Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Cusco - Saksaywaman


Bounced out of bed; another great breakfast and a better day weather-wise.  The plan for today was to climb up to an area of Inka ruins called Saksaywaman, then across to the Christo Blanco statue that doesn’t quite rival the one at Rio, but is still quite a sight from the heart of town, especially when lit up at night. We were told it was erected in 1945 by grateful Muslim Arabs who had made their fortune in the town – extraordinary fact, if true.

 
The walk up was very steep, but enjoyable, especially encountering 3 lost camelids – 2 alpaca, one llama.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Glad to report the three woolies were rounded up and brought up by a classic old lady to their mates at the top!


 
 
 



Eventually we got to the site and wandered all over – great views down over the city,  and the ruins themselves were very impressive.  The sheer size and smoothness of the largest rocks is hard to capture on film.

 
 
 
 
From one part, we found terrific views down over Cusco
 
 

 
 
 

I have been very taken with the wild flowers of Peru, and the greenness of the scenery – like England, it is not short of rain!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Walked about 1k to another set of ruins – underwhelming  - and then on over to Jesus


 
 
 

Found another cute llama, ready for the tourist pix
 
 

and a very tired, hot herdslady. Never mind, the rain coming in would cool her off…
 

 
 

Then finally On Down for home, as the rain did sweep in, so we hunkered down in dry comfort at the hotel and did the blog,


 
 
 

returning for dinner to our first restaurant nearby – great food and service and an extraordinary kitchen:



 
 
 
Tomorrow – Machu Picchu, where we will no doubt be taking even more pix of old rocks for the blog! Betcha can’t wait!!

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