The Terraces of Moray
Our next stop after Chinchero took us to the curious circular terraces of Moray. The only word that really exists to explain these three deep, stepped pits in a high plain overlooking the Urubamba valley is "wierd". The pits are in fact quite huge: up to 140 meters across and 40 meters deep. Each also features a single water canal.
The Ruins of Chinchero
Our first outing from Ollantaytambo took us to the town of Chinchero, about an hour away by bus. Chinchero is known among the tourists for its market and as one of the most accessible places to see people in traditional garb, but trinkets don't interest us and our way of traveling brings us into plenty of contact with locals. No, we were there for another reason entirely: an Old Pile of Stone!
The Town and Ruins of Ollantaytambo
After six days in Cusco, we finally exhausted what we could visit in a day trip, so we set out to the town of Ollantaytambo, situated between two steep mountains a bit further up the Sacred Valley, to use as a new base for our explorations. Ollantaytambo was, of course, a lot more than a base and also an interesting site in and of itself. Ollantaytambo was once an important city and fortress in the Inca empire, and very well fortified. It was, in fact, the only place where the Spanish lost a battle against the Inca, during the post-conquista rebellion of Manco Inca in 1537.
The Ruins of Pisac
Our next day trip out from Cuzco took us deeper into the Sacred Valley to the ruins of Pisac. Pisac is a sprawling complex on a geographically prominent spur and probably served a number of purposes. Built by the Inca at around 1440 CE, it is best known for the sprawling decorative terraces that cover the slopes of the spur.
The Ruins of Tipon
Move over Versailles, the Inca are coming! At least, that is the impression that the ruins of the palatial complex at Tipon give the visitor. As with most prehispanic ruins in the Andes, exactly who built this place and why is not known. We do know that Tipon was built during the Inca empire, and it seems likely that the complex served as a place of leisure for the Cuzco elite as well as a place of ceremonies.
Piquillacta Archeological Park
Our next day trip from Cuzco took us to the Piquillacta Archeological Park, about 45 minutes south of the city by public bus. The park surrounds an area that is particularly rich in water for the semi-arid Cuzco valley, including a shallow lake and a marsh, meaning it was of particular importance for all of the peoples to pass through during its inhabited history, and it is full of interesting archaeological sites. The crowning piece of the park are the remains of a sprawling citadel built by the Huari culture around 800 CE. Other highlights include an Inca-era burial complex with a couple of basic chullpas and a truly massive aqueduct built by the Collpa civilization and expanded by the Incas.
The Ruins of the Coricancha
While Cuzco was once awash in Inca temples and palaces, these are now mostly gone. One exception are the ruins of the Coricancha. In Inca times, the Coricancha was the city's largest temple and dedicated to the sun god, Inti. The outer walls were heavily decorated with gold plate, while on the interior a garden of ceremonial crops made of precious metals assisted the priests in their renewal ceremonies to make the earth fertile year after year.
Four Inca Ruins in Just One Day
Our first day excursion from Cusco brought us up the Sacred Valley a bit on a hike to a string of ruined sites that line the road north-east of the city. The ruins are a popular day-trip among the tourists in Cusco, but most of them take a half-day tour that zooms them through the sites at breakneck speeds. We decided to walk instead, and it once again proved one of my father's sayings: if you want to be alone, walk for a mile. Nobody gets out of their cars. So, we enjoyed these four popular sites pretty much on our own.
Cuzco’s Precolumbian Art Museum
On our first day in Cuzco, we went to one of the most remarkable museums that we have seen thus far in South America, and the first one that could rival the Mexican museums in Oaxaca and Mexico City: the Precolumbian Art Museum. The museum's mission is quite simple: to present the art of Precolumbian cultures in a way that not only seeks to place objects with their historic cultures but also to present them as aesthetic works in and of themselves, that is, as art.
