Cusco - Part the Second

Back in the comfortable Amaru Hostel after a couple of days of draining hikes we had a leisurely start to the day. I was still cap-less when we set out - when I could not find it in Agua Calientes I thought I must have left it with the gear we had put in storage at Amaru but it seems I had just lost it altogether.

After strolling through the Plaza de Armas we walked up a steep street and then some even steeper stairs to get to the church of San Cristobal, which afforded some views over central Cusco. We found that our legs had pretty much recovered from the exertions at Machu Picchu, but at this altitude (3,400m, about 1,000m higher than Machu Picchu) we still became puffed very quickly climbing stairs and had to stop for a breather a few times.

Part of the stone work at Sacsayhuaman

It was still more uphill and still more stairs to reach the remains of the Inca site of Sacsayhuaman with it's massive stone walls. Much of it was destroyed by the Spanish of course, and some of the stone re-used for their own forts and barracks but what remains is still pretty impressive, both for the size of the stones and the precision with which they are fitted together. Before we entered I purchased a new broad rimmed hat from one of the ubiquitous souvenir sellers, to replace my lost cap.  On such a sunny day at this altitude I felt a bit exposed without some sort of head covering.

After we had finished exploring Sacsayhuaman we continued on foot to the next site called Q'endo. This was supposed to be only 10-15 minutes away but we took a wrong turn and added about 10 minutes and another steep uphill climb to the walk. This was particularly hard on Laura who was battling a stomach bug and wasn't feeling a strong as usual. Nevertheless we made it in the end and had a bit of a look around. This site was not as large as the first site and its use had been for religious ceremonies rather than as a fortress. There was a cave-like part where the main altar had been and this provided a nice, cool, shady place to sit and rest for a while - until a tour group came through and spoilt the serenity!

There were two more sites we could have gone on to - Pucarucara and Tambomachay - but these were at least another 40 minutes walk. Since it was now after lunch time and Laura was not feeling 100% we decided against more exploring on what was such a hot day. We were prepared to catch a taxi back to downtown if we encountered one but as it happened we didn't see any as we started to head back so we just decided to walk it anyway. It was much easier going down hill but it was still about 3:30pm by the time we made it back to a restaurant near our lodgings. Here I had a late lunch / early dinner while Laura just had some mineral water to re-hydrate and help settle her tummy.

The rest of the afternoon / evening was spent taking it easy, and repacking what we needed for our Amazon lodge adventure into Laura's backpack so we could leave everything else in storage here at Amaru.