PERU 2011: Cusco

Visiting Peru you can’t ignore the wonderful culture. A visit to the Cusco Market offer many smiling faces… vendors selling everything from bread to whole pigs and many sundry items.

Colors abound around every turn as we meander through the unending aisles filled floor to ceiling!

Nearly anything you can think of… as well as many items you never would have imagined, can be found in the expanse!

The Church of Santo Doming was built on top of Qoricancha, the Inca Temple of the Sun, during the colonization of Cusco. In 1950 the buildings of this complex were damaged. The city’s Inca architecture, however, withstood the earthquake and many of the old Inca walls were at first thought to have been lost, but the granite retaining walls of the Qoricancha were exposed and are now visible for the public to see the ancient Inca structures as well. Above is the colonial period structure.

Leaving Cusco we traveled up and up, winding through the mountains to the ruins of Saqsaywaman.

Saqsaywaman is located 2km from the city. Together with the city of Cusco, this monumental complex is considered the first of the new seven wonders of the world. The Incas called it the House of the Sun and the Spaniards called it a fortress because of its zig-zag shape.

The construction, which is made up of three platforms one on top of the other, was one of the most important religious complexes of its time.