The Heather Jones Bucket List: New Thing #88

September 3, 2017

One of the other hotel guests had a Yoda backpack.

Tiny Cusco streets. Barely wide enough for a car, and usually not wide enough for people AND cars.

After a grueling few days, it was nice to sleep in this morning and have a bit more leisurely adventure. Henry and JC picked us up at our hotel around 9 before heading outside of Cusco to Tambomachay, a potential residence for the Incan king. It's believed that this was one of his many homes and he would stay there with the mummified remains of his father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc. The Incans believed their dead to not really be dead, and the king would regularly have conversations with his deceased ancestors.

That's not creepy at all.

Cusco.

I realized after I left the Sacred Valley that I never stopped to get a photo with one of these guys. They were all over and you could pay a small fee to take your picture with one. Oh well.

The "male" fountain. I think it's supposed to represent a peep.

The "female" fountain. And two for the ladies.

Trying to get him to look at me.

He's not having it.

Come at me, bro.

We drove past Puca Pucara (Red Fortress), but didn't stop to explore. Next up was Qenqo, a site for death rituals and sacrifice. In Quechua (ketch-wa) – the Incan language – Qenqo means labyrinth or zig zag to represent the crooked canal cut out of the rock.

The canal.

Altar used for sacrifices and mummification. The cool cave interior helped preserve the bodies.

Qosqo, the Quechua/Incan spelling of Cusco. Not be confused with Costco.

Baby!!

Next we headed to Saqsaywaman, which was spelled a billion different ways. Seriously, wikipedia alone has it spelled 11 different ways! But, we still always pronounced it similar to "sexy women"! Earliest evidence shows the area was first inhabited as early as 900CE. The stone walls for the fortress/temple were built with Incan precision. These enormous blocks of stone were fitted together perfectly, without any need for mortar. The area had many uses and is still used today for festivals and Incan reenactment ceremonies.

Brenda for scale. :)

Heather for scale.

My GoPro has a burst photo feature on it. Sandi and I both decided to jump to try it out. Not pictured: all 30+ photos.
Step 1: the prep step

Step 2: she looks like Superman about to take flight.

Step 3: white girls CAN jump!

Step 4: stuck the landing!

I'm clearly less graceful.

Before we left, we had to pose like sexy women. Nailed it.

It was finally time to leave the countryside and head back to Cusco to finish our tour. We stopped at the Plaza de Armas, which is the main square. Since it was Sunday, we were treated to their weekly parade, including different branches of the government. The square was crazy busy with people, including people trying to stop us to take tours, buy random crap or just trying to hustle us. So annoying. But, at least it was pretty to watch the parade.

We visited the beautiful Cusco Cathedral next, also known as Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin. That's quite the mouthful! Just like with most churches, we couldn't take any pictures inside, but I don't think pictures would have done it justice anyways. Simply amazing. Henry did a great job telling us its history. It was built over the foundation of an Incan palace to solidify Spain's take over of the region and their desire to remove the indigenous culture. It took nearly 100 years to build and is shaped like a Latin cross. And it turns out that a lot of the stones were taken from Sacsaywaman, though that place is so massive, you'd never really know they were missing.

Our time with Henry and JC came to a close and Henry bid us farewell, before we did some sightseeing of our own on the way to find lunch. Both men were fantastic, and it was really great having them take care of us for our time in the Sacred Valley.

Henry!! We forgot to get a photo with JC. :(

Streets of Cusco

Parade participants.

Brenda is always photobombing my photos.

Phenomenal food at Incantu!

Baked lasagna made in a wood fire oven. YUM!

I wanted to pick up some final souvenirs before we leave tomorrow, so we set off to peruse through shops for the perfect gifts. I had asked Henry for something that depicted farmers, because I wanted to pick up a gift for my parents to represent my grandpa. Henry suggested the bull, since it was often placed on top of houses of farmers to signify luck and prosperity.

Ha! If only it had tasted better.

This bull was about 3 feet tall. And I so badly wanted to bring him home. Practical? Of course not. I also don't think he would have fit in my carry on, so I went with a much smaller version for my parents.

What the what?

Everyone. And I mean EVERYONE was stopping to take a photo with this. It's a 12-sided stone that was laid without any mortar 700 years ago. I totally get that is cool and super important, but I didn't realize everyone wanted their photo with it.

So many little shops tucked into these nooks.

Beautiful carving work.

No thanks! Not worth the money! I applaud the sweet sweater he's wearing though.

Stopped for drinks, and I have no idea what we got. Mine was something with strawberry, pisco and basil. Weird, but tasty.

Sandi isn't really sure about this booze.

Alpaca baby, yeah!

Doors!!

After a quick siesta in our room, we had to go to dinner at a restaurant by one of the most famous Peruvian chefts, Gaston. It's a chain burger place, but so tasty!