The Best of Both Worlds

Well my bus unexpectedly arrived early in Cuzco at 5:00 in the morning on monday, but I was lucky enough to find a woman from a local hostel standing at the station trying to attract people to her place.  It was cheap, and she was offering us a free ride to the place, so I went with it. I don’t have my own bathroom, and the hot water is sporadic, but I am only paying about 4 $ a night, so I am satisfied.

As it was May day all the museums were closed, but the ruins of Sacsahuman on the hill above town were still letting people in, so I went up to check them out.  They are basically a set of three walls running parallel to each other, each row set above the other reaching a height of 20 meters.  They were built not only as protection for the city of Cuzco, which was the capital of the Inca empire, but were also used as a ceremonial center.  The most impressive thing about the ruins, and Incan ruins in general, is not the ornateness, or the size of the grandeur of the ruins themselves, but the craftsmanship and quality of the stone used for the constructions.  These were people who knew how to put stones together!

The impressive things is that many of these stones way over 100 tons, and they are all perfectly placed next to each other, with barely a seem showing between them.  It is like a perfectly cut puzzle, with every stone fitting snugly exactly where it should be.  To be able to maneuver rocks that weighed so much, with such precision is amazing. 

The whole place is set up on the hill overlooking Cuzco, and in front of the walls is a large open field to lounge about and take in the site.  The walls themselves extend about 60 meters long, and are in a zig zag shape, kind of like a lightning bolt.  This gives them a bit of pizzazz that would be lacking if they went only straight across.  

When the Spanish first came to Cuzco, they set a puppet emperor on the throne, Manco Inca.  He soon rebelled, however, and in one of the most famous battles of the Spanish conquest, Pizzarro and his men were trapped in the building that was to become the cathedral, while thousands of Indians besieged them from all sides.  They decided the only option they had was to storm the walls of Sacsahuaman where the Incas were holding out.  They attacked at night, and with ladders somehow climbed to the top of the walls, and killed every Inca defender left.  It is hard for me to imagine how they were able to accomplish all this, but somehow they pulled it off.  This was the final stand of the Inca, and that is why I most wanted to see these ruins.  Of course, they are firmly on the tourist circuit, and everybody who comes to Cuzco goes to see them.  It is one of the ¨must sees¨.  And even without their historical connections, they are still very impressive. 

Afterwards I spend the night wandering around Cuzco.  It is a neat city because of all the winding, extremely narrow streets.  It reminds me of Toledo in Spain.  You can feel like you are in a maze, and its going to be a surprise to see what is around the corner. Especially at night it can feel almost haunted, with the cold wind blowing through, and the soft yellow light of the street lamps lighting up parts of the dark brown stone walls of the alleyways.

I thought I was supposed to set off on my trek tomorrow, but it looks like Chris, the guy I am supposed to be heading out with wants to delay departure for one more day.  This is fine I guess, although I would like to get out on the road.  As nice as Cuzco is, I have already made the rounds around the streets a couple of times, and dealing with all the street salesman is starting to get to me.