Incan Ruins

Cuzco is a tourist attraction in its own right, but the primary reason for its popularity is that it is very useful as a base to explore many Incan ruins, especially Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Magge and I took four days towards the end of our time in Cuzco to explore six different sites.  (Picture to the right is of some storage houses on Pinkuylluna, by the town of Ollantaytambo).

Friday
There are four sites that are relatively close to the city, and are often included in whirlwind city tours, but we decided to take a local bus to the furthest site and walk the six miles back, stopping along the way.

Tambomachay
Also called El Baño del Inca (The Bath of the Incas), this site had a number of canals and aquaducts that are still functioning. The purpose of the structure is still unclear, although the usual guess is that it was a resort for the Incan elite. It was a relatively small site but was a good start to the day.

Puka Pukara
The more imposing site of Puka Pukara was visible from Tambomachay and was only a ten minute walk away.  A guide hanging around the entrance convinced us to let him give us a tour for ten soles, and he was fairly interesting except that he repeated every fact three or four times to draw out the length of the tour.  The building, whose name means "Red Fortress", was likely a military checkpoint along an Incan road.

Q'enqo
Another small site, Q'enqo was still interesting. From many angles, it looks like nothing more than a pile of rocks, but it contains a carve with carved altars and channels that may have been used to drain sacrificial chicha (corn juice) or blood.

Q'enqo exterior; this monolith was defaced by the Spaniards

Inside the cave; an altar is to the right, and you can see the chicha/blood channels on the ground to the left of Magge

Sacsayhuamán
Sacsayhuamán is the largest and most impressive of the four sites we visited on this day. It is a massive, walled complex that sits on cliffs above Cuzco. While scholars still debate its initial purpose, the Incas used the complex as a fort from which they sieged Spanish-held Cuzco during the first Incan rebellion under Manco Cápac II in 1536. The siege was nearly a success, but seventy Spanish cavalrymen and some native auxillaries charged Sacsayhuamán and recaptured it, hampering the siege efforts that ultimately failed a few months later.  Thousands died in this battle and left within the complex's walls, and the condors fed on the dead for days.  Although only 20% of the original structure remains, large portions of the terraced, zigzagging walls remain. The most famous feature of the ruins is the Incan masonry; giant stones (the largest of which weighs 300 tons) are intricately cut and pieced together without the use of mortar. That the walls have remained largely unscathed through several large earthquakes while many of the colonial buildings have collapsed speaks to the quality of the work.

A good view of the terraced walls

Intricate Incan masonry (no mortar)

To give you an idea of how huge these stones are, that's me standing in front of one

Saturday

We left Cuzco for the town of Ollantaytambo, 2.5 hours away, to check out the ruins there and then take the train to Aguas Calientes.  The town is one of the remaining few that has retained its original Incan streetplan, and contains some of the longest continuously inhabited buildings on the continent.  We enjoyed walking around the narrow, walled streets and got to bed early.

Picture Ollantaytambo ruins from the town

Sunday

We woke up early so we could have time to explore the ruins before catching the 1pm train to Aguas Calientes, the town below Machu Picchu.  The ruins consist of terraces, buildings of religious importance and storehouses built on the mountainsides over the town.  Like Sacsayhuamán, Manco Cápac used the site as a fort during his rebellion against the Spanish, and it was one of the few places where the Incas won a major battle, as Manco flooded the valley to reduce the mobility advantage the Spaniards' had with their horses.  If the history of the Spanish colonization of Peru interests you, I recommend John Hemming's The Conquest of the Incas, which I am currently reading.

Magge at the base of the terraces and the top of temple hill

After visiting the main part of the ruins, Magge and I crossed the town to hike up the mountain of Pinkuylluna to some more ruins.  The path is fairly steep and strenuous, and as a result it receives few visitors.  Magge and I only ran across a few people, and felt like we were exploring the ruins by ourselves.  The town, the main site and the smaller site of Pinkuylluna combined for one of my favorite experiences on the trip so far.

Up to the storage houses on Pinkuylluna

Taking a break on Pinkuylluna

My attempt at being artistic and framing a shot with the ruins on Pinkuylluna

Magge's attempt at being artistic (I think she succeeded) - the only flower like this we saw on our hike

At 1pm, we boarded the overpriced train (the cost is a full day's budget for us) for a 1.5 hour ride to Aguas Calientes, which is the Pigeon Forge of Peru, without the go-karts and putt-putts.  It's an unattractive town with the sole purpose of serving tourists that are visiting Machu Picchu.  Every restaurant serves the exact same menu (Mexican food that uses crepes instead of tortillas, pizza, spaghetti and some Peruvian staples), with the exact same incorrect English translations (somehow "alpaca" gets translated into "German nickels").  We bought our tickets to Machu Picchu (costs more than a full day's budget), got dinner and went to bed.

Monday

The alarm was set for 5:30am so we could get to Machu Picchu early and avoid the crowds.  To get from Aguas Calientes to the ruins, you can either take a 6 miles bus ride that costs a ridiculous $7 each way, or walk 2.5 miles, with the last 2 miles being very steep.  I wanted to walk for the added experience and to avoid spending any more money than we already had.  Magge begrudgingly agreed.  As we left, it started to drizzle.  It was not that big of a problem, but it was very humid and we both sweat through our shirts.  Just as we stepped onto the beginning of the steepest part of the trail, it began to rain harder, and the clouds got so thick I was worried we would not be able to see the ruins at all.  Ten minutes later, any part that had not gotten soaked from sweat was now soaked from the rain and Magge was telling me how miserable she was.  Halfway up, we reached a small shelter, and we sat there for fifteen minutes to try to wait out the rain.  Briefly, the clouds parted and I could see some mountains, took the following picture, and hoped this meant the rain would let up.

The rain never let up, though, and by the time we got to the entrance, it was coming down harder and felt a lot colder.  I thought this might mean that there would be few tourists walking around, but I was completely wrong.  I was floored at how crowded the site was.  At points, Magge and I had to fight through throngs of tour groups just to move forward.  I had thought that we'd spend all day at Machu Picchu, leisurely walking around, but the combination of the crowds and the rain pushed us through fairly quickly.  Despite the clouds and weather, I got some decent pictures, but we were both too uncomfortable to spend too much more time there.  I bit the bullet and paid for bus ride tickets back to Aguas Calientes, and we spent the rest of the day cold and wet waiting for our train back to Ollantaytambo.  I'm very glad I got to see Machu Picchu, but it was still a disappointment.  I'm glad we had Ollantaytambo to even it out.

Some of the best visibility we had all day

Crowds

It took a lot of strength for both of us to smile here