Sacsayhuaman

 

I had no idea Cusco has so many fantastic archeological sites within walking distance! We purchased a pass that included entrance to 16 different sites over a 10 day period for $100 for the family. The first site we visited was Sacsayhuaman (yes, it does sound like that), a site constructed in the 15th century, considered one of the most mysterious structures on earth. 

Right away I spotted a lifer Andean Lapwing sleeping on the stone wall!

This fortress has three levels of zigzag 18ft tall walls consisting of massive rocks that weigh up to 160 tons! How was this even possible to construct? Some even say it must have been aliens!

Our guide explained the rocks that form these walls were brought here from a quarry 20km away. How could humans possibly move rocks this size even a short distance? Well, they believe they pulled them using ropes, ramps and logs. They have even tested this out and found it takes 15 people to pull a 1 ton rock, 150 people to pull a 10 ton rock!

So how many people would it take to pull this rock? It's the largest, measuring 15x9ft and estimated to weigh around 160 tons! They figure it took 2,220 people all pulling at once! Wow! 

They believe the rocks were broken at fault lines, and pounded into shape with other rocks or tools, then dry fitted together (no mortar) so precisely that not even a piece of paper could slip between the rocks.

There are animal figures built into the walls. Below is an alpaca/llama facing right.

Looking out from atop the first wall at Muyuqmarka, another structure.

Pretty cool view of Cusco.

Next we walked to Rodadero, a natural rock slide. The kids had fun exploring and sliding down these. 

From here we could see ongoing excavation work. Pretty exciting! 

We crested a hill and I spotted a whole group of lapwings and was able to watch them for a bit.

Taking the scenic route home.

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Cusco and Cuy

 

Have you ever seen a volcano erupting from the air? As we flew from Arequipa to Cusco, we had a great view of Volcan Sabancaya! How exciting!

I've always pictured Cusco as a quaint, little mountain town. It was obvious when we landed in a big city and spent 20 minutes driving to our hotel, that I was very wrong! This former capital of the Incan Empire, located in the Andes mountains at 11,000ft, making it one of the highest cities in the world. It's home to nearly half a million people and is best known for it's archeological sites and as a gateway to the Amazon. It also has teeny, tiny, incredibly narrow, stone streets! Vehicles have to share these one lane roads with pedestrians who have, at times, less than 10" of edge to stand on. 

I've never seen so many hairless dogs as I have in Peru. Some wear clothes in lieu of sunblock.

Here's the view from our street in San Blas. There's a closeup below of the far mountain with the Viva El Peru sign. This ended up being a great location for us. We walked just about everywhere. 

Some roads are very steep, so walking is a workout here, especially with lower oxygen levels. You know it's steep when the sidewalk is a staircase with no end in sight!

The Plaza de Armas (main square) was a short walk from our apartment. This is a main gathering place with the cathedral, park,  shops along the square and street vendors. 

Let's talk about the food!

Hands down, our favorite place was Avocado Toast, a cafe we visited about five times in our ten day stay. The flavor combinations were delicious, and the presentation was over the top! My favorite was the strawberry avocado toast with feta cheese and a balsamic reduction, and mango avocado ceviche.

An burger with a whole avo for the bun, and avo fries (below).

Right across the street is Green Point Vegan, another restaurant with enormous proportions that are equally as imaginative.

When in Peru....

...you just have to try the cuy (sounds like kwEE). We're talking about guinea pig. This restaurant came recommended for their cuy. We arrived very hungry and found the full baked dish we had planned on ordering requires a full hour of prep. A side was ready now, so we opted for it. How was it? Well, let's just say it was the most expensive couple bites of food during our whole trip. Both kids have always been up for trying any food that's offered, however, on this one, Journey drew the line. *Actually I think her remorse from trying alpaca and seeing this pushed her over the edge, as soon after, she decided to remove all meat from her diet.

We enjoy visiting markets and found a few different ones while exploring.

From the outside (above) and inside (below)

The San Pedro market is the largest in Cusco and sells pretty much everything you could want.

Lots of vendors line the streets too.

Here's more photos from our walks.

You can see how the homes are built up the sides of the mountains.

I enjoyed the variety of wall designs and the different stones used for the roads. The second one below is fashioned after the archeological sites in the area. Some rocks possibly even taken from a site.

The lights of Cusco are pretty at night. This was a little rooftop restaurant we stopped at for ice cream.

Overall we really enjoyed Cusco and I'm happy we spent 9 days here. I would definitely return. There is one big downside. It's COLD at night and heat is not really a thing apparently. We were here in the winter (September) and it was pleasant during the day but dropped to like 30 degrees at night. The apartment manager wheeled in a 2ft long radiator to plug in...for our 3 bedroom apartment! Oh and the hot water didn't always work either. Brrr!

This is right outside our apartment.

While we had 9 days to explore Cusco, our stuff actually lived in the apartment for 16 days. When planning for Machu Picchu we found out we could only take a small pack on the train, so the apartment manager was kind enough to store our backpacks during that trip and again for our four days in the jungle.

But first I'll tell you about some of the cool archeological sites we visited in Cusco in the next post.