24.03.08 Walk through some inka ruins

Cusco being the capital of the ancient inka empire, some of the famous inka ruins are situated in a walking distance of the city. We decided to visit a little part of the Sacred Valley, the walk to the first site, Sacsayhuaman, took about 40min and it went up!! It is famous for the three massive zig zag walls, aligned one in front of the other, in three different levels. Some of the stones weigh more than 100 tones, and again the stones are arranged in such a way that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones. The second site is called Q´enko, this was a ceremonial site, where they have found two mommies and it is also known for sacrificial rites. We hired a local student as a guide and he was very excited to explain to us everything he knew about the site and the inka culture. And we listened to all that in spanish!!

After getting lost on the hills we finally arrived to the third site, Puca Pucara, a good hour later. Not much to see there, but since we were up in 3800m the view towards Cusco was amazing. Just next to it, there is the Tambomachay (Temple of Water), our last visit of the day. Here again we hired a guide, this time an official one (the price was the same, 2.5€) and again in spanish! She was very good, we learned a lot about inkas and washed our faces in the "Fountain of Youth" (wait till you see us!!)

For the return to Cusco we took a Collectivo, the famous little local bus, got standing places and almost fell in every turn. Once in Cusco, a little rest and we went to pay our excursion to Machu Picchu and headed for dinner. The dinner was one of the most expensive one, but definetely not the best one! (Resto Parilla Andina)