Today was a beautiful sunny day. We had a late start today, 9am! Off on a walking tour to start the day off.
San Pedro market was our first stop, I didn't see much in the market that interested me, but finally found a fabric shop with just the fabrics I was hoping to find!
Then to a chocolate shop, delicious, Peru has great chocolate!
A visit to San Domingo Cathedral, Peru has amazing churches, so much history behind them and the weaving of Inka icons amongst the traditional Catholic symbols is very interesting. The use of gold, silver and cedar is beautiful. Beautiful paintings adorn the walls, I've noticed that Mary is very important in Peru.
The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco was our next stop before lunch. There is a small museum mostly dedicated to backstrap weaving and within the shop there were weavers and knitters creating more beautiful works. I really liked that each item in the shop had a tag with the picture of the artist, the region they are from and their birthdate. They had everything from small braids to bed coverings all with unique colours and patterns.
A traditional lunch at a Cusco restaurant followed. Here a glass of chinchita was about 750 mis and the meals very large, a bowl of soup could probably serve 3 people. There was interested items on the menu like bull test less, breaded udders etc. I stuck with stuffed peppers! This restaurant also has traditional Peruvian dancers for entertainment, it was great fun.
The archeological site of Saqsayhuaman was next. This Inka site is dedicated to the lightening God and is built in a zigzag design, like a lightening bolt. The rocks here range in size from 30 kg to several tons and it is estimated the wall was 15 m high. At one time it was covered in silver, either entirely or certain stones, imagine the site of this, going around the corner to see this was jaw dropping today, imagine with the silver. Very few stairs here.
Q'enko was our next stop, work is still taking place at this site. This has been called a labyrinth, because of its shape. There is a sundial on top of the structure, unfortunately we weren't able to see it today as access has been restricted due to a recent visitor injury. Here in the lower levels it is believed to have been a 'mummification chamber' to test the best way to prepare sacrifices to the gods. We went through this cave like structure that had a altar.
More stairs here, but today was real holiday as far as our stair climbing workout. I think maybe Peru means a country of stairs!
Then a free evening! We got a little disorientated looking for a particular shop, so you guessed it climbed a lot more stairs! We rewarded ourselves with ice cream for supper!
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