Photo Gallery

Day 1-To Lima

July 1, 2004

Day 2-Cusco

July 2, 2004

Day 3-Cusco

July 3, 2004

Day 5-MP Trek

July 5, 2004

Day 6-MP Trek

July 6, 2004

Day 7-MP Trek

July 7, 2004

Day 8-Machu Picchu, Aquas Calientes

July 8, 2004

Day 9-Ollantaytambo

July 9, 2004

Day 10- Cusco

July 10, 2004

Day 11-12-Cusco, Lima, Home

July 11-12, 2004

Resource Review

Day 4- Sunday, July 4, 2004

Sacsayhuaman and Pisac

Beep, beep, beep.  Darn that alarm clock, 6:30 am already.  Where is the rest and relaxation on this vacation anyway?

Quick showers, a hurried breakfast and a frantic rush to gather our day packs and the ever necessary rain jackets before the taxi arrived.  A knock on the door surprised us; we opened it and found Will on the other side.  "We made it," he commented grinning.  The weather had broken long enough for Will and Diane's flight to be cleared into Cusco.  They would make the Machu Picchu trek after all!

Barbara, John and I were in a taxi winding our way through the streets of Cusco before 8:00 am.  With the agreement that we would pick them up at 11:00 am, Will and Diane stayed behind for a short nap and to take care of their trekking fees.  We had a very ambitious day planned.  Our morning would be spent exploring Sacsayhuaman ("sexy woman" as the guides say slyly) and several other ruins above Cusco.  Our afternoon would include a visit to the famous Pisac Sunday market and ruins behind the village, dinner in Cusco and an evening meeting with our SAS staff and trekking companions.  Whew!

First stop of the morning was Tambomachay, speculated to be the center of Incan water worship and possibly a bathing temple for ceremonial occasions.  The formation is built utilizing 3 platforms with water cascading from level to level.  On the lowest platform, a single cascade splits into two water channels and disappears underground, surfacing again on the opposite side of the road.  Niches large enough for sitting have been carved into the rock on the right side of the platforms.  We walked around a bit and returned to the car.

From our vantage point

driving several hundred feet                    Puca Pucara (Red Fort)

above Cusco (our

elevation was slightly over 12,100'), we enjoyed fabulous views of snowcapped mountains and endless miles of countryside.  The ruin Puca Pucara (Red Fort) was not part of our scheduled activities but we asked our driver to stop so that we could take a few photos of the fortress and the stunning landscape.  The purpose of Puca Pucara  is unknown.                                                                    

The structure resembles a fort and is speculated to have been used as a check point for entry into Cusco or as a lodge.  We wished we had time to explore but we needed to move on to our second stop, Q'engo.

Q'engo (zigzag) is known for  it's interesting "rock work."  Zigzagging channels are located on the top of the rocks and theorized to have carried away liquid used in Inca ceremonies, either blood or chicha (local maize beer).  A number of faint carvings can be found in the rocks including a llama, a condor and a snake.  Within the rock structures are large niches that may have been used to store gold and other objects of value and an alter.

Sacsayhuaman, the largest and best known of the Cusco ruins, was our last stop of the morning.  We had walked only a few hundred feet from the parking lot when we were approached by two young Peruvians offering their services as guides.  We listened to their pitch, determined that their English was acceptable and hired one for "oh, just a tip...whatever you want to pay."

So off we went to the ruins, listening    John & Beverly @Sacsayhuaman       

to our guide spin the tale of the puma.           

According to Inca legend, the original Inca city of Qosqo (Cusco) was laid out in the formation of a puma.  The confluence of the Huatanay and Tullumayo Rivers (slightly straightened out) formed the puma's tail, the Plaza de Armas in the center of Qosqo marked the "naval" and Sacsayhuaman formed the puma's head.  Three zigzagging parallel walls along the main fortress represent the puma's teeth and the foundations of two towers form the eyes.  We marveled at the ability of the Incas to devise such a land encompassing design without the known ability to visualize from the air.

Sacsayhuaman (translated "speckled head") was constructed from limestone, diorite blocks and andesite.  By some estimates, over 20,000 men labored on the site moving rocks and chiseling and polishing stones to fit together so perfectly that not even a razor blade can be slipped between them.  The fortress was built to withstand earthquakes but unfortunately, not to withstand the Spanish conquest.  In 1536, the Spanish captured Sacsayhuaman in a bloody, two day battle that signaled the final defeat of the Incans.  After the defeat, parts of the fortress were dismantled and the stones transported to Cusco for use in the Spanish reconstruction of the city.

