Machu Picchu - Day five

Day five started out very interesting we left our hotel in Cusco to see some Pre-inca ruins.  What was interesting about these ruins is that they looked very similar to Inca ruins.  -- I would like to just take a minute here to tell you about our tour guide.  The tour was supposed to be in English and in Spanish.  And I will give it to her it was.  As we drove down the road instead of saying the same information in both languages she only gave have of the information in each language.  And about 20 minutes into the tour I leaned over to Shawn and said, "I wish she would just stay in Spanish, I can't understand and thing she says in English."  It got even funnier when Shawn would ask her questions about something and her answer would be totally unrelated to the question.  I would imagine it would be very much like taking a Spanish tour from me.  It made me a little sad for all the people that have to talk to me in Spanish. 




Anyway back to the tour, we learned (in Spanish) that although when the Conquistadors conquered the Inca's all they really wanted was gold and silver, and of course to spread the Catholic religion. But when the Inca's conquered these Pre-Inca's they Incorporated their ideas, and technology and made it their own.

Road

Guard Doors

Here you can see the roads built by the Pre-Incas.  Our tour guide also pointed out that the half walls were door ways.  They held huge wooden doors and when the Pre-incans saw the enemy coming they would shut the doors.  There were about 15-20 doors right in a row, about 20 feet between each door. 

Here you can see that they had a basic understanding of foundation.  This is one of the reasons that the ruins are still here.  This has been excavated so you can see how the built their houses.  They actually dug a hold ans created a foundations before building the houses on top of it. 








One of my favorite things about this tour was the little cities we stopped in.  Each city had a "thing" that they did.  The first city we stopped in was known for making bread.  I got out of the bus to buy some and one of the ladies on the bus (who grew up in Peru but had spent the last 30 years or so in the US) warned me not to buy the bread because they "make it with lard."  I smiled and thanked her, looked at Shawn and said, "It hasn't killed me yet, welcome to South America."  I bought 2 pieces of bread for about 35 cents and although it was good, I can't believe a whole city was built around bread making. 

City number 2 was known for their excellent roasted guinea pig.


 And this city, was know for having potable water.  It made me laugh a little, so I took a picture.









This was the last day of our tour.  The company we paid to plan it said they had taken care of everything.  I didn't want to come back to Paraguay with a ton of Soles (Peru money) so we got down to our last $15 or so and didn't exchange any more.  We had bought all our gifts and didn't think we would need another dime.  On this last tour, they didn't provide us tickets to get into one of the Churches.  The cost was $12/person, so we simply didn't have enough to get in.  So we stayed outside and walked around, took pictures and shopped.  Although we didn't by a thing. 

Shawn waited for 20 minutes for the buses to move to get this picture.

Lake near Cusco

Guard shack at the lake.

On the way back to Cusco we stopped at this little lake.  Our tour guide told us that this was pond supplied all of the water to Cusco.  I will blame it on her crappy English that she didn't convey that this pond may supply some water to all of Cusco, but Cusco has a natural spring that it draws water from as well. 

The small almost blue trees you can see in the foreground are eucalyptus.  They were everywhere.











PART 2

We had 2 tours on Day five, we wanted to stay busy.  We started this one out visiting churches in Cusco.  Of course we are not allowed to take photos in these church so my pictures are limited, but the churches were beautiful.  One thing I can tell you after touring about 15 churches in Peru, every single Last Supper Paining we saw in a church had a guinea pig as the main course.  I found that interesting, are there even guinea pigs in that part of the world?  I do wonder how many Peruvians believe that guinea pig was really Christ's last supper?  I also wonder how much of our history has been skewed to make it look more palatable to those in the culture it is being offered. 

Street Performers

Child and a lamb

One of the churches we visited had been Inca ruins but when the Conquistadors arrived they turned all the Inca temples in to Catholic churches.  This is the "Sun Temple" in one of the churches in Cusco.

Another very interesting fact about how the Inca's built their temples is that they too had a "keystone" similar to the top of arched doorways.  All Inca doorways are rectangular, but when the conquistadors arrived they tried and tried to break down some of their doors not realizing that it too had a keystone. The brick you are looking at here has 14 edges.  This makes in the keystone to the doorway.  Had this one brick been removed the entire door frame would have collapsed.  In Machu Picchu there was a brick with 28 sides.

