Cusco is much bigger than I thourght it would be. We are 3,300m above sea level. It was the capital of the Inca Empire between 1200s and 1532. When the Spanish conquered the city they built their own churches and cathedrals on top of the Inca temples. There are still Inca built walls in the street.
It is a modern city and our hotel was really nice. Our tour guide was born in Cusco so was looking forward to seeing her friends and family. It has narrow cobbled streets.
Narrow cobbled streets
Now here I really am going to find out about the Incas. We did a short sightseeing tour of the city. There was a man dressed up in an Inca costume looking quite menancing along one of the roads but I did not take a picture.
Inca walls
We were told not to touch the public Inca walls as this wears them away. Hmm. Inca architecture is widely known for its fine masonry, which features precisely cut and shaped stones closely fitted without mortar. They are angled stones as shown above. Some having 12 angles. These walls were built to stand up to earthquakes, not like modern buildings in Peru. During strong earthquakes the stone blocks 'dance' near their normal positions and lay down exactly in right order after an earthquake. Pretty neat! :-) To cut these hard rocks the Incas used stone, bronze or copper tools, usually splitting the stones along the natural fracture lines. The Incas did not have the wheel, so the stones were rolled up wooden beams on earth ramps. They were very stong!
So who invented the wheel?
Apparently most authorities say the wheel originated in ancient Mesopotamia (now the Middle East)in the 5th millennium BC (Ubaid period), originally in the function of potter's wheels.
After our short tour it was off out for some nice food and beers. In one of the bars we found Paddington Bear! Safe and sound having a few marmalade sandwiches and a cup of cocoa in Darkest Peru. Was'nt there suppose to be a new series of Paddington Bear eating Marmite sandwiches?
JAN - Do you know the answer to this?
Paddington Bear
We have tomorrow off to do what we want in Cusco and have our Lares Trek briefing tomorrow evening. All good fun but could do with another day of chilling before the trek. The tour has been great but have done so much and travelled so far, would be nice to really chill and have a lie in.
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