Besides exploring the extensive ruins above ground, we found ourselves doing some underground exploring too.  A number of tunnels were built in Sacsayhuaman and a few around the amphitheater are still accessible.  Before we realized what we were getting into, our guide had us walking through a very dark underground passageway.  The blackness seemed to go on and on and we grabbed hold to the shirt of the person in front of us to feel some connection.  Just about the time I felt a wave of claustrophobia, we saw light and the end of the tunnel.  Too bad I forgot that my headlamp was in my day pack!

The tour took 1.5 hours and had been a worthwhile investment.  Based on the conversations at the hotel and our experience at the museum, we were ready to tip...30/soles.  Imagine our surprise when our guide indicated that this was not an acceptable amount.  After a bit of negotiation and 10/soles added to our original tip of 30/soles, we were in our taxi and on the way to Cusco.

Back in Cusco, we discovered that Will and Diane were at the SAS office so we drove to the Plaza to find them.  The side streets feeding into the Plaza were corded off for the weekly Sunday parade so John and Martin (transfer-taxi agent) entered the Plaza on foot while Barbara and I waited in the van. An old Quechua woman sitting on the sidewalk beside a pot of boiling chocio (corn) caught our attention.  The chocio, with its nickel sized whitish kernels, looked quite  different from the small kernelled sweet corn we love in the US.  Up to this point I had avoided street food but I could resist no longer...I absolutely love corn on the cob!  I paid the woman 1/sole as she selected a large ear of corn from the pot.  She then produced a large pocketknife hidden in her gnarled fist and sliced off a big piece of fresh white cheese from a round sitting by her side.  She laid both on a corn husk and handed the package to me.  Yum yum!  The dish is called chocio con queso and is a local specialty.  Barbara bought an ear but threw the cheese away; Will bought an ear and refused the cheese (they missed the best part).

We stopped for lunch at the Inca House, a restaurant located in the outskirts of Cusco and selected by our driver.  The food was okay, the atmosphere very touristy.  Two things about the restaurant stood out to me 1) the incredible view of Cusco and 2) the "windmill" looking ornament on the balcony. 

From our first day in Cusco,I had been fascinated with the "windmill" on the roofs of most homes.  Turns out the "windmill" is a rooftop ornament found on almost every home in Cusco and throughout the Sacred Valley.  After some inquiry, we learned that the roof ornaments consist of three main objects: a bull representing prosperity, a rooster for good luck and a cross.  The cross signifies that everyone in the home is Catholic.  This is a practice held over from the

Spanish conquest when failure to place a cross on one's roof resulted in the beheading of the occupants.  The tradition of the roof ornament continues with even the poorest homes displaying very ornate ornaments.

Our journey to Pisac continued as we crossed over mountains and dropped into the gorgeous Sacred Valley.  The Urumbamba River snaked through the middle of the valley providing moisture for very fertile ground.  We were amazed by the beautiful tapestries of lush green fields climbing up the sides of near vertical mountain wall, almost to the top.  We marveled at how the campesionos were able go cultivate on such steep land.

A narrow cobblestone road signaled our arrival in Pisac.  The market was bustling with distractions, people, noise, food and a sensory overload of color...color in the traditional clothing worn by most locals, bright colored fruits, vegetables and raw meats and colorful woven fabrics piled high in many of the market stalls.  We quickly lost ourselves among the narrow aisles looking at the numerous treasures displayed in the tightly packed booths.  Any touch or slight acknowledgement of an item brought an immediate reaction from the seller.  John had to remind me several times of the courteous practice of not bargaining unless I intended to buy.  It was hard to resist buying but equally hard to decide just what to buy.

Sunday market kept us entertained for hours.  When we tired of looking in the stalls, we wandered over to the produce section where we enjoyed watching the locals conduct their transactions.  Many familiar fruits and vegetables were on display.  Will and I purchased bags of coca leaves for our Machu Picchu trek for the sum of 1/sole per bag.  Sometime in the mid-afternoon, church bells tolled and a funeral procession marched through the market on the way to the cemetery.  The solemn procession seemed to be enveloped by the busy market atmosphere.

Captivated by the market, we stayed too long and ran out of time to visit the Pisac ruins.  My watch read 4:30 pm as we crawled back in the van. 

                                                   Posing for soles in the market                       

Will, intently studying a map, asked our driver to take us back to Cusco via the road through San Salvador.  Our driver gave Will a funny look then agreed.

Another interesting adventure was underway as we went from cobblestone road to paved road to unpaved, rutted, rocky red clay road.  We stay on the dirt road for a few miles then returned to pavement.  Stunning countryside flew by outside the van windows...farms outlined by stone fences, groves of low growing trees and always the stark beauty of the mountains on both sides of the road.

