Q'enko and Sacsaywaman
Trip Start
May 11, 2006
1
7
15
Trip End
May 21, 2006
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Cusco,
Peru
Saturday, May 13, 2006
We bid our horses and grooms farewell, and they gallop off into the sunset. Because of the complexity of the archaeological site, we decide to take on a local guide. Andrea Qusqunti is a Cusco resident, an official tourist guide with three years of study under her belt, and who charges us S/
1. View over Cusco from Q'enqo
. 50.00 (US$ 15.00) to guide us around Q'enko and nearby Sacsaywaman for the remainder of the day. The walk from Q'enqo to Sacsaywaman is about 15 minutes. Andrea and I stroll along the road ahead of the group. As we walk, I feel our aura is diminishing, and sure enough each time I turn my head I see one or two less of our group. Finally we are alone. Everyone else has totally disappeared! Perhaps they have been kidnapped. Kidnapped indeed they are, by a strategically located silver workshop. We retrace our steps to rescue our bargain hunters from a fate worse than death, and eventually are able to extract them from the clutches of ruthless native silversmiths.
After tying everyone together with a rope, we arrive in Sacsaywaman, a spectacular construction built with huge carved rocks jointed with absolute accuracy. It is getting late, so Andrea gives us a brief overview of the massive archeological site, though her story of an elaborate tunnel system to the four corners of the Inca Empire seems a little far-fetched to us.
The complex occupies the edge of the northern slope of the city of Cusco. It is believed that the construction took over seven decades and required the work of 20,000 men
2. Pastoral scene
. The main wall is formed by stones that reach 5 meters of height and 2.5 meters of width and that can weight between 90 and 125 metric tons. The hewn stones would have been transported from quarries over 20 kilometers away. Though today we call it called a fortress, current investigations suggest that it must have been a temple devoted to the worship of the Sun, for which both construction and the surrounding landscape were important. http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_9.htm
It is now quite late, and we seem to be the last visitors at the site. We had planned to hike from Sacsaywaman to the Plaza de Armas down the mountainside through the colonial San Blas section of Cusco, but the sun has now set. As we pass by the parking lot, we see two taxis waiting forlornly for tardy tourists. The driver's faces light up when they see us, and our faces light up too. We are weary and somewhat dubious about the prospect of trekking through unknown streets in semidarkness, even with our longsuffering guide Andrea. Nevertheless we imagine they are going to charge us a fortune for the trip to the plaza, as they know they are the only option we have. We need some artful negotiation here so we won't empty our treasury. In the end we arrive at an equitable agreement. S/. 7.00 (US$ 2.20) for each vehicle, and we will drop Andrea near her house on the way down to boot. We are so happy with the arrangement that the drivers gratefully receive S/. 3.00 tip at the Plaza!
Arriving at the Plaza, we enter the first restaurant we see. It looks nice and cozy, and we are lucky that the food is pretty good too. I had alpaca steak, which was a bit stringy and with quite a strong taste, nevertheless, at least I tried it. We are surprised to find that we are the only customers. It's a short stroll to our hotel across the Plaza, and we are soon tucked in and dreaming of Inca Princesses (the guys) and Inca Princes (the gals). Tomorrow we start our trip into the interior.
