xymd: Peru Adventure Day 1

So Eli and I were supposed to fly on Sunday night but flight was cancelled so they had us fly the next day. But First Class. How awesome is that. Eli looks like it’s Christmas morning.

But when we landed in Lima we had a 5 hour lay over. From 11-4 am. So we slept on floor of airport. Kinda negates the first class niceness. Here we are ready to board. Don’t let that face fool you. He was near tears of exhaustion. But he did well.

We got to our hotel and napped for 3-4 hours. Then went out to Plaza de Armas. There was a big festival going on. These guys are carving the old fashioned inka way. With chainsaws.

We went and checked in with Alpaca Expeditions. They are going to be our guides on trail. Here is Eli with his first Inka Kola.

We went to Cusco Cathedral. Your not supposed to take pictures inside. I am not sure how I got these. But this is the last supper. Apparently Jesus was Peruvian and liked Cuy. Also known as guinea pig.

Here is the Dominican church right next to our hotel.

Next we hiked down to the Inka Sun Temple.

See how the stones went together.

We had a guide. He told us how the Inkan Construction is earthquake resistant. They turned this sun temple into a mission.

See how the stones crossed the corners.

Sun temple doorway.

Over looking more of Cusco and the temple.

This is where the sun shrine was. This whole area was covered in gold.

These knobs cast shadows in certain days. It was a part of the worship and the calendar.

This is the biggest piece of gold I have seen. It is worth more than I am.

Here is the outside of the sun temple.

After this we hiked up to the ruins of Sacsayhuaman it started to rain on the way. But we were prepared. We had our Inka hats.

Entering the ruins.

Eli stopped to play with a Peruvian Lawnmower. They call it Llama.

We had a really good guide. A lot of my pictures are kind of “you had to be there”. But he is showing us that there was a reflection pool. No idea where the water came from. He also took us through a cave tunnel. It was pretty awesome. It was pitch black.

Here we are overlooking the ruins and Cusco. Note the Jesus statue in the background.

The size of these stones is mind boggling.

Here is the opening to the upper levels.

So. There was an Inkan prince who was half Spanish. He was raised Inka then went to Spain to be educated. He wrote a book. Described all the buildings. He wrote that on top of sacsayhuaman, there were three buildings. In the 1990s I think it was, someone read his account then excavated the foundation.

This is the Sun door. When the sun rises on June 21, it shines perfectly into this doorway. And there was a doorway on setting sun that is now destroyed.