Sexy Woman

Today being Sunday and many of the other students being in Puno, Mary and me only had 1 thing on the docket, see Sacsayhuaman (pronounced Sexy Woman). I got up around 8am and took a shower then headed down to breakfast, I knew Mary had gone to mass early this morning so I decided not to bother her. When I got back I knocked on her door and she said she was tired but ready to go see Sacsayhuaman. So we packed up and hailed a taxi outside our hotel to take us, the walk is around a half an hour but all up hill so we decided to take taxi up and walk back down. The taxi rides here are always a little crazy since there aren't many lines in the roads and there's no real yielding, its just go for it. Also when getting a cab there's no real limit on the number of people it's however many you can fit, sitting on peoples laps is perfectly acceptable here. When we got up to the entrance we had to get out and buy our tickets and then ride a bit further to the parking lot. We paid the driver and headed into Sacsayhuaman, some sort of ancient Inca structure. Historians don't really know what it was used for but when the Spanish came they removed some of the stones to use in their own buildings. What remains are the largest stones that the Spanish were unable to move. The walls are in great condition and have survived hundreds of years of weather and earthquakes. The stones are perfectly fit together even though the Incas didn't have fillers, you can't even fit a piece of paper between them. It was really beautiful to walk around the ruins and take in the views of the city and mountains, because Sacsayhuaman was built over looking the city. This is also the site for Cristo Blanco which resembles Christ the Redeemer in Rio and overlooks Cusco.

Our ticket included 4 different sites within walking distance of Sacsayhuaman so we decided to take a stroll to a site called Q'engo. Mary and I had read that these ruins included zig-zag trenches carved into the stones which once flowed with llama blood during rituals. We walked around the site and through caves and tunnels but unfortunately weren't able to see any of the trenches.

In order to get back down to Cusco we had to walk back through Sacsayhuaman to the other side and exit that way. After about 20 mins we were back in Cusco and on our way there we picked up a friend. This dog who had just had puppies walked all the way down into town with us. While we were trying to find a restaurant we lost her. We finally found Jack's Cafe but there was a line out the door so we got in line and sat down on a conveniently located step. All of a sudden Mary turns around and there's the dog! She was precious:)

After a satisfying lunch we took a taxi back to the hotel. Since then I've been reading, downloading pictures and trying to figure out my luggage situation.