We had the rest of the morning on our own in the "Imperial City" before our official tour began at 2pm. We took a short walk and enjoyed some of the local sights.
After a stop in the market, we headed back to the hotel for a short rest. We could hear music and opened our window to see this local group walking down the lane next to the hotel.
You just never know what you will find in Cusco!
This afternoon our group headed to the Convento de Santo Domingo del Cusco.
The temple was built in the 13th century during the government of Inca Huiracocha. The walls of the temple show an amazingly high level of engineering. The stones are constructed as trapezoids and are not just stacked one on another, but have groves and niches to hold them together like Legos. They also made a liquid alloy that helped hold them together. The stones are basalt, and part of the corner pieces were carved so they made an L-shape. It's difficult to see, but they walls also all lean inward which added to the strength of the building and its resistance to volcanic tremors.
In the picture below, you can look through the window of one "temple" and see into the next two.
The Inca Temple of the Sun was one of the most sacred and respected buildings of the Inca Empire. It's original construction took almost 100 years!
The Catholic Convent of Santo Domingo del Cuzco was founded on the foundations of the famous "Inti cancha" in 1534 after the Spanish arrived in Peru. Some time later the temple was looted, almost completely, stripped of the precious metals that decorated it. They painted over the walls and it wasn't until an earthquake in 1950 that made cracks in the paint that they discovered the Inca construction. This shows what the painting was like.
The courtyard view
Inside the convent you could see the inner courtyard. The convent has colonial paintings on all the walls and ceilings, as well as carved wooden sculptures, and gold and silver liturgical objects. The bulk of our tour concentrated on the Inca aspects of the site.
From here we headed down a long alley whose walls were constructed by the Incas. Originally, it was the wall of the House of the Chosen Women. Young girls lived here and were trained to be either the wife of a leader or to be sacrificied to the gods. It as considered an honor for families to have their daughters chosen.
Next stop was the Basilica Cathedral, one of the largest in South America. No pictures were allowed inside, but it was AMAZING! There was so much history and the main altar of the church is covered with 1-1/4 TONS of silver! Original construction of the cathedral took from 1560 to 1643 to finish!
From here we headed down a long alley whose walls were constructed by the Incas. Originally, it was the wall of the House of the Chosen Women. Young girls lived here and were trained to be either the wife of a leader or to be sacrificied to the gods. It as considered an honor for families to have their daughters chosen.
Next stop was the Basilica Cathedral, one of the largest in South America. No pictures were allowed inside, but it was AMAZING! There was so much history and the main altar of the church is covered with 1-1/4 TONS of silver! Original construction of the cathedral took from 1560 to 1643 to finish!
Across the street from the Cathedral is the Plaza de Armas with a statue of the 9th Inca ruler in the center.
La Compania, the Jesuit church is also located on the Plaza.
There lots of local people selling souvenirs.
Our tour wrapped up shortly after our stop at the Plaza. Most of the group headed back to the hotel, but Tobey and I took the long way back exploring some of the streets away from the plaza.
Check out the fancy barber shop we saw!
Do you think Tobey could make it in Peru?
This evening our group had dinner at the home of a local family. Because 17 or our group went, we were split between two families. Our host, John, along with his five year old daughter, and sister-in-law and her three children prepared our meal and joined us for dinner. Our first course was soup made from a dehydrated potato. The potatoes can apparently be dehydrated and last for over 100 years!
We added fresh sliced avacados and a spicy pico salsa. It had an interesting taste, but I don't think I would order it again in a restaurant!
The main course was a chicken leg served with quinoua and rice with a sauce over it and dessert was tamarillo, a tree tomato.
La Compania, the Jesuit church is also located on the Plaza.
There lots of local people selling souvenirs.
Our tour wrapped up shortly after our stop at the Plaza. Most of the group headed back to the hotel, but Tobey and I took the long way back exploring some of the streets away from the plaza.
Check out the fancy barber shop we saw!
Do you think Tobey could make it in Peru?
This evening our group had dinner at the home of a local family. Because 17 or our group went, we were split between two families. Our host, John, along with his five year old daughter, and sister-in-law and her three children prepared our meal and joined us for dinner. Our first course was soup made from a dehydrated potato. The potatoes can apparently be dehydrated and last for over 100 years!
We added fresh sliced avacados and a spicy pico salsa. It had an interesting taste, but I don't think I would order it again in a restaurant!
The main course was a chicken leg served with quinoua and rice with a sauce over it and dessert was tamarillo, a tree tomato.
Our host, John, is at the head of the table. He spoke excellent English and we enjoyed asking him questions about his life and family in Cusco.
After our meal it was back to the hotel. Tomorrow we signed up for an optional tour, along with nine other folks from our group. Fortunately, we don't start until 9am, so we hope for a good night's rest.
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