Saqsaywaman

Today was our favorite optional tour by far!  We went to the Saqsaywaman (pronounced "Sexy Woman") ruins for the morning.  It was the perfect day for the trip.  The weather was mild, and it only rained a little bit. 

Welcome to Sexy Woman! 

The walls were build without mortar, and they were all carefully fit together like legos.  Rene (our tour guide) explained that each Inca person was given a job at a very young age, and they were never allowed to change jobs.  Each person became an absolute master of their craft.  The walls at Saqsaywaman took several generations to build, and they used increasingly large ramps for each level of stone.  They were also very strong!

Modeling the wall.  See how huge those stones are? I'm 5 ft 9.5 for scale...

Kirk chilling in front of one of the walls. 

The Inca/Cuzco flag.

There was a great view of Cuzco from here as well. Rene pointed out how many of the rocks were missing, and said that most of those were broken up and carted down to Cuzco by the Spanish.  Some of the buildings still standing today are made of the walls from Saqsaywaman.

It did rain a little bit.  Be sure to bring decent rain gear with you when you go!

So chic.  So sexy. 

The tour guides took a great picture of the group in front of the wall.  Check out all these awesome people!

The best tour group buddies in all of Peru.

Don't forget about the alpacas.  They were simply everywhere.  These ones came over to check us out .

They like grass.

I wanted to take this alpaca home.  Kirk said no.

Water was important for all sorts of reasons.  We also stopped by to see one of their water areas. It is STILL running today.  The Spanish did not destroy it because it supplied water and, if they had ripped it apart, it would have flooded Cuzco.  This trickle of water is the same all year, during both the dry and rainy season.  This is one of the places that the Inca depended on for water.  They also considered it sacred- the chief would bathe in it to cure the diseases in the city because it flowed into the valley below.

Kirk really liked the walls.  He was impressed with the manufacturing of the walls.  He said that this level of precision is difficult on a small scale, let alone a big scale!

It's also really pretty and soothing.

Check it.

Cathy liked this railing decoration.

Pretty.

Next, we went to one of the sacred caves where sacrifices were made.   They did not sacrifice humans here.  They did sacrifice alpacas here, and they mummified their dead in this cave.

Headed in to the cave.  It was not very big.

This was the table where they sacrificed things and where mummification took place.

See that window in the back?  It used to be lined with gold.  The reflection helped provide light for the cave.

Closer picture of the window- picture the gold!

We also finally started getting a few pictures of the tour group friends!

Randy and Ofer. They are awesome.

There was also a good view of the city.  There's a soccer field.  Rene said that their soccer team is not really that great, but they almost always win their home games because most other teams cannot handle the altitude! 

Behold!

We also stopped to see Cristo Blanco, or "White Christ."  It's a much smaller version of the one in Brazil.  We did not stop for very long, but it was neat.

White Christ was behind a fence.

I love this shot.

On the way back, we stopped at a textile factory.  They had many fine alpaca products.  Fun Fact: Baby Alpaca products do not come from baby alpacas.  It's considered "baby" the first time the alpaca is sheered.  It's a softer wool because there is more lanolin in it.  You really could feel the difference!  (And there's a difference in price!)  We all took a look and had show 'n tell on the bus afterwards.  The blankets were well out of our price range, so I took some pictures.  

Pretty!

These were more modern.

The dogs in Peru are really mellow.  We rarely heard dogs bark, and although they were everywhere, they never really approached you.  This dog was a little different.  He was hamming it up, and was belly up just before this shot was taken.  Look at that smile!

Such a ham.

We were warned not to pet or feed the dogs, but this one was so sweet that Cathy could not resist. He was literally the only dog that ever approached her though, and he seemed to be the home dog of the textile factory, so she decided it was worth the risk. He was really sweet.

Could. Not. Resist.

After that long day, we decided that coffee and ice cream was in order.  It was pretty good!

I love the wine bottles in the background.

Bonus picture of Cathy and Kirk with Cuzco in the background.

Tomorrow we explore Lima!