August 14, 2006

August 14, 2006

Aimee and I are up early as we slept a lot last night. We feel much better today. I guess like most mountain environments, the temperature swings are huge. By 10am, it is hot again in the sunshine. Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire for the 100 years until the Spanish conquered them in 1532. It is situated in a scenic mountain valley. Cuzco is a charming medium size town that retains much of its ancient history with its narrow stone paved streets old architecture and Inca wall bases. The 11,000+ feet altitude takes some getting used to. I am huffing and puffing up the hilly streets. I am beginning to think the allergies I had in Yellowstone may have been just altitude problems.

Our first task today is to arrange tomorrow’s journey to Machu Picchu. We taxi to the train station and buy tickets. We then head to a travel office to prepay our hotel room outside Machu Picchu. We also stop at the bank for more cash; credit cards are useless here. Credit cards are either not accepted or come with a very healthy 9% service charge.

After lunch we walk to Coricancha temple. Coricancha was the primary temple of the Incas. In the local Quechua (still spoken!) language of the Incas, the name means Gold Room. It was said that its rooms were lined with gold. Unfortunately the gold was stripped to ransom the Inca emperor from the Spanish. The Spanish killed the emperor anyway and melted the gold and sent it back to Spain. They quickly built another church on its base. We tour the temple. There are a few rooms and a couple walls that were amazingly spared destruction. Like other Inca walls they exhibit the same fine stone craftsmanship. This would have been a temple to see in Inca times.

When finished we head to a local craft market to buy some gifts. Sweaters, rugs, hats, and other items made from Alpaca wool are the hot items. We buy a few. Not wanting to drag them all over Peru, we decide to wait to do most of our shopping in Lima on our last day.

So far the Peruvian people have been very nice; and they seem industrious. They have security everywhere but I don’t know why. Their only flaw seems to be they have learned bureaucracy all too well.