December 13th:
We woke up the next morning in our beautiful hotel, JW Marriott, and then headed downstairs for a breakfast buffet (omelet station?! YES!).
After breakfast we met up with Juan in the lobby and he told us the plan for the day.
We hopped in our private van and headed out of Cusco to our first (of three) archaeological sites, Puka Pukara.
It's believed that this ancient Inca site was built, like Machu Picchu, during Pachacuti's rule. It served as one of the many ritual/ceremonial sites that surrounded Cusco, the Inca Capital, and also as a military site.
Since the pathways around the site are rough and uneven, Juan suggested that we leave Theo behind with mom.
[Classic Inca Door]
[Caves were very important to the Incas.]
[Mom walking with Theo]
[View from the ruins]
[Theo loves being in his stroller with his ball and iPad]
After exploring Puka Pukara, we headed to another sacred Inca site, Kenko.
Like I said before, the Inca considered caves sacred. There is a large rock outside the cave that looks like a puma (also sacred to the Inca) and inside the cave there is an altar where young llamas were sacrificed and royalty were mummified.
[Rock that looks like a puma is on the right]
[Entrance to the cave]
[Altar]
[Niche where incense was burned]
After learning about the ancient Inca ceremonies, we jumped back in the van and headed to Sacsayhuaman (another bucket list site!).
This megalithic site was first constructed by the Killke culture about 1200 years ago. It was then taken over by the Inca and expanded upon in the 13th Century CE. This site was a fortress, but it was also a sacred site.
Before exploring the site we went over and said "hi" to a herd of llamas.
[Babies!]
[A kiss?!]
We left the llamas and headed over to check out the megaliths.
[Dad for scale. He's 6'5"]
[Inca gate that was built for giants!]
There are many hypothesis about how these huge stones were moved and why the doorways were built so large, but none of them are conclusive.
Juan then lead us down this path to an outlook.
["Cusco-topia!"]
[View of the Plaza de Armas and the Museo De Historia Natural]
[Cristo Blanco - a gift from a group of Arabic Palestinians who took refuge in Cusco after World War II]
We then bid farewell to the megalithic site and headed into Cusco, where Juan took us to a cafe to get some hot chocolate and Alfajor cookies! YUM!
We then went to see the most important Inca temple: the Coricancha Temple. After Cusco was conquered the Spanish Conquistadors built a church on top of the Inca temple. This sacred site currently has the Convent of Santo Domingo Church built on top and around it. The Inca temple has survived two MASSIVE earthquakes, while the Church has had to be completely rebuilt twice.
[Interior of the Convent of Santo Domingo]
[Coricancha Temple with in the Church]
[View of the city from the church]
[In this picture you can see the modern church on top of the stones from the Inca temple]
[Inca temple walls]
It was getting late in the afternoon and Theo was getting crabby, so Juan suggested that someone take Theo back to the hotel for a nap while the rest of us go to the Cusco Cathedral. Josh volunteered to take Theo back to the hotel so mom, dad, Juan, and I went to tour the Cathedral.
[My beautiful sleeping baby]
[Plaza de Armas]
[Museo De Historia Natural]
After touring the Cathedral, Juan took us back to the hotel. We picked up our laundry and then Juan took us to drop it off before he took us to the bank. He made sure we were 100% good before he left us. Juan was such a great tour guide and I loved how concerned he was with Theo.
Later that night we went shopping for some tapestries. I wanted to get a baby alpaca one, but I was having a hard time deciding.
This one caught my eye, but then after talking to Josh, we decided it was too busy.
We eventually bought this one, which I LOVE! It's baby alpaca and the tapestry is of a condor.
[My parents also bought a tapestry]
That night we went back to the Plaza de Armas and ate at a local restaurant.
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