Day 3: Tingly bits, alpaca knits and Brazilian twits

The main square - Plaza des Armes

Before I recount the day's adventures, lets get straight to the burning question that I'm sure you all have by this stage - what's the altitude like and how are you feeling?
Well, in a word - tingly.   To counteract the effects of the altitude, both Lisa and I are taking a drug called Diamox which is a diuretic.  Now, don't ask me how taking a diuretic helps with altitude sickness, but apparently it does, so we're taking it.  We're also imbibing the coca tea that i mentioned yesterday, also a diuretic because it has a bucket load of caffeine in it.

Now, since we arrived yesterday we've been feeling a bit weird, on and off, with both of us feeling plain knackered as well as a bit headachey and space-cadet-y.  We took it easy yesterday, as recommended, so today we were starting to feel a bit better - aside from this peculiar tingly sensation that would occasionally pop up in our feet or, in my case, on my face!  Its a bit odd to explain but it comes on for a while, then goes away again.  So we looked up the side-effects of Diamox yesterday and, in among the usual grab-bag of Bad Stuff That Could Happen to You, there it was - tingling of the extremities!  So at least we're not going completely mad and there's a pukka reason for it.  The other slightly less entertaining side effect of Diamox is that it makes you pee like horses.  I do hope that one wears off before we are out for all-day hikes...

The altitude is probably as you'd expect - yesterday we could really feel how any slight exertion caused the heart race to immediately elevate (ie bending down to unpack the suitcase!).  Today its not been quite so bad, however, walking up the steps at Sacsayhuaman (which I'll tell you about in a minute) proved to be rather humbling as we both became winded in a very short space of time climbing less than 100 steps!  Obviously we still have a bit of acclimatization left to go.

But, we're doing fine - we're drinking plenty of water (and consequently peeing like horses) and are staying well hydrated, so hopefully by the time we start our hike proper on Friday, we'll be fully acclimatized and ready for action!

The dark wall of the Sun Temple on the left, as part of the
monastery complex of Quricancha

Anyway, to today.  We had a fairly leisurely start, ambling down to breakfast around 9.30am where I thoroughly confused the juice lady by asking her to blend me some bananas and strawberries.  All very confusing.  I had a cup of mind-crunchingly strong coffee, before deciding that probably wasn't a wise combo with the coca tea and by 10am we were done and ready to head out into town to explore.  The weather was a very pleasant 60 degrees or so, with the sun managing to dodge the clouds enough so that it was warm and sunny to sit outside in.  Our hotel is only 3-4 blocks away from the main square, so walking down through the narrow, high walled streets towards the main square was very easy and, in no time, we found ourselves in Plaza del Armes, site of the main Cathedral of Cusco.

Alpaca!!!  An obsession is born....

In front of the cathedral was a beautiful little planted square, jammed full of beautiful flowers in full bloom, so we sat on one of the benches there, consulted the guidebook to try and figure out our plan and fended off multiple vendors of blankets, paintings, alpaca keyrings and other artisanal knick-knacks.  After a while, we picked a local tour operator that was well-reviewed, so trundled off to find their offices which turned out to be fairly close by.  Once there, we went for it and booked up the following: a city tour of Cusco for today, an all-day excursion to the Sacred Valley tomorrow and finally a cooking class for Thursday!

We figured the Cusco city tour would be a good way to explore our surroundings in a fairly low key kind of way, even though it was a group tour (that I usually try and avoid).  The trip ran from 1.30pm – 6pm and visited the following places:

The Cathedral: Constructed between 1560 and 1654 upon the foundations of the Inca palace of Wiracocha.  This immense chapel includes the chapel of Jesus, Joseph and Mary, and the church of the Triumph.  While the construction lasted for over a century, the decoration went on for 300 years and today more than 400 paintings of the Cusco School can be seen amidst beautifully carbed alters and a magnificent choir stand.

Quricancha: Meaning “cloister of gold”, is located within the monastery of Santo Domingo, where the remains of the former sun temple of the Incas are found.  Inside, one can admire some astonishing slanted Inca walls, windows and niches in trapezoidal shapes that have withstood several earthquakes due to its anti-seismic design, having been constructed with extremely close-fitting stones.

Sacsayhuaman: This Quechua word (the still widely spoken language of the Incas) literally translates to “decorated head of puma”.  It was used as the palace from which the descendant of the sun ruled his people.  The Europeans believed it to be a fortress of some kind due to the immense blocks of rock that were used in its construction.  Cusco tradition claims that around 70,000 people worked here for 50 years.

Qenqo: This name translates to “labyrinth” and is probably called that way because of two caves which hide under an immense rock with carved platforms or “altars”, representing the so-called “sacrificial rock”.  There is also an amphitheater with 19 niches that were probably used for giving offerings and a large rock sculpture (that is said to represent a puma, the deity of the site).  Interesting zigzag channels and a great variety of carved stones are also found on top of the huge rock formation

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Puca Pucara – Meaning “Red Fortress” this massive construction was used for food storage and also as a control garrison for travelers that visited Cusco in Inca times

Tambo Machay – A beautiful ceremonial site which sits, literally, on a hillside spring and was used as a place to worship water.  Today, the permanently flowing water is still associated with long life and fertility by the people of Cusco.

