Cusco: 3-star San Agustin Internacional Hotel - San Agustin Cusco, Perú, Telephone Number: +51 84 222322
DAY 11: Cusco B
This morning’s city tour of Cusco will introduce you to this amazing colonial city built on the foundation of Inca palaces. Visit the ‘Temple of the Sun’ where you can appreciate the incredible masonry of the Incas, the Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral with its carved woodworks, altars and paintings. Later you will drive to the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman, then to the underground cave and temple of Kenko – one of the largest wak’as (holy places) in the region. Experience a panoramic view of Puca Pucara and, finally, stop at the living art workshop, ‘Inka’s Expression’ to admire how the local artisans create wonderful silver pieces, paintings and wood carvings.
Janet wrote: “I was up at ca.5.30am.… To breakfast for
ca.6am. A good spread. I had a good tuck-in — enjoyed. [John] joined me around 7am… We both had the shakes today — like the… DT’s! Couldn’t keep my hands still. Later [I was] told [that] it’s still all down to the altitude. [John was] feeling and looking a bit
better… he still has that breathing problem.… We returned to our room then headed downstairs for 8am pick-up.… Boris didn’t arrive until
ca.8.30am, as he’d had a crisis at home; he was in ‘a bit of a state’, actually.… Then off we went to get our coach. It was quite cool. Our first stop was Tambomachay. It was quite a ‘refreshing’ morning. This had Inca ruins of a ‘water system’, lots of trees, a running stream,
etc. Lovely and peaceful.” The Tambomachay archaeological site is some four miles north of Cusco. As we entered the site, we each had to present the multiple-use ticket that Boris had given us at Ollantaytambo on
Thursday
19 February 2015, for a second hole to be punched in it. Then we walked along a longish footpath to the ruins.
Multiple-use ticket
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:20:08
Road to the Tambomachay ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:20:22
Road to the Tambomachay ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:21:56
Road to the Tambomachay ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:24:10
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:28:04
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:33:12
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:35:12
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:35:50
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:35:50 (detail 1)
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:35:50 (detail 2)
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:36:10
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:36:18
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:36:44
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:44:36
Tambomachay archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 09:48:04
Tambomachay archaeological site
Just down the road, a couple of hundred yards from the entrance to Tambomachay, was what we got a third hole punched in our ticket for: the site of military ruins — walls, terraces and stairs — at Pukapukara. “Then we went to Pukapukara,”
Janet wrote, “for a panoramic view. Quite beautiful scenery.” The panoramic view also afforded a good lookout position for a fort.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:05:48
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:06:42
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:06:42 (detail 1)
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:06:42 (detail 2)
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:07:48
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:09:00
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:09:20
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:12:36
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:13:10
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:14:16
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:15:28
Pukapukara site of military ruins
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:15:38
Pukapukara site of military ruins
At the entrance/exit there was a line of souvenir stalls, and as we passed them, returning to the coach, there were people in costume with a sound-system that was playing — as if you needed to guess! —
El Condor Pasa.
For the next hole in the multi-site ticket, the archaeological site Q’enqo, the coach retraced its route southwards for
ca.2½ miles in the direction of Cusco. “It is one of the largest wak’as (holy places) in the Cusco Region. Many wak’as were based on naturally occurring rock formations. It
is believed to be a place where sacrifices and mummification took place” —
Wikipedia.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:37:40
Q’enqo archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:38:36
Q’enqo archaeological site: limestone outcrop, surrounded by a plaza
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:41:06
Q’enqo archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:47:46
Q’enqo archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:47:54
Q’enqo archaeological site
Boris led us to a cave carved out of the rock — and through: it had a separate entrance and exit. He pointed out what may have been embalming
tables;[*] a niche for a mummy, perhaps the Inca Pachacuti; three steps representing underworld, our world and the world above; and a zig-zag channel like a snake, leading in from the exit and disappearing below as if to the underworld.
