Saturday April 12 - Cuzco

Apparently, I did not let the phone charge enough.  No problem with the alarm in the morning, but had to shut it off later in the day without taking any photos. 

Friday, our group grew to nineteen with the arrival of Joe, Julie and Meghann. They have all been on many Fuller and Habitat builds.  While they did not make it to this build, they are joining us for the week of travel in the Andes.

Zenon met us a little before 6:00 a.m. to say goodbye. Sixteen of our group loaded into two vans for the ride to the Lima airport, twelve of us for playing tourist and taking the flight to Cusco, with four returning to the USA.  The other three of our group had other flights later in the day.  We were met by a representative for the tour – he had all our boarding passes, so all we had to do was check our bags, go have breakfast, pass through security and board our flight.  The flight was delayed briefly, but otherwise was quite pleasant – we were on a four engine BAe 146 jet operated by Star Peru.  Even though I had a window seat, I was pleasantly surprised to have enough leg room. 

In Cusco, we were met by another tour guide who helped us get our luggage and then to our hotel: Sueños Inka Hotel.  It is a very nice hotel – the only issue is that we were on the fourth floor, which is the top floor.  It is only 84 steps from the sidewalk up to our room.

We had originally planned to just relax and adjust to the high elevation – 3,200 meters means there is not as much oxygen for our bodies to inhale.  Since we felt fine, we bought the tickets for the afternoon tours.  We had a quick bite to eat at a local shop – empanadas of beef , spinach and cheese, and caprese. We also bought a package of coffee to bring back to the USA.

We got on the tour bus a little after 1:00 p.m.  After driving to several hotels to pick up others who were joining our group of nine, we first went to the cathedral that is on the main square.  The Spanish built it on top of an Inca temple.  It is being renovated and is very beautiful. There are three things I remember most: the black (or dark skinned) Jesus to more closely represent the Quecha who resided here and that the Spanish converted to Catholicism; an amazing choir that was all hand carved by a local artisan in 28 years; and the last supper painting done by a local Peruvian artist – Judas has dark skin and is the only one who is looking out at us, and the main dish on the table is a Peruvian dish (either guinea pig or chinchilla, depending upon whom you ask).

We then went to a second cathedral which is now a museum.  The cathedral was built on top of another Inca temple.  The Incan walls are amazing.  There is not mortar or glue holding them together and they are perfectly cut and place.  The Incan walls did not collapse during the worst recorded earthquake in 1650.  It has since been discovered that the Incans built earthquake resistant channels of small stone underneath the walls, allowing the walls to move back and forth, but not collapse.

Next we went to Saqsaywaman (also spelled Saqsayhuaman) and pronounced almost like sexy woman.  From an overhead view of Cusco, you can see the shape of a Puma, one of the worshipped animals of the Inca.  Saqsaywaman is one of the highest points in Cusco and is located where the head of the Puma is located.  It is also the main Temple of the Sun for the Incas (there are three others).

Next we went to another Inca holy site that was a natural tunnel in which they had constructed a place for sacrifices to be made.  Finally we went to another site, but I was just too tired to go.  Three of us stayed back in the bus.  Patty told me later that the elevation they went to was 4000 meters.

We headed back to the hotel, but it was a long ride because of the holiday traffic (Sunday is Palm Sunday).  It took much longer than scheduled because of the heavy traffic.  When we got back, I raced up the 84 stairs to turn on the computer and Skype with our daughter Megan.  I got things started then ran back down the stairs (Patty stayed and continued to talk with Patty) for the 7:00 meeting to get vouchers and info about the next three days.  Then I went back up the stairs and chatted with Megan for another 20-30 minutes.  Then back down the stairs with Patty for dinner at the hotel – she had beef with mushrooms, fresh steamed veggies and fries, I had pasta carbonara.  And we had tinto vino, which helped take the edge off the leg pains for going back up the stairs one more time.

For those on the tour, if you have pictures you would like to share, send them to me and I will add them with credit to you.