In Cusco we visited various old Inca sites in the surrounding area
Huge stone blocks at Saksayhuaman, overlooking
Cusco from the north
Stone terracing at Saksayhuaman. The Inca designed Cusco in the shape of a Puma, one of their gods. Saksayhuaman was the shape of it´s head and the top pic was in a zigzag, representing the Puma´s teeth. The zigzag also represented lightning, one of the most powerful natural forces that they revered.
The huge stone in the centre fell during construction, killing hundreds of workers, so they say.
You can vaguely see the main wall is in a zigzag, the shadowed parts high-light this
A flower! - probably a member of the potato family,
of which the Peruvians have over 300 varieties
The pics below were from sites in The Sacred Valley (en route to Machu Picchu):
Our guide explaining the religious and ritualistic significance
of this river source. The priests would cleanse themselves here
They must have been tiny - as the 2 small waterfalls directly behind him,
fall into a stone chamber only about 3 feet deep.
a rural view
the national flower - I forget what its called
another site - sacrificial/holy chamber - steps up to stone plinth
on which children were sacrificed
the stone plinth
rural scene
Inca agricultural terracing
ditto
various flowers
Will put names to some of the places next posting, hopefully with pics of Machu Picchu.
As I had my camera stolen the evening before we went to Machu Picchu, all the pics from now on are from Jane´s pocket camera
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