Trip to Southeast Peru - Day One - Cusco

On the first day of our second trip I literally wrote one sentence in my diary. (Gee thanks past Lydia) I can only look back at pictures and our intinerary for evidence of what happened that day. We went to the Temple of the Sun and Moon first. It was epicly constructed. You could see even today the precision and hard work that went into everything the Incas did. There was no mortar used to hold together the stone structure only a peg and hole system (macho and hembra). Each stone was perfectly fitted with it's neighbor. The sad part was that when the Spanish conquered Peru, they tore down about half of the temple and built a church above it.

The walls are perfectly made.

We drove a ways in bus to Sacsayhuamán. It was again breathtaking to see what the Incas did for their gods. It is thought to have been more of a guard post between different temples. It was built into a zig-zag shape to represent the serpent of the Inca world. The emense stones make up Sacsayhuaman and it's just gigantic.  



Mattieu and I by the biggest stone in the wall.

We went to sacred waters next in the temple of Tambomachay. In order to enter Cusco from the outside, an Inca had to be washed in the sacred waters to purify himself for the sacred city. It was very cool and I really wanted to drink some, but we weren't allowed to. It's very lucky! We couldn't stay very long because the sun was going down and we still had stuff left to visit. We drove by Pucapucara on the way out, but we just stopped to take pictures from afar. 

The windows and fountains from afar.

I think the coolest spot we visited was Qenqo though. We arrived at night, so we couldn't see it that well. It was kindof like a maze. They said that virgens were kept there for sacrifice to the gods. It had a great view of Cusco from the top and it was really good and creepy.

A table for sacrfice... It was super cold...

The hotel bed was so wonderful that night!

L