[*] The websites I later consulted weren’t much help, being in Spanish with automatic translation: one, translated, said that the tables were for embalming “dried apricots”, another, for embalming “public telephones”. Another suggestion was that they were altars.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:49:08
Q’enqo archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:49:08 (detail)
Q’enqo archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:50:12
Q’enqo archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:51:54
Q’enqo archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:56:04
Q’enqo archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:56:04 (detail)
Q’enqo archaeological site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:56:32
Q’enqo archaeological site: embalming table?
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:57:58
Q’enqo archaeological site: burial niche
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:58:38
Q’enqo archaeological site: embalming table?
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:59:18
Q’enqo archaeological site: three steps — underworld, our world and the world above
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:59:56
Q’enqo archaeological site: snake-like channel…
Saturday 21 February 2015, 10:59:48
Q’enqo archaeological site: …to the underworld
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:00:08
Q’enqo archaeological site: If “10:59:48” represents the underworld, perhaps this represents the world above.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:00:32
Q’enqo archaeological site: exit from the cave
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:02:10
Q’enqo archaeological site: exit from the cave
Outside, someone pointed out that the sun had a rainbow round it.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:03:22
Q’enqo archaeological site: the sun with a “22° halo”
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:04:38
Q’enqo archaeological site: view of Cusco in the valley below
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:05:08
Q’enqo archaeological site: Our party leaves the site; another party emerges from the cave.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:05:08 (detail 1)
Q’enqo archaeological site: Our party leaves the site…
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:05:08 (detail 2)
Q’enqo archaeological site: …another party emerges from the cave.
The fifth and final hole[*] in the multi-site ticket was for the fortified complex of Sacsayhuaman, not far west of Q’enqo. There, Boris pointed out the largest hewn stone of any Inca-civilisation site. On a nearby hill was a giant statue, along the lines of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, overlooking the valley of Cusco — not the same one I saw on
Wednesday
18 February 2015 (15:32:58).[†]
[*] i.e. one hole on Thursday for the temple area of Ollantaytambo, and four today for Tambomachay, Pukapukara, Q’enqo and Sacsayhuaman.
[†] That was on a hill overlooking Urcos, some 29 miles east-southeast of Cusco.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:19:48
Sacsayhuaman
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:22:56
Sacsayhuaman
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:24:44
Sacsayhuaman
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:40:22
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site — “Christ the Redeemer”-style statue overlooking Cusco
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:40:28
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:40:36
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:40:46
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:40:56
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:41:04
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site (cf. “11:44:36”, below)
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:41:14
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:41:22
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:41:28
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:41:36
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:41:42
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:41:52
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:41:58
Sacsayhuaman: panoramic sweep around the site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:43:34
Sacsayhuaman: wider view of the terrace in the previous three photos
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:43:54
Sacsayhuaman: zoomed-in view of the “Christ the Redeemer”-style statue
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:44:36
Sacsayhuaman: zoomed-in view of “the largest hewn stone of any Inca-civilisation site” (cf. “11:41:04”, above)
Saturday 21 February 2015, 11:47:06
Sacsayhuaman
Janet wrote: “We reboarded our coach (it was almost noon) and headed back to Cusco. We left the coach and walked to ‘The Temple of the Sun’ to see the incredible… masonry of the Incas.” The Spanish colonists built the Church of Santo Domingo on the site, but there are Inca stone walls within, built out of large, tightly-interlocking, earthquake withstanding blocks of
stone.[*]
[*] “This is one of numerous sites where the Spanish incorporated Inca stonework into the structure of a colonial building. Major earthquakes severely damaged the church, but the Inca stone walls, built out of huge, tightly-interlocking blocks of stone, still stand due to their sophisticated stone masonry” —
Wikipedia.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:30:26
Church and convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: heading for the far entrance in the white wall
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:32:06
Church and convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: entering the convent
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:33:20
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: cloister
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:38:10
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: aligned trapezoidal windows in the Inca-civilisation stone wall
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:38:30
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: room with the now-familiar sight of windows and niches
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:38:36
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: room with the now-familiar sight of windows and niches
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:39:00
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: more rooms of Inca-civilisation construction opposite the convent cloister