We stopped in the village of San Salvador at the Plaza de Armas (yes, every town seems to have a main square).  Even the least prosperous villages like this one made an effort to have a beautiful plaza where residents could gather and socialize.  We were a bit hesitant to trade the comfort of our van for the very deserted streets of San Salvador but with a little encouragement from our driver, we were soon milling about, gazing at the beautiful flowers in the square.  Our driver pointed out the macra plant and proudly told us that the flower of this plant was used to make some of the food that goes into space.  We later had an opportunity to sample snack bars made from the macra plant and were glad we were not traveling to space with macra bars.

Two flags flying in the square caught our eye.  Our driver explained that one was the flag of Peru and the other, the Inca flag, often mistaken for "the gay flag."  The Incan flag is a beautiful multi rainbow striped flag.  According to historians, the Incas regarded the rainbow as a gift from the sun god.  Apparently many tourists confuse the flag with the rainbow flag that has become the symbol of gays and lesbians worldwide.  A little research on our

                                                    Two flags fly in San Salvador

part found that the flags are the same with the exception of an additional blue strip in the Inca flag.  This is not a comparison most Peruvians are pleased with, especially since it appears that more tourists are familiar with the flag as a symbol for gay pride than the Incan culture.

We continued on our journey back to Cusco, stopping along the way to look at a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.  The most interesting feature of our drive was the town called the "Home of the Cuy."  On first glance, this tiny village could be an old southern town with makeshift concrete (in this case adobe) buildings devoted to serving barbeque.  But, the restaurants in this town were devoted to the perfection of cooked cuy (guinea pig).  Not hard to imagine the local chefs gathering together on a Sunday afternoon to have a cuy cook off. Hmmmm...smoked cuy, barbequed cuy (Memphis or Texan style), deep fried cuy.  We were told that many Cusco residents regularly make the 45 minute drive to this village to eat cuy.

Slowing down to a near stop as we passed through town (not much choice with a herd of sheep in the road), our driver called out to a woman standing in an open kitchen.  We have no idea what conversation transpired but the next thing we knew she was laughing and holding up a headless, skinned guinea pig by the back legs. We collectively gasped and our driver laughed too.  "American tourists" he must have thought.  We tend to humanize almost everything...cats, dogs, horses, even guinea pigs.  To many people around the world, these are sources of food for survival.

The rest of the drive went quickly; we were back in Cusco by dusk.  Will suggested that we try an Italian restaurant he had spied earlier in the day, Cafe Italia.  He and Diane are vegetarians and Italian food is usually "safe."  Even with an extensive menu, John and I had a hard time finding anything we really wanted to eat.  We ended up ordering penne pasta with cheese and Coca Colas.

I excused myself to the ladies room to wash my hands before eating.  OH MY GOSH, someone call in the sanitation department!  This was probably the nastiest restroom I had experienced in some 20+ years (note:minor league, "horror toilet tales from the trail" coming on Days 5-8).  During my hasty retreat from the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of the kitchen located right next to the ladies room.  I had a bad feeling about the sanitation of the cooking facilities; John had a similar reaction on his visit to the men's room.  This should have been our clue to pay for the drinks and get the hell out of there, but we calmly sat at our table and chatted.

Finally the food arrived. To our disappointment it was really bad.  The penne noodles were overcooked to the point of rubber, sprinkled with cheese, stuffed in the oven and baked to a crispy brown.  Yuck!  No one seemed overly pleased with the selections.  We picked through what little was edible and pushed aside the rest.  We can truly say that this was the worst meal we ate during our 12 day trip. 

We had one more stop to make before our day was over, the Hotel Los Marqueses, an old Colonial style hotel recently purchased by SAS and the site of our trek meeting.  We sat for an hour listening to the informatal presentation by Julian Perez, an assistant guide who would be on our Machu Picchu trek.  Julian's soft spoken English was so thick with Spanish that we had a difficult time understanding him.  We did understand the "meet at 6:00 am" part.  Ugh, another early morning.  As we sat in the meeting with our trekking mates (a total of 15 including the Knoxville 5), I noticed several people had serious hacking coughs. This was an affliction I would later bring home to Knoxville with me.

With our day of over 12 hours of non stop activity completed, we were back at the hotel by 8:00 pm.  We had 3 bags to pack 1) a duffle with extra clothing and souvenirs to be left in El Balcon's storage locker, 2) a backpack to carry on the trek with hiking gear and clean clothes for our stay in Aquas Calientes and 3) another backpack with clean clothes to be left at our hotel in Ollantaytambo for our time in the Sacred Valley.  Finally we collapsed into bed.  Our 4:15 am wake up call would arrive all too soon. 

Cusco at night from the El Balcon balcony