The
day got off to an early start in order for us to try catch some rugby (a
delayed broadcast of Reds vs Brumbies). We took a walk to Nortons where we
caught the second half while we followed the Stormers vs Chiefs game on our phones.
We enjoyed a few more beers on the balcony before having a walk around town and
heading to get some food. On the way out we noticed the old South African flag
on the roof which was much bigger than the new one. Think we need to have some
words with them.
We
took a walk to San Pedro market for some lunch where we had some soup and
roasted chicken with spaghetti before heading off to the hostel to catch the
city tour. We started at the cathedral on Plaza de Armas where we went inside
and the first thing I noticed was all the paintings and the gold plated alter.
We walked around some more and had some paintings and sculptures explained to
us. The paintings were painted by locals and therefore contained many incan
symbols with the Catholic symbols. For example on Mary's dress there was a
snake (a symbol for Pachamama) and for the last supper there was a cuy (guinea
pig) on the table. In other sections of the church there were multiple carved
wooden items that were incredibly ornate and detailed.
From
here we took a walk to a Dominican church which had been built on top of an old
incan sun temple. The incas used to install fear in other tribes by taking
their idols and holding onto them and if necessary threaten to destroy them.
For this they used to have buildings with false windows where they would store
these idols. In the temple we got a glimpse of the type of joints they used to
hold the construction together and “earthquake proof” them.
After
a walk around the temple we jumped into the bus and made our way to Saxaywaman
which was referred to as a fortress but was actually a temple but was given
this nickname as it was used as a base by the incan to fight the Spanish. As we
entered we saw lots of old ladies with their llamas trying to sell photos but
there was one interesting lady who had a sheep dressed as a llama trying to con
the tourists... You have got to give her points for trying.
From
Saxaywaman we made our way to another site which is commonly known as the belly
of Pachamama. It is a cave which the incas carved out on the inside. It also
had sacrificial tables where they could make sacrifices to the Pachamama. After
a walk through and look around we made our way to Puca-Pucara Which was a
checkpoint used by the incas for people traveling between Cusco and Machu
Picchu. It was raining so nobody got out the bus and we moved on to the next
stop which was Tambomachy (water temple).
We
parked and took a walk up a portion of the incan trail where we saw many old
ladies with dressed up llamas and further up the hill locals trying to sell
their goods to all the tourists. A little further up the hill we found the
temple which had false windows for idols and three water outlets which has been
flowing for over 500 years from the spring below. It is said that if you drink
this water you will be young for the rest of your life.
After
a walk back down we made our way to a clothing factory where they showed us the
difference between Alpaca, Llama, Vicuña and Guanaca which are known as the 4
Andean camels. The Guanaca fur is not used and the animal is used mainly for
load carrying. The llama fur is also not as common as its course and not very
comfortable. The alpaca has two different cuts. The virgin which is the first
cut and commonly called baby alpaca and is the best and softest alpaca product.
Then you get Vicuña which is the finest fur in the world and there are a 100 of
their hairs per human hair. A Vicuña fur costs in the region of $1200! We then
had a look around at all the products which were very different to everything
we have seen in the markets.
From
here we made our way to the hostel where we caught up on some WiFi before going
to dinner. We had milaneses and soup before making our way to wild rover for a
farewell drink for Rowan and a catch up with some friends.
After
the first drink they had not arrived so we had another and when they had
arrived our joint rubber arm was twisted and we eventually were kicked out of
the bar at 2am when they closed and we headed back to the hostel for a 2 hour
nap before heading to the inca trail.