Gold relief panel at the Sun Temple

The tour was originally supposed to come and pick us up from our hotel between 1.15-1.30pm but then we got a phone call just before 1.30pm saying that instead could we go to the cathedral main entrance and meet the tour there.  It was a bit annoying cos we’d already been in town and had left to come back to the hotel expressly to meet the tour group but fine, off we trotted back into town and waited in the melee outside the cathedral to get scooped up by a slightly harassed looking lady, to then buy our entrance tickets and join the rest of the group who were already inside.  The first few minutes were a bit crap as it was a larger group than expected (at least 20) and because we were late, the guide had already started and we had to sit quite a way away which meant I couldn’t hear anything!  However, that was easily fixed as soon as we started to move to the next bit of interest in the cathedral, both Lisa and I got our New Yorker on, powered through the crowds and made sure for the rest of the tour we were standing/sitting right next to him so we could hear.

Hall way to the sun temple

Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the cathedral, so I can’t share any with you.  I did, later, buy a DVD with lots of pictures and videos on (sold to us by a man on our bus) but this computer doesn’t have a DVD drive, so I can’t get to them til I get home!  But, nonetheless, the cathedral was very impressive with lots of paintings, statues, pointy bits, wood carvings and silver.  Churches and the like do tend to leave me a bit cold, though (sorry, it’s the atheist in me) so I can’t really rhapsodize over them for hours – but I can appreciate the artistry particularly the section where the choir sits which very much reminded me of King’s College in Cambridge.

Courtyard of the monastery

After the cathedral, we walked to our next stop on the tour – the remnants of a sun temple within Santa Domingo monastery.  This was pretty impressive, as you can see from the photos below – I’m sure I’ll focus more on this in future blogs but the construction skills of the Incas were absolutely astonishing.  Throughout this part of the tour we were walking past the original walls that they built – and they looked brand new. No mortar was used and the stones are slotted together perfectly.  How on earth they cut them with so much precision is still a complete mystery to me – maybe my DVD will clear it all up for me….

Another impressively carved Incan rock.  This time, this one was
the upturned base of a column handily fashioned into an altar

Next up after the sun temple, the site that all the tourists call “Sexy Woman” – but not before we had to drop off one of our number at the hospital, an older lady who’d been doing the tour up to that point in a wheelchair and who was complaining of shortness of breath.  Her and her granddaughter had only just arrived that day, so they’d broken the cardinal rule of Taking It Easy on Day 1 and they also were not taking anything to counteract the altitude, so no wonder they were in bad shape.  It was probably just as well she left the tour at that point, because the last places we visited all involved some degree of walking and climbing up and down stairs, so there’s no way she would have been physically able to do it.

Anyway, as a result of that unanticipated detour, the rest of our tour for the afternoon was under a bit of a time crunch, especially because the sun goes down pretty quickly around 5.45pm, so we had to get a move on.  Unfortunately, part of the group were three Brazilians who were always late and wandering off, so our guide was getting increasingly frustrated with how much they were slowing us down and throwing us all off schedule.  It got really bad at the Sexy Woman stop where we had to meet back at the bus on the dot, ready to leave at 5.05pm, as the day was running out and we still had 2 places left to visit.  By 5.05pm, everyone was on the bus except them, by 5.10pm, our guide was out looking for them and at 5.15pm, they eventually sauntered into sight.  Everyone one on the bus was very annoyed with them and I even opened the window of the bus and shouted at them to hurry the eff up “WE’RE ALL WAITING FOR YOU AND YOU ARE MAKING US LATE!”).  They looked a little startled and sped up a bit to get on the bus - I blame the Diamox but I think behavior like that is the height of rudeness, so I didn’t hold back.  How terribly American of me....

View of the sun temple from the outside  - its
the long dark wall

Because of that, our last 2 stops were in twilight, then almost darkness – Puca Pucara and Tambo Machay.   We stopped at Puca for about 5 mins, just enough time to get some pictures then got straight back on the bus for the short drive to Tambo Machay, where the final stop of the day involved a 10min walk to go see some more Inca construction, this time with fountains running through them that never run dry.  At both Tambo and Sexy Woman, we had to climb up some stairs or elevation and again, that little bit of exercise gave us just enough of a reminder to not be too complacent yet that we’d beaten the effects of the altitude.  I’m going to wear my heart rate monitor tomorrow so we can see how high we go and the effect on my heart rate, just as a way of trying to gauge how much up Shit Creek we’ll be come Friday.

On the way home, there was the obligatory visit to the Alpaca factory store – so I duly obliged by buying a 100% baby alpaca sweater and throw for my bed.  Both are beautiful quality and weren’t too pricey, so I was pleased to at least get a start on the Alpaca shopping list (which is pretty extensive in my mind already….).

The underground alter and mummification prep
area at Qenqo

After being dropped off back in town by the bus, we then treated ourselves to a very nice dinner at one of the best places in town.  We managed to get in without a ressie because we were quite early (it was only 6.30pm) and we decided to try some of the local specialties including alpaca carpacchio and trout ceviche for starters.  We also tried Peruvian champagne – perhaps less of a success, but hey – it was an admirable effort!  And, with that, we finally wended our way home and headed off to bed.   By all accounts, not a bad effort for Day 3!  Tomorrow, it’s the Sacred Valley!

The impressive ruins at Sacsayhuaman

Twilight at Tambo Machay

The ceremonial fountains at Tambo Machay

Alpaca carpacchio and trout ceviche.  Our waiter was at pains
to make sure we understood "its raw, yes??"

Can't remember what this was, but i guess Peruvian
mountain hens are pretty tiny

The Peruvian Champagne Experiment. n = 1

"Do you have a flag?"