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:40:52
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: more rooms of Inca-civilisation construction
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:41:04
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: more rooms of Inca-civilisation construction
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:41:26
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: more rooms of Inca-civilisation construction
The Incas can be credibly said to have invented Lego.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:44:06
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: stone with tenon for interlocking
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:44:18
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: stone with mortise for interlocking
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:45:02
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: Inca-civilisation stone wall
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:45:40
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: model of this House of the Sun site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:46:08
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: model of this House of the Sun site
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:47:48
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: cloister
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:48:34
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: exhibit
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:48:34 (detail)
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: exhibit
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:51:50
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: ceremonial niche (also seen from outside the room, “12:52:58”, below)
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:52:06
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: large room with niches
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:52:26
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: “Mural Decoration, 17th century, pigment on plaster…”
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:52:58
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: ceremonial niche, better seen from the other side (“12:51:50”, above) where the view is not compromised by the reflection of the cloister
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:54:56
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: door with projecting stone jambs and two lintels
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:58:30
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: representation of the Inca cosmology
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:58:30 (detail 1)
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: representation of the Inca cosmology
Saturday 21 February 2015, 12:58:30 (detail 2)
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: representation of the Inca cosmology
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:00:24
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: door at the end of the corridor in which the above representation is displayed
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:02:28
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: outside through a nearby door
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:03:44
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: floor of the corridor
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:05:00
Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco: outside — with perhaps a survival of the original Inca-civilisation retaining wall to the left
Then we walked in the direction of the Plaza de Armas; we were going to visit the cathedral. We walked along narrow streets dating back to Inca times, for many of the buildings in the historic centre of Cusco were built on top of the remains of Inca walls. As we went along, there was a large, evidently ecclesiastical building to the left. But that wasn’t the one we visited; as we emerged into the Plaza the cathedral was to the right, on the side of the Plaza at a right angle to this one.
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:16:54
On the way to the Plaza de Armas
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:24:18
On the way to the Plaza de Armas: right turn
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:24:46
On the way to the Plaza de Armas: narrow street, Inca-period stonework, and “large, evidently ecclesiastical building” to the left
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:28:28
On the way to the Plaza de Armas: the “large, evidently ecclesiastical building” to the left
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:29:20
On the way to the Plaza de Armas
Saturday 21 February 2015, 13:36:36
Entering the Cathedral by way of the Holy Family Chapel
Janet wrote: “Then we walked to the Plaza de Armas and went into the Cathedral. A beautiful place inside and out. Built in the 17th century. It had carved wood works, altar, and paintings. One of them was of Mother Teresa. She had visited the Cathedral. All of the paintings in there were by local artists. Most were ‘naïve’ — but what a marvellous thing. We saw the only ‘Black Jesus’. Apparently, it wasn’t intended: the wood had turned black in time. Then we were shown a painting of the Last Supper by a local Peruvian artist, and Boris said, ‘Have you all seen the picture before?’ and [John] said, ‘Yes, but not with a guinea pig in!’ Quite hilarious! That was the end of today’s tour. It was
ca.2.30pm.” The cathedral was very wide and spacious. Because photography was not allowed within, I have little recall of it: just of width and space, wide naves — and side-chapels as well. On reading in
Wikipedia about “the neoclassical embossed silver altar” I do seem to recall such a tall, ornate structure. Paintings and sculptures of Jesus by local artists tended to depict his sufferings before the actual crucifixion itself, as if the latter didn’t convey as much meaning to the local people as the former. Boris pointed out in one painting showing a Renaissance-style Madonna that the local artist had managed to get some symbols of Inca-religion incorporated in the design and layout without his lord and master noticing. Finally, there was the large canvas that
Janet mentioned, about which Boris asked, “Have you all seen this picture before?” and I replied in a flat, disinterested-seeming tone, “Yes, but not with a guinea pig on a plate in the middle of the table.”
