Church Of Andahuaylilas

Our last stop en route to Cusco was the parish church of San Pedro, known as Peru's Sistine Chapel. There, a strange thing happened. We were warned before we entered the church that there was a strict no fotos policy. Nothing new. Then we were handed a CD, included in the modest admission price, of pix of the church, apparently inside and out. How smart is that? Why don't all museums and churches do that?! Anyhow, we didn't bring a CD player with us on this trip, so I'll post pix in a few days, once we are back in the US.

As I blog, we are awaiting transportation to the airport for a flight from Cusco to Lima and then tomorrow, March 16, from Lima to San Francisco. It will be really good to get back "home." Anyway, in the next week or so I'll do the remaining South American blogposts...Cusco, the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, and the Sacred Valley.

Off the web...stay tuned

Raqchi And The Temple Of Wiracocha

The Raqchi complex is still some miles from Cusco, on one of the many Inca roads. It had administrative, military, commercial, and religious purposes. Most impressive are its 4 km city wall, its scores of round storehouses, and its Wiracocha Temple, largest of all known Inca roofed structures.

A look at the city walls, here atop a terraced hill

Artificial pond and irrigation channel

First look at the temple--300-some feet long, 82 feet wide

Eleven columns supported the sloping roof

Our guide shows how it was constructed

View from stern

The one remaining intact column

Now looking into a housing/administrative section; note
leaning walls; the trapezoid was the Inca construction
ideal, especially for walls in earthquake country; the whole
wall, you might say, is integrally-buttressed

Among the scores of round storage buildings, called quilqas; all 33 feet in
diameter; this one has been reconstructed, most others just the stone
foundation; why so  many? you ask: armies march on their stomachs,
as Napoleon (or Fred the Great) once said; everywhere else in the empire,
the storage buildings were rectangular; no one knows why the round
construction here

Full view of central structure of Temple; the little roofs are modern, to prevent
further degradation by rain

In the municipal area

Spare parts

Our first large Inca ruins...impressive; and not even on a mountain-top

Pukara

Our first stop on the Puno to Cusco trip was the town of Pukara with its archaeological site and museum. The site dates from 1800 BC with a zenith around 200 BC. It was an administrative and religious center for the Pukara culture, north of Lake Titicaca.

The Santa Isabel parish church across from the museum; also
interesting

Items in the museum found at the Pukara site;
yes, this is about decapitation, human sacrifice,
etc.

Pukara and Pukara-style ceramics have been
found all over Peru

Among the stelae found at the site

Guarding the church yard

Approaching the Pukara site; I am hanging back in order to
take pix and also to breathe; "keep breathing; that's the key;
breathe"--Gimli, Son of Gloin

Several stepped pyramids

Our luxury tourist bus; best yet

Sunken courtyard

Interior

Nearby school

Modern Pukara, population around 2,000

Still processing this one, although it must have something to
do with insects or birds...

Puno To Cusco

It's just a bit more than 200 miles from Puno to Cusco. We took the tourist bus again, however, and with several great cultural/archaeological stops, and lunch, it took 10 hours. But it was one of our best days and so will require more than a single post. First, pix leaving Puno.

The City of Everything

Street scene

Not a small place

The harbor, the Lake

Rebar in the sky

Passing through beautiful downtown Juliaca

Puno

We got back to Puno early enough to spend an hour or so looking at the historical center, the cathedral, Plaza de Armas and a few streets and shops.

Puma

Since the Incas are not counted among the great navigators, one assumes this
must be of Spanish Catholic iconography; anyone know of a mermaid saint?
We saw this image quite a few times

Inside, the usual

Plaza de Armas

Had to share one of these

Most of Puno's traffic--most of Peru's urban traffic--is taxis

Back in our hotel; I never had to use one of these, but, at 12,000 feet, it was
comforting to know they were around; in Cusco we bought more Diamox (OTC),
upping the dosage to 250mg; that brought some relief...which was good, since
the Inca Trail lay before us...

Hotel decor

These angelic pix, mostly archangels, were quite popular
in the 16th century, and copies are seen everywhere

Leaving Puno the next morning...these are among the few buildings not
surmounted by rebar; one gets a variety of stories about why this is; mostly
a tax dodge, I surmise