very soon some of the other tour people joined us, as well as our primary guide, Rocia.  As we were sitting there, a couple came in, the “Two man band” that was providing music changed to a Tango, and we were treated to a demonstration of the Tango.  During our dinner the couple changed into two other “costumes” and danced two other numbers.  Nice Entertainment, and a pleasant way to end the day.

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