The first site we visited today was Sacsayhuaman, a religious center of the Inca Empire. It sits on a mountain over Cuzco, which was built in the shape of a puma. Sacsayhuaman, meaning zig-zag puma, is the head, and it is built of zig-zagged stones to represent the god of thunder. While there, some of the group walked through a pitch-dark tunnel that had been used to carry water, and we had incredible views of the city, the mountains, and a native polylepis tree grove housing rufus-collared sparrows.
In the afternoon, we made our way down to a couple museums which exhibited Peruvian and Machu Picchu history. Each museum's architecture gave it a unique and special feel. Although we walked for a long time, the culture and rich history of Peru energized us throughout the day. One of the most incredible building was the cathedral in the main square. Along with being enormous, the attention to detail stunned us all. Finally, we viewed the dance competition. This colorful scene displayed many high schoolers competing for the top place. Overall, today was eventful and tiring! Hopefully we will have as much fun this week.
By Molly Hill and Elia Min
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| The group at Sacsayhuaman. |
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| View of the Square from our lunch spot. |
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| Alpaca saltada- Traditional peruvian dish. |
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| Tunnel we went through. It was pitch dark, no flashlights allowed, then we saw this light at the end. |
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| Incredible Inca strucure at Sacsayhuaman, Built during the government of Inca Pachacutec in the XV century. It is believed that a group of over twenty thousand men extracted the stones from nearby quarries and moved them up to the hills of the city of Cusco tying them with ropes on the sides and using a kind of wheel with logs underneath. The Incas were amazing engineers. |
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| Our guide Cesar giving us a tour of the history of the site. |
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| Dinner and dance show. |
