We took a tour on Friday with a local tour company of four ancient Andean and Incan temples and religious sites only a few minutes outside of the city center. Our first stop was Saqsaywaman. An ancient religious complex built by the Incas in the 15th century. However, historians now believe that there was an earlier civilian action that built the stone structure hundred perhaps even thousands of years before the Incas. The Incas found the citadel and built on top of it. The rocks used to build the temple were quarried miles away and some of them weigh over 100 tons and are over 20 feet high. The precision and the smooth rounded corners the ancient People used are a marvel to see. When the Spaniards came, and claimed the land, they began using the stones form the ancient citadel to build the churches in Cusco. Today we only see 1/3 of what used to be of this ancient site.
We visited three other sites, the most amazing one was Tambomachay. It was built with aqueducts and waterfalls with the waters flowing still today from the glaciers. It was used by the Incan elite and is the beginning of the Inca Trail. If you begin walking the trail from here, it will take you 15 days to reach Machu Pichu.
After visiting the temples, we went to a llama and alpaca farm and weaving demonstration. This was a definitely a highlight of my day. We learned that llamas, alpacas and vicuña are cousins. The wool from the vicuña is the softest, alpaca second and llama is third, unless it’s the first shear which is baby’s alpaca, which is 10 times softer then all future shears. We learned about the natural ingredients they use to this day for coloring their wool.
I’m sure you are wondering about who’s is JULIA. Funny story …. When we first arrive at a our hotel, there was a street vendor who saw us getting out of our taxi and approached us trying to sell her jewelry. We told her our names, she told us hers, (Julia) and that we will be here for a few days and will see her again. When we walked outside of our wool demonstration (and this was not the only one on the street, there were at least twenty other shops like this one), we heard someone call Ravi’s name. We looked and it was Julia. Now our street where our hotel is on compared to where we were was at least 10 miles. What are the odds.