Photo from the internet
Janet wrote: “Boris recommended two restaurants for lunch, the second being ‘behind the cathedral’, called
Marcelo Batata, for Peruvian cuisine. And, as we’d asked him earlier, he’d organised ‘room use’ for tomorrow at the hotel for us. We’d have to be out of our room by 10.00am otherwise, and pick-up isn’t until 2pm latest. Then we headed off to see if we could finally get rid of those… US dollars… We got them exchanged for soles — and for a good rate. Then I headed off to try to find
Marcelo Batata for lunch. [I] left [John] sitting on a bench in the Plaza. He had really struggled with breathing again today and wasn’t feeling very well.…”
Saturday 21 February 2015, 14:23:44
The “large, evidently ecclesiastical building” on the side of the Plaza de Armas at a right angle to the Cathedral
(I would walk past next day and find that it was the Church of the Company of Jesus.)
Saturday 21 February 2015, 14:28:02
Cusco Cathedral, the “Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin”
Saturday 21 February 2015, 14:35:42
Cusco Cathedral, the “Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin”
Saturday 21 February 2015, 14:35:56
Cusco Cathedral: zoomed-in view of the Chapel of the Holy Family
“I finally found the place,” Janet continued, “then collected [John] — but it was closed. We’d asked in another restaurant nearby
[“Uchu”]. So we decided to look at Uchu’s menu and discovered very reasonable prices. …I’d had no liquid at all since around 7am, and it was 3pm! I ordered an
Inca-Kola.”
Saturday 21 February 2015, 14:45:34
On the way to the restaurant
Saturday 21 February 2015, 14:46:54
On the way to the restaurant
Saturday 21 February 2015, 14:48:24
On the way to the restaurant
We were in the bar area, so went upstairs to the restaurant proper. “We went upstairs to the restaurant to look at the menu after finding comfy seats,”
Janet wrote. “We ordered starters ([John] soup and me salad), and [John] also had a[n
Inca-]Kola. It’s like cream soda. I like! — ended up having three (and [so did John]).…” The soup, in a fairly deep bowl, was a lamb stock, with pieces of meat in it and a generous quantity of thread pasta. I decided to leave some of the pasta; the soup would have sufficed on its own without a main course.
Janet continued, “My salad was divine: chicken strips in some sort of seeds, stir-fried, with leaves, sliced peach, red pepper, courgette,
etc., in a delicious dressing.… Before that we’d had ‘dressed’ olives.… Then we both had an alpaca steak. (I discovered later
Uchu is a Peruvian steakhouse.) It was served on a board on a hot plate; it was sizzling. It was a big hunk of meat. It came with Peruvian fried potatoes,… four types of dipping sauces — we both liked the ‘butter’ and chimichurri dips — and side salads. Lots to eat. …We both liked the alpaca, which we thought tasted like lamb — no surprise, really! I ended up having the rest of his chimichurri and about a third of his steak.…” The outer part of the steak was brown, but inside it was very rare; all one had to do, though, was slice a piece off thinly, dab each side for a fraction of a second on the cast-iron plate, and it was cooked perfectly.
Janet also had dessert, or desserts (plural).
Saturday 21 February 2015, 15:06:44
Upstairs at the Uchu restaurant
Saturday 21 February 2015, 15:45:34
Upstairs at the Uchu restaurant: Inca-Kola
Saturday 21 February 2015, 15:51:20
Upstairs at the Uchu restaurant: alpaca steak
Janet wrote: “We left at ca.4.30pm. We’d been there about 1½ hours. It was good to just ‘chill out’, relax, and take our time. It had rained whilst we’d been in
Uchu but had stopped when we left. We’d no idea where we were so got a taxi. Unfortunately the driver ripped us off and we ended up paying 20
soles.[*] Oh well! At the hotel we double-checked about ‘room use’ for tomorrow: we have it until 2.00pm tomorrow. We’d asked Boris to do this, as most of the staff at the hotel don’t speak English. We went up to our room. [John] was feeling quite sick as he’d sniffed cooking smells en route so I helped him into bed. Then I headed off to find two postcards. I bought a chocolate
Cornetto for 4 soles, then found a couple of postcards of Machu Picchu, and finally two international [postage] stamps. It kept raining. I returned to the hotel.… We’re off to Lima tomorrow for our final night.…
