Saturday 22 November 2008 - Cuzco, Peru
Our day started with a horse ride to an archelogical site. 3 of us were driven high up in the hills in a tiny cab to some stables where it looked like these horses hadn't eaten in a month. We were met by the guide and 3 others, and all mounted our anorexic nag's to head even further up the mountain through mud and rocks. It was a beautiful day, and the riding was very easy as the poor things were set to auto-pilot and just followed each other in a row. The site was pretty good as it wasn't on the tourist route. It was interested once again seeing the gum trees all around like in San Francisco, and we learnt that the farmers had imported the gum trees from Australia to plant and to prevent mud slides.
In the afternoon we met with a larger group at the Plaza de Armas and visited 6 sites. The Cathedral, Koricancha (Inca Temple of the Sun), Sacsayhuaman (pronounced Sexy Woman), Qénko, Puca Pucara, and Tambomachay. The Cathedral is absolutely amazing, a definitely must see. Unfortunately you can't take photographs in there because people have reproduced works from inside and then stolen the originals. By the time we had got to the second temple, Pete was feeling pretty sick so he went back to the hostel for a lay down while I continued on to the the other ruins. They were all amazing. The Inca's certainly put so much detail in their work, and it seems almost impossible to achieve what they did. The stone they used was incredibly heavy and quaried from hundreds of miles away. It was then carved into perfect geometric shapes to fit neatly against each other so no motar was used. The sites must have looked so beautiful when they were completed as it is believed many of them were covered in gold and held golden idols. These of course were stripped bare when the spaniards came.
Our day started with a horse ride to an archelogical site. 3 of us were driven high up in the hills in a tiny cab to some stables where it looked like these horses hadn't eaten in a month. We were met by the guide and 3 others, and all mounted our anorexic nag's to head even further up the mountain through mud and rocks. It was a beautiful day, and the riding was very easy as the poor things were set to auto-pilot and just followed each other in a row. The site was pretty good as it wasn't on the tourist route. It was interested once again seeing the gum trees all around like in San Francisco, and we learnt that the farmers had imported the gum trees from Australia to plant and to prevent mud slides.
In the afternoon we met with a larger group at the Plaza de Armas and visited 6 sites. The Cathedral, Koricancha (Inca Temple of the Sun), Sacsayhuaman (pronounced Sexy Woman), Qénko, Puca Pucara, and Tambomachay. The Cathedral is absolutely amazing, a definitely must see. Unfortunately you can't take photographs in there because people have reproduced works from inside and then stolen the originals. By the time we had got to the second temple, Pete was feeling pretty sick so he went back to the hostel for a lay down while I continued on to the the other ruins. They were all amazing. The Inca's certainly put so much detail in their work, and it seems almost impossible to achieve what they did. The stone they used was incredibly heavy and quaried from hundreds of miles away. It was then carved into perfect geometric shapes to fit neatly against each other so no motar was used. The sites must have looked so beautiful when they were completed as it is believed many of them were covered in gold and held golden idols. These of course were stripped bare when the spaniards came.
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