Incan Sites by Horseback

One sunny day in Cusco, Chris and I explored the Inca sites on offer within supposed walking distance of this city. At 140 Soles (4 soles = 1 British pound), the 'Billetto Touristico' does not come cheap. Luckily, we always have our international student cards at hand and this time they gave us half of the ticket. The Billetto does include entrance to the majority of Incan sites in and around Cusco, (including those in the Sacred Valley) and there are also a few museums thrown in too. Tickets in hand, Chris and I were determined to get our money's worth and tick as many sites off as we could.

As we scrambled up the steep hill to the first on our list, Q'enko, (not easy in these altitudes, believe me) we met a lady who asked whether we wouldn't prefer to see the ruins on horseback. We obliged as it was only about £5 each and arranged to meet her in an hour after we'd seen Q'enko. We were completely out of breath by the time we'd made this 4km uphill walk - I'm seriously hoping that I'll be fit as a fiddle by the time I get back to sea level. Maybe my lungs will have expanded or something; taking a brisk walk down the street even makes us breathless!

Q'enko

We paid for a guide at Q'enko because it only looked like a small site and from a number of angles just looked like natural rock... We wanted to get to the bottom of what it actually was. Our guide explained that this site was used for rituals and funeral ceremonies for the rich and most important people of Cusco. It really is just a huge limestone rock that's been cut out in places for the Incan ceremonies. Inside a cave-like entrance there was a flat surface which the guide said was used to prepare the bodies for mummification - they used to remove the organs and then put the bodies in a foetal position ready to be born into the next world. There was a gutter for the blood to run down proving it was basically a butcher's slab but for humans. More passageways and little caves were home to llama, condor and puma imprints but in all honesty, it's difficult to make these out.

We then met up with the lady who took us on another brisk walk (leaving us breathless after 30 seconds yet again) to where her horses were. The strange thing was, the other tourists had already left and there were only enough horses for the two of us meaning the lady walked the whole way beside us. I wasn't too impressed with this and it made us feel bad as she hurried up hills to catch up. Having said that, the 'Salapunco' or Temple of the Moon was only 1.5 km from Q'enko but it was nice that the horses were doing the work for us at least!

The horses (and the lady) were tested as we made our way up a very steep hill for around thirty minutes. Instead of reaching another site, the lady explained in fast, breathless Spanish, that we were now to get a bus! She would wait by the side of the sunny, dusty road while we went to visit the next two places! So we hopped onto a Collectivo full of young school children while they asked us cheeky questions.

The bus to Tambomachay...

When we arrived at Tambomachay, some ceremonial stone baths, we saw an old lady washing some fresh wool down by the river. She was cleaning it ready to be spun then dyed using the natural colours from corn, insects' blood or minerals from the rocks. This Incan site was splendid - you could sense the grandeur. Fountains and mini-waterways channelled water to the stone baths and the water still runs today.

Tambomachay

Washing wool in the river

No wonder we're constantly out of breath here; we haven't been anywhere near sea level for ages.

Next, we walked the short distance to 'Pukapukara' which means 'red fort': the rock here looks pink in some lights. Despite the name however, it is believed that this was most likely a hunting lodge. It offers great panoramic views of Cusco in any case. Aside from one other couple, we were the only people looking round yet despite such a small set of customers, ladies remained outside selling blankets, bags and other trinkets while their donkey's grazed beside them waiting for the walk home. We hopped on the next bus that came by and screeched to a stop just in time as the corner where our horses were waiting sped into view. The horses had a little bit of an easier ride from now on as we made the journey back down the hill to Saqsaywaman.

Pukapukara

Saqsaywaman (most easily pronounced by us gringos as 'Sexy Woman') means 'satisfied falcon' in Quechua. Nowadays you can see only 20% of the original site because the Spaniards used most of the huge blocks from the immense walls here to build their own houses and buildings. It's so sad, really. Luckily, many of the stones proved too heavy for them to lift. The largest stone in the wall weighs 300 tonnes (how do geologists know this, by the way? It has many more rocks sitting on top of it: did they dissassble the wall, weigh it then reassemble? Or do they just look at the mineral content/what the rock is made of and look at the volume and make a calculation? Can a geologist or scientist please get back to me on that?!)

SexyWoman's largest rock...

Apparently one of the most violent battles after the Spanish conquest happened here, but that's certainly not why tourists visit: we paid for a guide to explain it all to us. About 5000 warriers are estimated to have lived at this religious and military site.We were so impressed by the zigzagging walls which were built by the Incas to represent lightning. This is what our lovely lovely guide told us but the Lonely Planet says they represent the teeth of a puma (the whole of SexyWoman being the head and Cusco city having being designed in the shape of a whole Puma). Another one of Peru's mysteries. Our guide took us over to where the Inca's throne was and showed us huge rocks that were now upside down - you could see the three stairs, upside down- having been shifted by an earthquake.

The next part of our tour was quite exciting as the guide led us through some ancient water tunnels... Made by centuries of water running through before the Incas built here, these tunnels were now pitch black passageways which the Incas themselves used to get from place to place.

Though expensive, the Billetto Touristico is definitely worth it: however, if your wallets don't object to an extra few pounds, I would definitely recommend paying the little bit extra for a guide at each place. The explanations they are able to give due to their University studies in the subject makes the ticket worth it. Otherwise, you're just looking at an awful lot of ruins without knowing the story behind them.