(Pre)Inka Ruins around Cusco

There are two ruin ‘circuits’ which can be bought in Cusco: one being near the city, and the other one being rather far away but leading into the ‘Sacred Valley’ (where also the Inka trail goes through).
We decided for the nearer circuit consisting of older and smaller ruins for our first aquaintance with the (pre)inkan histories - below a short description of what we still know of the sites. It was a very lovely day with a bit of hiking in between as the trail from the first (and furthest) to the last (and nearest) ruin runs through a tiny village full of alpaca craft stores and a lovely nature path down a valley with lots of non-marked (pre)inkan remains.
The temple we liked best (as it was not only the biggest but also the most impressive one, featuring the very characteristic big-ass stones) was Saqsaywaman - an archeological site within a 15 minute walk from the city center. However, despite its location and size, we got the impression by talking to other backpacker that it is overlooked super often by tourists?! Weird to us, but anyways. Enjoy the pictures and the descriptions of the sites below! If there are any questions, please refer to Gilles, as he is now an inofficial Inka expert 😉

Photos 1&2 Tambomachay: Many beautiful (probably pre-)inkan water fountains & -canals (was a place of worship for water)

Photos 3-5 Puka Pukara: Said to have been a hunting residence OR a military fort (given the location our guess would be the second). Beautiful stone work incorporating the natural rock formations of the hill. Probably pre-inkan.

Photo 6 Chuspiyoq: Hidden in the valley where the nature pathway leads through, we not only found this very interesting remains of a ritual site, but also a young local pure-incan (he stressed that) guy performing an ancient inkan ritual - crying and getting drunk on his own. Nevertheless he was happy to see us and tried to explain the ritual site, some inka customs and became quite heated talking about suppression of the inka culture nowadays in Peru. We’d love to add his explanations here, too, but his accent was very thick, and even Evan, our spanish-speaking australian friend on the tour, had troubles understanding him 🤷🏻‍♀️

Photos 7-9 Templo de la luna (inka stairs) & Kusilluchayoc (El templo de los monos): Another really cool site with stairs and seats (yes, inkas seemed to love their views) carved directly and neatly into and onto the stone hill, and a small collection of ruins sitting at the bottom site of the hill - very interesting were the many features of housing (such as shelve-like structures and stairs) again directly cut into the stone side of the hill.

Q’enqo: This one was actually not that impressive, so not a lot of infos to that site… It is said to have been a place where sacrifices and mummifications took place. No pictures for that one 😬

Photos 10-16 + video Saqsaywaman: Super big and impressive site with the huge but incredibly neat-fitted stone walls which are so characteristic for the inkas. It also features a big flat plain on which ceremonies and spectacles are said to have taken place. Very interesting here was the combination of the mentioned inkan stone work versus the work which was presumably done by pre-inkan cultures, featuring smaller and less well-fitted stone walls.Read more