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This day offered
us the luxury of a lie in - we did not have breakfast
until 08:00!
Back onto the coach at 09:00 and
we were off for more of the Inca trail. We head
off once again up the beautiful Urubamba River valley.
Our first stop was Q’enqo, a ruined Inca temple
to the god of water which has a large sacred rock.
We saw some amazing carvings. |
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As we left the site, a familiar face came up
to us offering postcards. The man who had taken
photos of us yesterday as we got onto our coach
had turned them into postcards and somehow had
tracked us down (a deal with the driver?). Most
of them were quite good, but some were appalling.
Either way, he sold most of them, either to send
to friends or to destroy the evidence!
Next, Saqsayhuaman (known colloquially as "sexy
woman"), a fortress above the city of Cuzco
where the Incas would have retrenched in time
of invasion.
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Amazing
stonework and great views over the whole town of
Cuzco. |
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As we left the site,
another man took photos of us - we wondered when
and how he would track us down later... |
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We drove into Cuzco
and arrived at the Libertador Hotel. Like a lot
of central Cuzco, it is built on Inca foundations,
very modern and comfortable. You can see the old
Inca wall in the hotel – notably the bar where
the back wall is one entire Inca construction! |
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| The view from out room shows that local shops
could do with a little roofing work! |
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Now at 11,000 ft
above sea level, the altitude was making itself
known and we had to take it easy or we became breathless.
But the acclimatisation yesterday at Posada helped
and no-one (except John) suffered from headaches
or other symptoms. Nevertheless we all tried the
coca tea (very bland) out of curiosity.
In the afternoon, Julian took us
out for a walking tour of the city. We were due
to have a coach tour, but it was Corpus Christi
and the place was heaving. |
Our first stop was the
Convento Dominico, just around the corner
from the hotel. It was built on the Inca temple
of the sun, the most important building of
Inca Cuzco. |
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The protelysing Catholics
were determined to destroy everything they
thought evil. However, the Incas knew more
about building in Cuzco than the Spanish and
their constructions were earthquake resistant
– very necessary in this area which
suffers from many earthquakes. Earthquakes
destroyed the Convent a number of times, and
only the Inca foundations remained standing.
As a result one can still see parts of the
Inca temple today. You could see how some
of the arches were built into Inca walls. |
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Then we walked on to
the main square (Plaza des Armas) which was
full of people carrying statues of the saints
from their local church to the Cathedral. |
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We went into the
Cathedral. It was very impressive: more South American
Baroque with silver and gold altar pieces and statues.
All of the precious metals had been stripped from
the Temple of the Sun, the 10ft high walls of which
were originally entirely covered in gold sheets.
The side chapels of the Cathedral were as big as
some churches. (no photography allowed, so sorry
no pictures!) |
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It was now becoming dark
and the fiesta was beginning to really go
with a swing. we could hear music everywhere,
as the brass bands which had come from the
local villages to accompany their saints
were now setting up as impromptu dance bands.
All over the city was noise, drinking and
dancing.
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We
went down to one of the very lively street
markets off the main square. It is very,
very busy. There are dozens of food stalls,
all of which specialise in one thing: roast
guinea pig – not very appetising!
- as well as little black sausages which
we are told are guinea pig black pudding.
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Guinea pig with
peppers |
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| Now the bad news. Julian warned us that
to get to Machu Picchu tomorrow, we will need to leave
very early... we held our collective breaths... and
the wake up call would be at 04:00! We decided to
have an early supper in the hotel and go to bed by
21:00. |
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