We flew through Lima up into the Andes to Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Views of the streets of Cusco, elevation 12,000 feet, the Inca capital
We flew through Lima up into the Andes to Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu
After a 3-hour train ride from Cusco (the only way to get to Aguas Calientes, the town at the foot of Machu Picchu), and a 20-minute bus ride switching back and forth on an unpaved road up the side of the mountain, here we are looking across Machu Picchu to Huayna Picchu, the sugarloaf shaped mountain alongside, which has temples at the very top (only 400 people a day are allowed to climb up the hair-raising path to the top of Huayna Picchu--a number that didn't include us).
More at Machu Picchu
The top two images are the so-called "Temple of the Condor," one of the few remaining representational carvings remaining (though whether it was intended to represent a condor is open to some question).
Monday, May 4, 2009
Temple of Koricancha in Cusco (the Inca capital)
Inca temple whose exterior and interior walls survived because the Spanish built a church around them.
Walls in Cusco
Everywhere you look in Cusco, the stones of the foundation walls are the remainder of Inca stones and stone masonry.
The Pacific coast in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima
The nearly constant fog in Lima lifted (almost) long enough to take a photo of the coastline--the picture taken from the famous Larcomar shopping center, cut into the side of the cliff separating the city from the beach.
Huaca Pucllana
Night shots of an adobe pyramid in downtown Lima, c.400AD, taken from the famous restaurant adjacent to the archaeological site. I should have taken photos of the meals at some of the great restaurants (Juan Antonio, Tan'ta, La Mar, and Huaca
Pucllana in Lima, A Mi Manera, Tomatissimo, and Illary in Cusco) where we ate, as well as a cafe a couple of blocks from the Plaza de Armas that served coffee blended with mate de coca.
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