Cuzco city and The Sacred Valley of the Incas

Day 1


Coricancha was originally an Inca temple, the original name meant temple of the sun, it was the most important building in cuzco.
when the spanish arrived they destroyed it and built the catholic catedral of santo domingo on top of it. a remaining part of the the grey inca wall can be seen here in front of the church.
the catedral was knocked several times by earthquakes. all of the inca walls however remain intact as they were built to be earthquake proof.



here the Inca walls can be seen within the church walls.
the spanish had removed the roof and built a second story on top of the inca structure, this second story was knocked completely duringan earthquake.


the walls were plated with gold. gold had no monitary value to the incas whos economy was a barter system based on agricultural products. to the spanish however gold was money and all of the gold was removed from these temples.


after removing the gold, the spanish decorated the walls like this, however even the decorations fell off during the various earthquakes.



though the walls, built in a sophisticated interlocking system were earthquake proof they were not spanish proof.
the invaders made a point of destroying them and also dismantled much of the walls thinking that there may be gold inside as well as outside.
.
.
.
saqsaywaman

view of cuzco form the hill of saqsaywaman

this is an inca fortress sitting on a hill which overlooks the city of cuzco.

the spanish removed much of the stone to build churches in cuzco.

to the Incas this stone was considered to be a sacred stone representing a frog looking up to the sky.

Tambomachay

the quechua name tambomachay means resting place. the water here is supposed to give you prolonged youth. apparently cuzquena beer is made from it which explains my youthful looks hehe

Day 2 the sacred valley

Today sees the second day of the tour where we see the ancient inca sites allong a place known as the sacred valley. the incans called it this because of the high fertility of the lands. the surrounding mountains were believed to be gods.

first stop was a small market in a small town called q'enqa to get us spending some of that juicy tourist money.



want to be a bank robber with a difference? they have all the gear in the q'enqa market.



chess boards, incas vs spanish



rosy cheeked mountain girl. lots of the mountain people have this distingtive color on their cheeks,i think it must be from a mixture of cold wind and sun exposure.

next stop are the ruins of Pisaq

the wider terraces were used for agricultural use. the narrow ones work as a support for the upper structures.





this is the structure at the top of the mountain, this would have been occupied by the higher figures in inca society, whilst the lower levels were occupied by the lower class.
the round building in the middle is a sun temple. it is built around a natural rock, this rock apparently is positioned perfectly to analyse the constellations and the sun positions of which the incas were experts.

moreearthquake proof walls. destroyed by guess who

the sacred valley lies below, still used to produce maize which is exported around the world in large amounts.

fresh orange juice.

pisaq from another angle.

next the journey took us through many kilometres of the sacred valley and onto the ruins of another incan temple known as ollantaytambo.

this structure actually was started by a pre-inca civilization, and the incas were building on top of it.

terraces leading up to the Ollantytambo, temple.

this mountain was known to the incas as the sacred mountain.

reason being that it has rock formations that look like an inca face.

can you see it now?
i think it looks better from the other side but i didnt go there.

the ollantytambo temple was not finished at the time when the spanish invaded and was therefore left permantly in a state of incompletion. here are some rocks which were prepared but were never put in place. historians say this would have been a huge temple if it were finished.


ollantytambo village.

then our journey takes us up through the mountains to a place called chinchero.

chicnchero is situated at 3700 metres above sea level and famed for its indigenous market. the market is not on today but what the hell.. lets go anyway.

we passed by this on the bus, i dont know what town it is.

snowcapped mountian revelas itself in the background.

strange land features, could this be earthquake damage?

note some darkish clouds, this is what they call the rainy season in cuzco.

indigenous women give a demonstration of the dyeing proceedures for the products they make.

all natural materials are used, such as , leaves, nuts, insects and flowers which as the lady explained is good for the skin and good for the environment.

crossing certain dyes changes the color in interesing ways.

small market in chinchero. its larger on tuesday thursday and sunday apparently.

i think this will be the last you hear of me for a few days because im off on a 3 day trip to find a lost city..

Links

The Inca Civilisation

Coricancha

Sacsayhuamán

The sacred valley of the Incas

Tambomachay

Pisaq

ollantaytambo