Now that I am on my own in Peru I am really receiving the star treatment! There is nothing like a private guide to make a destination really personal. Gilmar is my new friend and travel partner for the next few days!
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| Sacsayhuaman |
Today we visited the Sacsayhuaman, an Incan temple overlooking the city of Cusco. It was constructed from stacking massive stones (some weighing 60-120 tons!) and I am still struggling to comprehend how the Incas got these boulders down from the mountains with no wheeled vehicles (at least the Egyptians had that!), sculpted them to fit perfectly with one another, and stacked them on top of each other with no mortar to hold them in place. I can't wrap my head around it. The temple was never finished as the Incas were mid-construction when the Spaniards arrived. Everything genius about the Incan empire is magnified by the fact that, unlike the Egyptians, Greeks or Romans, they didn't have centuries to develop what they did - they really only expanded in South America for about 85 years before the Spaniards came and said
gimme da gold.
We also toured colonial Cusco, which is particularly interesting because it is one of the few of such ancient cities that is still inhabited as a bustling city today; most of the buildings' foundations and walls are visibly Incan constructions, with colonial buildings taking over about halfway up. Very cool to be walking around a room that an Inca probably used to live in, then a Spaniard, now me :)
Here in Cusco I'm staying at the charming
Inkaterra La Casona, which operates like a private manor with only 11 suites and House Rules. I can't wait to soak in my tub tonight fireside in preparation for the big day that is tomorrow - I'm off to Machu Picchu!
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