Day 258 - Cuzco, Sacsayhuamán

(Ursula) The anticipation of a hot shower was short-lived. The water was just a miserable drip. On the other hand, the included breakfast was quite good. We left the money for one night in the room and looked for another place to stay.

Hotel Roma for 80 Soles was the answer - it had an excellent hot shower. Then we went for a stroll through the narrow streets of old Cuzco. Many buildings are built on original Inca store work, still in impeccable condition after hundreds of years and many earthquakes. The fit of the shaped rocks was amazingly tight - you couldn’t slide even a razor blade in between them! The Incas had impressive masonry skills - one of the stones had 12 corners.

Then we ran into Heinz & Bettina again by accident. They showed us where to exchange dollars at the best rate. Later, we also met the two Germans we met in Chile in the yellow VW Camper and drank a Schnapps together.

Cuzco was so interesting. The view from the Main Plaza, with the nicely restored buildings with carved wooden balconies from the colonial era, looked beautiful. We could easily see us staying here for a while.

We both purchased woven Alpaca shoulder bags. Then I realized I had left our Peru Travel Book in a store. We backtracked our steps but couldn’t find it anymore. How stupid of me - now that we needed it!

In the afternoon, we took a bus to Sacsayhuamán. Massive boulders had been cut and assembled into a high zig-zag wall formation across a narrow valley section, protecting and cutting off the access to Cuzco. We just stood there in awe; it was so impressive!

We spent the evening alone, enjoying a good meal at Pizza Place, and went to bed early. Our plan for tomorrow is Machu Picchu.

Expenses $13.60Read more