Trackin Jac's Global Domination: Cusco, Cuzco, Qosqo?

I spent a few nights in Lima before catching a plane to Cusco. The flight provided gorgeous views of snow capped Andes, arriving in the capital of the Inca Empire at 11,200 ft above sea level. I was lucky to not have too much trouble with altitude sickenss and was able to quickly start to explore this historic town. In 1533, the Inca capital was invaded by the Spainards who destroyed many of the Inca temples and palaces, building their new city on top of remaining walls - translation: there was interesting architecture.

The streets are full of artisan markets, women in traditional dress, and small children with baby lamas allowing you to take photos (for a small fee).

..and the food is definitely worth mentioning! I went to a local restaurant for some Lomo Saltado - basically sirloin steak strips with some peppers and onions, served like a stir fry....on top of fries. SO DELICIOUS!

The main square, Plaza de Armas, holds both the Cathedral of Santo Domingo

and the Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus

For a grand view of...

AND...I went horseback riding for the first time!! I, along with a German fellow and two Italian girls, went on a tour (via the hostel) to the countryside...passed the fortress of Sacsayhuaman (known locally as sexy woman because of the similar pronunciation)...up hills...to the temple of the sun. Our guide explained the meaning of the chakana (Inca Cross)...

...going into detail about the representation of the steps into the 3 worlds: Upperworld (represented by the condor), Middleworld (represented by the puma), and the Underworld (represented by the snake). Throughout the tour, he pointed out stone carvings and cut outs of these sacred animals and chakana (as well as lamas):

We crawled through small caves (small to normal sized people, not me.) ...to the Sun Temple.

Offering "tables":

We continued on...climbing up a cave:

Finding gorgeous views:

And rode a little further on to the temple of the Moon. In the temple, there is a table where animals were sacraficed - the "special" sacrafices were generally the black lama (black was the color of purity). The blood drained from a groove in the table, down to a hole in the ground.

The shape of the lama is everywhere in this temple - including on the table, and in the doorway (the neck and head)

My horse, Diamonte (Diamond):

I loved horseback riding!

Cusco also has a chocolate museum - YES PLEASE! It was fairly small, but had some interesting information and (most importantly) free samples. If you've never had chocolate tea, it's worth trying!

The weekends in Cusco are full of festivals, parades, and art:

On one of my final days, I headed to the Machu Picchu museum. That. Was. Awesome. There were short videos discribing different aspects of the Inca lifestyle and the discovery of Machu Picchu...and then there were artifacts, of course. It was hard to imagine these were crafted and used hundreds of years ago! (MP was abandoned in the early 16th century).