Narrative - Page Six

Day Twelve - Wednesday, April 5 After breakfast, we set out once again by bus to ascend into the mountains surrounding Cusco.  There, at an altitude of 12,136 feet above sea level, the Inca built a truly amazing structure.  It's called Sacsahuaman and is a huge fortress of massive stones, zigzagging across the side of the mountain.  Our guide said its shape represents the teeth of a giant puma, with Cusco

representing the puma's body.  The shape probably would have made surprise attacks almost impossible, but it's clear that this fortress was still incomplete when the Spanish armies arrived.  Our guide told us of the known history, as well as the many legends, attached to this site.  We also were able to look for hints as to how these immense stones were shaped and stacked so perfectly.  There are several theories.

Leaving the fortress, we went on to visit the famous amphitheatre at Kenko, which is a rare example of curvilinear construction in Inca architecture.  They didn't do very much of that sort of thing, which is found so frequently in ancient Greek and Roman architecture.  Nearby, we saw Tampu Machay, also known as the Inca Baths.  That was built around a natural spring and was fortified with military posts and observation decks.  We also took a guided tour of the city of Cusco and, after lunch, we had time for some final shopping in Cusco, which is the center of Andean culture and handicrafts.  We went to one of Cusco's leading restaurants for a "farewell dinner" and another enjoyable program of Andean folklore before returning to our hotel for our final night of this once-in-a-lifetime adventure trip.

Day Thirteen - Thursday, April 6 We went to the airport for our morning flight to Lima.  In the afternoon, we visited the Gold Museum, which houses the finest collection of Inca and pre-Inca artifacts in the world.  The museum is filled with gold masks, breastplates, nose and ear rings, and numerous bowls, tools, statuary pieces, fetishes, gods, etc.  That night we dined at one of Lima's finest restaurants, the Rosa Nautica, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  What a perfect ending to a perfect trip!

Narrative Continues....

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