Peru - Day 3 - Cusco Tour.

Though Cusco had been our home base for our other excursions, we didn't actually tour Cusco until the third day. That morning we were able to take it easy, as there had been rumor of a transportation strike. Whether or not that happened we couldn't tell. Either way, we walked to Jack's Cafe, which was definitely more of a gringo hangout. The food was marginal. I tell you, I had pancakes FOUR times while in Peru, and not one time were they really very edible. Thankfully the other food made up for it.

A while after our brunch we met our guide for our afternoon city tour. We started at the Temple of Qorikancha. The ruins of Qorikancha were really well preserved, its walls once covered in gold.

In Qorikancha the windows are all lined up. If you stand on this rock, you can see how precise the workmanship is.

When the Spanish took over the temple, they removed the gold and covered the walls with plaster and frescoes.
Here is the only remaining fresco.

This painting is the size of a wall in our house, if not larger. Painted by Miguel Cartagena, it depicts important stars and objects in the sky and how the Inca interpreted them. Unfortunately my angle was a little off, so I'll refer you to this photo to be able to see the llama, fox, and other figures as well as a more in depth explanation of the painting. If you click on the second picture you can see a close up of how the painting was made - with dots.

And here is Linette with a dog in a hat. Oh wait, that's a lamb, hehe.

The Cathedral of Santo Domingo was quite incredible, as it seemed to never end. Altars were all around us. It is known for having the "Black Christ"; however, the wooden figure is black from the smoke of candles in the past and is not related to the race of Jesus. I enjoyed most a huge painting of the last supper. On the plate before the apostles was a cuy (guinea pig), which was indicative that a local person had painted it.

The Plaza de Armas was very busy this afternoon, for the Cathedral of Santo Domingo was anticipating the arrival of a new statue of Don Bosco (St. John Bosco). Groups of students in traditional garb were there to perform dances and ceremonies welcoming the new addition. We didn't stay and watch, though, as we had one more excursion to do.

We drove out to Sacsayhuaman (pronounced similarly to "sexy woman") next. The ruins were great, but Rafi and I couldn't get over how lush the short green grass was!

Notice the "holes" in the rocks. These were where they put the ends of their support poles to assist in holding everything up.

Do you see the puma paw? The puma was a sacred animal in the Inca tradition, as was the snake and condor.

As our guide said more than once (more than ten times really), "notice the inclination of the walls. Why is this? This is because the Inca made it anti-seismic."

Tambomachay was really interesting, too. The waterways created by the Incas are still working today. Supposedly its source is an underground spring. It was once used as a place of bathing for people in high places.

This woman was nice, but that llama had an odor.

We did drive by two other places (Puca Pucara and Qenko), but at our request we did just that - drove by. By this point even I (the lover of all things tour and education related) was feeling quite exhausted.

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Four very tired people had dinner at Tunupa in Cusco. We enjoyed our food, but the show was the best. I nearly got the you-know-what scared out of me when a masked devil popped up right behind me. It only got worse when he drug me to the front "stage" and made me dance with him. Lots and lots of spinning on a full stomach. He was quite the comedian, though, as he kept making me "dip" him lower and lower - and I could barely hold him up! My cheeks were hurting afterward from laughing so hard.

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It was this night, in the wee hours of the day, that Rafi had his bout with altitude sickness. He looked yellow and felt cold to the touch. And then he started shaking. We turned on the oxygen machine and I consulted Dr. Google just in case, but after a while the shaking stopped, he felt better, and we both got some rest.