Day 4: Sacred Valley I (Sacsayhuaman and Qenko)

In Peru, the sun rises around 6 am and it gets dark very early too (5.30 pm) at this time of the year. So we would get up dead early everyday to make the most of the day light.

 

The first thing we did in the morning was go downtown again to get dollars and pay our bus trip to Macchu Pichu on Sunday. Meanwhile, we had the rest of the week to enjoy the surroundings of Cusco and nearby sites, or the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the heartland of the Empire, as it is commonly known.

There are four Inca ruin sites around Cusco. Sacsayhuaman (which is pronounced similar to "sexy woman" in Jamaican English or something) is the most important out of the four and the closest to Cusco. We climbed up steep streets and endless steps to the site just outside the city, but it only took around 20 minutes. The views of Cusco from here were marvellous and the ruins seemed to dominate the area. Cusco was considered to be a puma in shape by the Incas, with Sacsayhuaman as its head, and the zigzag walls along the site, its teeth. The ruins are huge, even though it's only 20% of what it used to be before the Spanish conquerors ravaged the area. How the Incas carved the massive stones, lifted them (they weigh tons) and made them fit perfectly still remains a mystery.

 

 

climbing up

Sacsayhuaman

 

 

We also came across our first llamas and alpacas here, which looked lovable but they looked at you out of the corner of their eyes, ready to spit on your face if you got too close. Still, lovable creatures.

 

The weather was turning nasty but we decided to go on to the next Inca site, Qenko, just a while away on foot. The site consists of tiny paths through the rocks and little caves used for sacrifice rituals. The site is not as big and impressive as the first one but it was completely different in appearance and purpose and served as a convenient shelter when the first raindrops started to fall.

sacrifice table in Qenko

We refused to end our trip here just for some drizzle, so we went on a bit further up, as far as the Templo de la Luna (the Temple of the Moon, or Salapunco). Well...we don't know whether we got to the right place, but all we found was a very ruined temple- piles of stones to be precise- in the middle of the countryside. The thunder started to rumble so strong that it scared the hell out of us, the wind was blowing as if it was the end of the world and our flimsy ponchos didn't seem up to par, so we thought it was high time we went back before the rain (and lightening and hail) caught us, but it was too late. By the time we arrived in Cusco, we were soaked through: feet squelching and ponchos letting all the water in. But it was such an invigorating experience to feel the magic of the sites and fields only for us that it was more than worthwhile. As Spaniards would say, we were as happy as a pig in the mud. :)

Salapunco

scary things you might find on your way

 

After a late lunch at a veggie restaurant (nothing else around), we went back home to get changed and warm ourselves. We decided to call it a day!

I forgot to mention there was no heating in our place, not even in the bathroom, so having a shower was a Chinese torture. At least the bathroom was small and the steam from the hot water (which did not always come out) heated it up a bit.



views of Cusco from Sacsayhuaman
"Viva el Perú" (Long live Peru!) can be read in the background