Here is an example of what the conquistadors did to decorate the Incan temples once the Inca's were conquered. 

There were water systems everywhere, even in their temples!

Sacsayhuamán  (Sexy Woman)

 Sacsayhuamán is a complex on the outskirts of Cusco.  Built by the Incas, the cut boulders are massive and fit tightly together without the aid of mortar.  This is the case with most if not all Incan temples or sacred places.
Situated as it is, high above Cusco at an altitude of 12142 ft, it is thought to have been a fortress. The terrace walls back up this theory.

The most recognised part of the complex is the great plaza and the massive terrace walls alongside it. The huge stones, many of them well over 100 tons are some of the largest used in construction in pre Spanish times, fit together so precisely that not even a piece of paper can be slid between them. This precision, the variety of size and shape and the way that the walls slope inwards for stability in earthquakes is evidence of an advanced civilisation. As is normal of conquering cultures, many of the blocks were taken and used in their construction.


Views from the top of Sacsayhuamán.

Plaza de Armas

                     This might be my favorite picture of the

               whole trip. Who hikes this stuff in these shoes?

The only picture my hubby wanted was a picture with a Llama.
Here it is. Aren't they cute together?

This is Tombomachay, they believed the spring had magical powers.  Our guide (a much better one from earlier in the morning) explained that many believe that if you washed your face in the water you would be wrinkle free for you entire life.  But in reality you would just have bacteria all over your face because the kids up steam use it as a potty.  Anyone wanna wash their face?

This place is call the Stonehenge of Peru.  It marks the summer and winter equinox perfectly.  It also had a place inside for sacrifices. 

I just threw in this picture because it made us laugh.  It was the top of a guard rail at the this place where sacrifices were made.  The name escapes me right now.  Shawn and I thought it looked like Stich from "Lilo and Stich."  We wondered where Disney thought up such an "unique" character. 

Machu Picchu - Day Four

 We started out so early this morning. The buses started running at 5:30 as we wanted to be on one of the first. We headed out of the hotel at 5:35 leaving our bags with the front desk. (They would meet us later at the train station.) The road was twisty and with every passing bus on the way up I thought we would tumble down the mountain side, but I am just like that. After getting through the gate there was this beautiful over look of the mountains behind us. Still I can not believe how beautiful it was. The mountains were unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. Many of the mountains we saw on our trip reminded us of home, but not these they were so different, picturesque.


I will never forget the first moment we walked into Machu Picchu and I got my first glimpse. My first thought was wow this is so pretty.

Then 3 steps and 15 wows later when I had taken in how vast the landscape was I was beyond pretty and in complete astonishment. It is one of those moments where you really can not believe your eyes.










Where pictures do not do it justice. My only regret of the whole trip is not spending another day up there to just enjoy the scenery. Our whole day was spent exploring and learning about the Inca's, taking in every little bit of information we could and seeing this amazing piece of architecture from every which way possible. I would have loved about 3 or 4 hours to just sit and enjoy.

The beginning of our day!

Alter in the Temple

Perfect Masonry in the Temple

These lines show how
the stones are moving each year.

Only those who had a "recommend" could enter.

Irrigation to the city

Bathroom in the
"Kings Bedroom"

We were again amazed by their irrigation system and the way they could provide water for the population at Machu Picchu. 

This stone had perfect directions,
North, South, East, West
Shawn's compass shows this is so.

Wynu Picchu

On the Way up!

After our first 2 hours we hiked to the top of Wynu Pichu. It took us about 40 minutes to get to the top and the view was breath taking. We spent a little over an hour on the top exploring, taking pictures, and chatting with other tourists before heading back down. On the way back down Shawn kept telling people "Your almost to the top, just 5 or 10 more minutes." I finally made him stop telling people that knowing that they were at least 20-30 minutes from the top. In his defense going down it does not seem like you are that far away from the top.

At the TOP!

 

View from Wynu Picchu, you can see the road
the bus takes on the left, Machu Picchu on the right
and Wynu Picchu ruins in the front.

View from Wynu Picchu

The very tip top of Wynu Picchu (Machu Picchu is hidden behind us we were afraid if we moved we would fall)

My super HOT hubby

I'm seeing this if we ever go back, I took this pic from the train.

This was by far the most amazing day.  I wish I had made time for two of them.  I can't say we will go back because there are so many other things in the world we want to see, but it was so amazing to do.