Cuzco

Cuzco is a wonderful place to visit! It is the former capitol of the Inca Empire. Its only disadvantage is that it is about 3,600m above sea level and it takes some time to get used to this altitude.

Ian and I were able to explore the centre in the morning, walking very slowly (the slightest exertion had us breathless). It has the usual aftermath of the Spanish Catholicism - magnificent Cathedral and other public buildings in the Colonial style.

In the afternoon, with the rest of our group, we were driven to Sacsayhuaman (you are allowed to say sexy woman) which is a major Inca site. I cannot come to terms with how, with only hand tools, they built enormous walls with each huge block fitting to mm accuracy to the next one. The heaviest block is estimasterd at 120 tons. One wall was about 100m in zig zag fashion with the 18 points giving the orientation of the sun for each of their 20 day months. Another semi-circular wall was part of a means of creating a lake which was a mirror to look at the reflection of sun and moon.
The Incas built on the´ideas and technologies of earlier groups but how did they achieved so much while only controlling this part of the world for about 100 years.
We visited the site at Kenco where bodies were embalmed.
Finally back to Cuzco for the Inca Temple of the Sun, on which later buildings had been put. Even when blocks seem to have been simply put one on top of another, the Incas had a system of keying them together to prevent slippage! There are so many reasons for the placings of all the walls, doorways, windows, to tie in with astronomical observations.
We had a great day and were in awe of what the Incas achieved before they started to self distruct with civil war - and then the Spanish moved in!