South America Day 9
Did I mention an early start? 4.20am! We had to be at the airport early for our flight to Cuzco. I think there are only 2 flights a day and our left at 6.50am meaning that we had to get organised early because of the group factor. The usual stragglers were slow getting off the mark again, obviously needing their beauty sleep (didn't work either ). We still managed to make the flight but breakfast was a tad rushed.
The flight wasn't direct. We touched down & swapped seats in Juliacca near Puno.
The flight from Juliacca to Cuzco gave us a look over the Altiplano with the volcanoes around Arequipa quite prominent. I've labelled a few of them. You can see how flat the Altiplano is which is hard to believe considering it's all well above 3000m above sea level. Most places around the world at that altitude tend to be a cluster of rugged snow capped mountain peaks. In contrast the Altiplano is a flat (relatively flat) dry desert.
The flight from Juliacca to Cuzco gave us a look over the Altiplano with the volcanoes around Arequipa quite prominent. I've labelled a few of them. You can see how flat the Altiplano is which is hard to believe considering it's all well above 3000m above sea level. Most places around the world at that altitude tend to be a cluster of rugged snow capped mountain peaks. In contrast the Altiplano is a flat (relatively flat) dry desert.
This
crazy twisted road was about the only other point of interest from the
air. I have no idea how this is the easiest route to anywhere but the
terrain around Cuzco is pretty rugged.
Eventually we made it to Cuzco in time for a late lunch.
Eventually we made it to Cuzco in time for a late lunch.
Cuzco
Cuzco's a bit like
Arequipa in that the buildings surrounding the main square (Plaza de
Armas - for a change) had two levels with shops around the lower level
& restaurants at the top. The buildings aren't anywhere as grand as
Arequipa. Instead of the vast balconies, Cuzco has little balcony boxes.
We took a punt with a pub of sorts that the three in shot (Mike, Nic
& Polly) had come to. It turned out to be a fairly good call.
Cuzco's
main square isn't as grand as the one in Arequipa, but it has it's
charms. There's a Cathedral & a church. Pictured is the Cathedral. I
like the bright coloured flower beds. Both the Cathedral & the
Church have a real Spanish Gothic look to them.
Here's the Church in the Main square, La Compania. Not much to say about it. Just another church.
On
the way up the hill you have to clear the houses of the city via a
seemingly endless set of stone steps.
Right at the upper boundary, there's a church, Santa Teresa, with a grand view of Cuzco. This photo is one of 3 I took to get a full panorama. The view from the ruins was even better.
Photographing the church we were standing in front of was pointless because it was shrouded by scaffold & plastic for renovations.
As mentioned before, Cuzco has these little timber balcony boxes instead of the vast verandas Arequipa has. It's very quaint.
The
plan for the afternoon was to take a short uphill hike to the ruins of
Sacsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman, or close enough). We were to start
the Lares trek the next day so a couple of hours wander would set us up
for the 3 day trial ahead.
Cuzco was once the centre of the Incan empire before the Spaniards came along & trashed the place. The centre of Cuzco was Sacsayhuaman pictured here on the left hand hill above Plaza de Armas. It's a fairly steep climb to the ruins, but short enough not to be a drag. The right hand summit has a status of JC. Another legacy of the Catholic marauders.
Cuzco was once the centre of the Incan empire before the Spaniards came along & trashed the place. The centre of Cuzco was Sacsayhuaman pictured here on the left hand hill above Plaza de Armas. It's a fairly steep climb to the ruins, but short enough not to be a drag. The right hand summit has a status of JC. Another legacy of the Catholic marauders.
Right at the upper boundary, there's a church, Santa Teresa, with a grand view of Cuzco. This photo is one of 3 I took to get a full panorama. The view from the ruins was even better.
Photographing the church we were standing in front of was pointless because it was shrouded by scaffold & plastic for renovations.
After
a short but surprisingly tough climb, we reached the entrance to
Sacsayhuaman. As for most tourist spots around the world, there was a
ticket booth. We knew the scoop & bought the Tourist Pass that
covered us for this & a number of other ruins around Cuzco &
Sacred Valley, where we were headed the next day.Notice behind my sexy
woman is one of many rock walls in the complex. The individual blocks
are huge, but individually crafted to fit to the adjacent ones.
Considering how massive the blocks are, the joints are almost air tight!
They don't use mortar or fill the gaps with anything. It's shows the
talents of the Incan people. The added interest is the fact that the
Cuzco area gets regular earthquake visits & these walls are still as
tight as they were centuries ago when they were constructed. Mean
while, many of the European structures in the city below (including the
Church & Cathedral mentioned before) have been destroyed &
re-built more than once before.
The Incas were really quite civilized all things considering & their engineering feats are quite impressive. Think about how they managed to put that huge capping stone over the doorway. The Egyptians are renowned for moving big rocks around, but these people had a pretty good handle on it as well.The ruins look like the sands of time haven't been kind to them but the reality is that the Europeans dismantled it block by block & used the parts to build their churches & buildings down in the city below. It's kind of sad, but that's human nature for you.
The Incas were really quite civilized all things considering & their engineering feats are quite impressive. Think about how they managed to put that huge capping stone over the doorway. The Egyptians are renowned for moving big rocks around, but these people had a pretty good handle on it as well.The ruins look like the sands of time haven't been kind to them but the reality is that the Europeans dismantled it block by block & used the parts to build their churches & buildings down in the city below. It's kind of sad, but that's human nature for you.
90%
of the South American population are Catholic & it shows. Standing
at the high point of Sacsayhuaman, the ever present Christ the Redeemer
was again a dominant feature of the landscape. It's lit at night so all
the locals down in the city can see their saviour. It's kind of tacky
really, but nothing you wouldn't see in Europe.
This view is more like what you'd expect to see at an Inca ruin. The terraces would have been for farming and even housing.
The terraces above are from where the previous shot was taken. It's a bit
hard to get perspective, but believe me it's a pretty impressive
structure considering the builders didn't have cranes or modern
machinery.
Maybe this photo will cast some light on the situation. Check the huge rock to our left.
As you may have guessed, the Sacsayhuaman ruins impressed me. It's one of four within about 5 kms of this one.
As you may have guessed, the Sacsayhuaman ruins impressed me. It's one of four within about 5 kms of this one.
The
final comment from up on the hill at Sacsayhuaman is the view down to
the city below. In the photo above you can see Plaza de Armas below with
it's gardens & 2 churches.
We met up with Gemma & Emma from our tour group by chance & eventually headed back down to the hotel. I had started to feel the effects of the dodgy food at lunch the day before. It was the start of a couple of a horror 24 hrs for me & I wasn't alone. When I got back there were a couple of other casualties already hiding in their rooms.To make things worse, my faithful Merrel hiking shoes finally let me down. The toe on one of the boots came away from the sole 36 hrs before we were to hike for 3 days. Our tour guide Roberto took me down to the part of town that he'd told us earlier in the day, not to go to for emergency repairs. I was to go back & pick them up later that evening.
We met up with Gemma & Emma from our tour group by chance & eventually headed back down to the hotel. I had started to feel the effects of the dodgy food at lunch the day before. It was the start of a couple of a horror 24 hrs for me & I wasn't alone. When I got back there were a couple of other casualties already hiding in their rooms.To make things worse, my faithful Merrel hiking shoes finally let me down. The toe on one of the boots came away from the sole 36 hrs before we were to hike for 3 days. Our tour guide Roberto took me down to the part of town that he'd told us earlier in the day, not to go to for emergency repairs. I was to go back & pick them up later that evening.