Welcome to Cuzco
After our side trip down to Nasca, we headed back up into the Andes for what is quickly becoming one of the highlights of our trip: Cuzco. This city's claim to fame is that it was the seat and origin of the Incan empire of Tahuantinsuyu.
The Nazca
On our way out of Arequipa, we took a side trip to the town of Nazca, situated on a sandy strip of land between the Andes and the Pacific in what is today southern Peru. Nazca was the home of a culture that is today mostly famous for its enigmatic geoglyphs which can only be readily appreciated from the air despite the fact that the Nazca probably did not possess any flying machines. This fact has led to many wild speculations about the Nazca, many of which involve aliens or strange lost technologies, but the reality of this culture, partial as our knowledge may be, is much more interesting than even the wildest of these theories suggest.
Santa Teresa Convent
The Santa Teresa convent in Arequipa is yet another of the multitude of religious complexes that abound in this colonial city. While the convent still houses 21 cloistered nuns who only see the outside to vote and seek medical attention, most of it has been turned into a museum of colonial art.
La Casa del Moral
One of our favorite places in Arequipa was the colonial mansion of Casa del Moral, built in the 1730s and named after a tree growing in its courtyard. It houses some really nice examples of colonial architecture and art as well as some later modifications: one of the later occupants was the Consul from Great Britain who, as an Anglican, felt that the multitude of Catholic altars would better serve as bars!
A Really Big Mountain
Our next outing from Arequipa was to climb the extinct volcano of Chachani, which looms over the city at an altitude of 6,075 meters (19,930 feet). The mountain is known as one of the easiest climbs of this altitude, mostly because its base on the Altiplano side is over 4000 meters and because sulfur miners in the middle of the last century carved a good dirt track most of the way up. The climb therefore requires no technical experience and you can do the whole thing with just crampons, and you could probably get away with not even having those in this season.
Santa Catalina Convent
Among the sights to see in Arequipa is the Convent of Santa Catalina, one of the city's first. It was founded late in the 16th century by a widow who decided that instead of remarrying, she wanted to retire to wealth instead. As such, the lifestyle in Santa Catalina was not quite one of suffering and privations such as you would see in the Potosi convent, but it was rather more like the Beguinages of the low countries, with nuns instead of old women.
Arequipa
After a couple of relaxing and sunny days in Puno, we decided to head toward the Peruvian coast, stopping half way at the colonial city of Arequipa. Located at the piddly altitude of 2,300 meters (7,500 feet), Arequipa is mostly known for its wonderful colonial architecture and as the base to explore some pretty spectacular landscapes (including the world's two deepest canyons, which we didn't get to). But in the four days we spent there, we discovered a lot of other really nice things about Peru's second biggest city.
The Ruins of Sillustani
Our only day trip on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca was to the Pre-Columbian burial site of Sillustani. Located on an island in a lake that is small only in comparison to Titicaca, Sillustani housed the remains of the Titicaca region's elite from some time around 1000 CE until the Spanish conquista in the 16th century.
Finally in Peru: Puno
After breezing past immigration on the Peruvian side of the border, we headed on to our first bus ride in this new, exciting (and, relatively clean) country. Our first stop was Puno, a smallish city or largish town on Lake Titicaca. Puno lives from ranching, agriculture and, of course, the streams of tourists that use it as a jumping-off point to visit the lake.
Good-bye, Bolivia
After a couple of days stuck in the bottomless pit of bureaucracy and corruption that is Bolivian immigration, we finally managed to exit the country today and I wanted to take the opportunity to note a couple of parting thoughts about the country.
La Isla del Sol
As we had firmly decided to stick to the well-worn tourist path, we did what everybody else does in Copacabana, and took a tourist boat to the nearby Isla del Sol, famous for its Inca ruins, terraced hills, and impressive views. We were a little distressed to be squeezed tightly between ever-complaining French people for the two-hour boat ride, but getting to the island made it all worth it: it definitely deserves a spot among the most beautiful places we've been to on this trip!