We´re in Cusco, which for the Incas was the “navel of the world”, the centre of their massive empire which ran from southern Colombia to northern Chile. When the Spanish conquered Cusco in the 16th century they symbolically demolished the Inca palaces and temples and built their colonial houses and churches on top of the fine Inca stonework, still in evidence at the base of many buildings.
Despite lots of tourists, Cusco has atmosphere and character with cobbled backstreets, Quechua street names, highland women selling woven cloth and coca leaves to ward off altitude sickness, and a great setting with mountains all around. Tourism has helped to revive traditional textile skills and increase pride in highland culture. Though the number of panpiping buskers playing rearrangements of Simon and Garfunkle and Beatles classics can be a touch trying.
After a few days in Cusco we have spent the last week in the Sacred Valley which runs from Machu Picchu down to Cusco. It is harvest time in the countryside with piles of yellow maize cobs drying in the sun and cattle grazing on the stubble left in the fields which cover the flat land by the river and the narrow terraced slopes above. We´ve seen several small harvest celebrations, a synthesis of Catholic festival and ancient pagan rite.
The Sacred Valley has a series of Inca forts, the most impressive being at Ollantaytambo, built into the side of the mountain and towering above the town. The Spanish conquistadors fought their way up the valley but turned back when they saw this daunting fort.
From Ollantaytambo we took the train up to the small town below the famous site of Machu Picchu. The next day we caught the pre-dawn bus up to the site, a beautifully preserved Inca city, surrounded by peaks, which was lost for centuries before being rediscovered in 1911. We watched the mist and cloud clear and the sun come shining through for another bright clear Andean day and then explored the palaces, temples and terraces with their perfect interlocking masonry and trademark trapezoid windows. Machu Picchu certainly lived up to the hype and in the early morning, before the tour buses arrive, it felt very special.
We arrived back in Cusco today, just in time for a big parade in the main plaza with a march past by various smartly dressed army regiments and dancing by local groups.
