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Walking off the bus at 6am. Sleeping on buses is great!
Cuzco 03/2002
Plaza de Armas
Cuzco 03/2002
This was the first church built in Cuzco by the
Spanish, when the Spanish came they built upon standing Inca
buildings.
04/2002
Cuzco has more than 17 Cathedrals, many of them
have been turned into museums
04/2002
I met some mochileros, and hung out with them for a
few days. Here we are next the
Cristo overlooking the city of Cuzco.
04/2002
Inca Ruins surround the city. You don’t have to Machu Picchu to
do good hikes. You can easily
spend a week just visiting the ruins and museums in Cuzco
04/2002
Here we are next to the Jaguar rock formation.
04/2002
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Cuzco
Cuzco
is considered the archeological capital of the Americas. The city is surrounded by a number Inca
ruins, the most famous Machu Picchu. Most of the city walls are lined of
massive Incan stones once brought here to the ancient capital of the Incas.
The Incas had no written history, and their
oral history has been passed down through the generations. We do know that the Incas first
appeared in the history around the 12th century. The Incas came to their peek in
1525 around the death Huayan Capac. Once Huayan Capac died, he split his empire into
2, passing half on Atahualpa one son and the other huascar the other.
In 1533 the Spanish led by
Francisco Pizarro invaded Cuzco and the downfall of the Incas came to a
reality. With the empire in a
state of sibyl rivalry, the Incas stood even less of a chance to the
Spanish. One of the most
amazing parts of the Incan tale is extensiveness of their reign and the
time frame it took them to accomplish this. In about 100 yrs. the Incas conquered almost all of
South America, from the tip of Ecuador to the South of Chile and westward
into Bolivia. The Inca’s
official language was Quechua.
Many Indigenous people have come
into the city of Cuzco, and you can find them on the streets overdressed in
exaggerated clothing to attract tourist’s eyes. Don’t think they do this just for smiles, a picture is
not always worth a thousand words, in this case it cost about a $1.
Cuzco is sometimes overcrowded with
tourists and the main alley off of La Plaza de Armas is called “Gringo
Alley.” Even so, I Cuzco is a
great city, great history and excellent nightlife. I only stayed for 4 days, but I
think that I could’ve spent over 2 weeks here. There are plenty of other travelers, it seems like cuzco
is a resting meeting ground. From
Cuzco you’re close just about anything you could ever want to do. Nature hiking, mountain climbing,
white water rafting and much more.
I didn’t know they
charged for pictures, but it turned out interesting.
04/2002
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