Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day 09 found us in Cusco, pretty much acclimated to the high altitude, and ready for more adventures.

We started out the day by hiking up the mountainside above Cusco to the ruins of a former Inca fortress, called Sacsayhuaman. This is a very impressive and imposing construction made of massive stones, some of which weigh hundreds of tons (!), all of which are perfectly cut to fit together in a way that has withstood war, earthquakes, and hoards of tourists and other types of invaders.

The fortress has a double series of walls constructed in a zigzag shape. Some say they represent the teeth of a puma figure - all of Cusco was supposedly built in a shape representing a puma. There is also a wide grassy esplanade, and other constructions, a sort of throne area, huge towers, and an area where the rocks form natural slides. These were apparently used for some sort of initiation rites. We tried them out - easier in jeans than shorts.

The views from Sacsayhuaman are spectacular. You can see the Cusco Valley on one side and surrounding hills on the other side. It's very green, at least this time of year, which is the rainy season. The countryside is quite beautiful.

After spending several hours admiring the ruins, we hiked to another site, called Qenko (making jokes about Kinkos along the way). This is a much smaller ruin and most of it is cut directly into the existing rock, rather than built from rocks carried there from quarries. It has small caves and niches in which the Incas displayed holy items. They also performed rituals in this place, such as llama sacrifices, to predict weather patterns and such things.

We hiked back down to Cusco for lunch, and then rented Chinese knock-off vespas, which we rode back up the mountain to visit two more Inca sites, Puca Pucara and Tambo Machay. Riding along the countryside was fun and spectacular in and of itself. The ruins were interesting, too. Puca Pucara is thought to have been a sort of hunting castle. It looks a lot like a European castle, perched on top of a hill, with spectacular views of the hills and Andes in the background. Tambo Machay is different. This spot contained sacred baths, reserved for Inca rulers and royal women. It has natural springs which flow into fountains created out of more amazing Inca stonework. It is a quiter place and romantic - if you can ignore the other tourists and throngs of local people selling their wares.

For dinner, we headed for yet another of Cusco's really good restaurants. We had already tried the latest place, Chicha, run by the famous chef, Gaston, as well as a place called Cicolina, which also features delicious Peruvian/fusion food. Some of the specialties involve trout (fresh, raw, smoked), llama, quinoa, and cuy (guinea pig). For Valentine's dinner, we went to a place called, Greens, located on the second floor of a building near the central Plaza del Armas. The food was fine, but more memorable still was the way the building and earth started shaking half way through our meal. It was a light earthquake. Just enough to rattle the stemwear, jiggle our seats, and make us all look around to see what would happen next. Somehow it was fitting, and even flattering, to have the earth shake for us on Valentine's Day. And it fit right in with the mystery and beauty of Cusco.