Susan's Travelogue Blog: Peru - In and Around Cuzco

For my last Peru blog post, I've collected some pictures from Cuzco and environs. Many were taken during a day trip with a tour guide; others were taken while I was walking in the city or enjoying time with my sister-friend, Maga, and her family.

Views of Cuzco from Maga's balcony

Statue of Pachacuti (sometimes called Pachacutec)

Sapa Inca, or Inca Emperor, credited with designing

and building Cuzco, and probably Machupicchu

Cuzco fountain. I believe the spelling "Qosqo" is Quechua.

Iglesia de la Compagnia de Jesus

Cathedral of Santo Dominico, the main cathedral of Cuzco

Photography is not permitted inside. The most impressive

part is the choir and organ. The organ is almost never used.

View of Plaza de Armas. I did not get to spend enough time there.

Sacsaywaman

Sacsaywaman was a fortress on a mountainside above Cuzco that is now in a ruined state (the Spanish used many of its stones for construction in the valley). It's noted for Inca stonework involving incredibly large blocks and crazy angles. Some of the ruins in the complex predate the Incas. There is still significant excavation going on there.

Main plaza of Sacsaywaman

More views of the main plaza. Andeans apparently still use

the site for certain rituals and traditional celebrations.

Here it's just being used for school outings and tourists.

View of Cuzco from Saksaywaman

Plaza de Armas

Crazy huge stones

Cristo Blanco beyond the ruins of Saksaywaman

Tambomachay and Q'inqu

There are many other Inca ruins in the area of Cuzco. Some, in the Sacred Valley, I sadly wasn't able to visit. I had to cancel that tour due to a rather nasty stomach ailment on my last full day in Cuzco. Tambomachay and Q'inqu are further up the mountain from Sacsaywaman. Tombomachay seems to have been built as a source of and possibly a shrine for water. Q'inqu was probably used for mummification and possibly for sacrifices.

Ruins at Tambomachay

View from Tambomachay, the highest place I visited in Peru

Entrance to mummification chamber at Q'inqu

Ceremonial mummification platform

Moon from Q'inqu

Montessori School

I visited the Montessori school in Cuzco that Maga's children attend. Maga's sister founded and runs the school, and Maga teaches English part time (in addition to her primary occupation, which is as a professor of pharmacy at a local university). The school is beautiful. I never saw such happy children at school.