Day 1
For this trip we literally have to go to the other side of the globe.
These are places we have wanted to see for many years and now is the time.
Total flight time including stopovers were almost 30 hours.
Good seats on a wide body plane though.
Day 2
After spending the night in Lima we head out early.
Retro classic.
The route is along huge sand dunes.
And people have built their homes on the sand. ????
Miles and miles of sand.
Which is right across the Pacific ocean .
A short coffee break.
Since madam is along the whole trip is guided and escorted everywhere.
Very different if its just the guys.
With the riveting scenery...
...we continue our journey .
We are headed to a little town called...
Nazca.
But first we stop here .
Huacachina Lagoon 
Huacachina is a village in southwestern Peru, built around a small oasis surrounded by sand dunes. It is in the Ica Province, about five kilometers from the city of Ica in the Ica District. The oasis features on the back of the 50 nuevo sol note introduced in 1991. Huacachina has a permanent population of around 100 although it hosts many tens of thousands of tourists each year.
Legend holds that the lagoon was created when a beautiful native princess removed her clothes to bathe, but looking into a mirror, she saw a male hunter approaching her from behind. Startled at the intrusion, she fled the area leaving behind her mirror which turned into a lake. Other versions hold that she fled, leaving the pool of water she had been bathing in to become the lagoon. The folds of her mantle, streaming behind her as she ran, became the surrounding sand dunes. The woman herself is rumoured to still live in the oasis as a mermaid
Huacachina is a village in southwestern Peru, built around a small oasis surrounded by sand dunes. It is in the Ica Province, about five kilometers from the city of Ica in the Ica District. The oasis features on the back of the 50 nuevo sol note introduced in 1991. Huacachina has a permanent population of around 100 although it hosts many tens of thousands of tourists each year.
Legend holds that the lagoon was created when a beautiful native princess removed her clothes to bathe, but looking into a mirror, she saw a male hunter approaching her from behind. Startled at the intrusion, she fled the area leaving behind her mirror which turned into a lake. Other versions hold that she fled, leaving the pool of water she had been bathing in to become the lagoon. The folds of her mantle, streaming behind her as she ran, became the surrounding sand dunes. The woman herself is rumoured to still live in the oasis as a mermaid
This mermaid is mine :-P
We take a walk and explore the place .
The mermaid of legend .
Huge dunes all around .
And adventure seekers .
Like those people .
We hire a boat and ride the oasis .
Small but a really nice place .
A last look and we're off.
Finally we reach Nazca .
And straight to the airport .
Brazilian tourist.
Our ride .
El Capitan is ready .
The town of Nazca.
This is so cool.
Our first sighting...
...Of the Nazca lines .
I've darkened some of the photos to make the lines and pictures clearer .
The Nazca Lines are a group of very large trenches in the Nazca Desert, in southern Peru. They were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE
These geoglyphs are 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) deep, and between 0.4 and 1.1 km (.2 and .7 mi) wide. Their combined length is over 1,300 km (808 mi), and cover an area of about 50 sq km
They were made by scraping off
Some of the Nazca lines form shapes that are best seen from the air (~1,500 ft), though they are visible from the surrounding foothills and other high places.
The shapes are usually made from one continuous line. The largest ones are about 370 m (1,200 ft) long.
A whale in the desert .
The figures vary in complexity. Hundreds are simple lines and geometric shapes; more than 70 are zoomorphic designs of animals such as a hummingbird, spider, fish, llama, jaguar, monkey, lizard, dog and a human. Other shapes include trees and flowers.
The pilot banks over each design to give a clear view .
The whale again .
Determining how they were made has been easier than determining why they were made. Scholars have theorized the Nazca people could have used simple tools and surveying equipment to construct the lines. Archaeological surveys have found wooden stakes in the ground at the end of some lines, which supports this theory.
What do we think ??
:-)
Huge plains...
Like so .
The Alien !!!
Same figure dead center
Explain this ?
More figures .
As a kid in the 70s i read Erich von daniken's Chariots of the gods.
Now i am here .
So cool to see this live .
Some mountains look like the tops have been levelled.
Terminal next to a runway ?
The runway ?
All these are about 1800 years old .
Spider. Its huge actually .
But the lines are much much bigger .
The area encompassing the lines is nearly 450 km2 (170 sq mi), and the largest figures can span nearly 370 m (1,200 ft). Some figures have been measured: the hummingbird is 93 m (305 ft) long, the condor is 134 m (440 ft), the monkey is 93 by 58 m (305 by 190 ft), and the spider is 47 m (154 ft).
All these at high altitudes.
Imagine the work gone in to make these .
The condor .
Look at the number of lines .
The next few pictures are of more lines and designs .
For those who don't fly ,there is a viewing platform that gives a view of 2 figures.
The heron .
Till this day no one is sure of the purpose of these .
The lines are found in a region of Peru just over 200 miles southeast of Lima, near the modern town of Nasca. In total, there are over 800 straight lines, 300 geometric figures and 70 animal and plant designs, also called biomorphs. Some of the straight lines run up to 30 miles, while the biomorphs range from 50 to 1200 feet in length (as large as the Empire State Building).
A lot of lines .
A once in a lifetime experience .
This was just the beginning of our trip. Amazing .
After landing back in Nazca we head for lunch .
Those guns are actually alcohol bottles .
Not too bad, but a bit bland compared to Malaysian food .
Ditto.
Back to Lima with the dunes on our right , now .
A fitting end to a great day .
Day 3
Early morning flight .
A short flight later...
We arrive .
Cold . Elevation 3400 m.
A nice hotel .
Now time to explore .
First we visit here .
Convent of Santo Domingo
Built by the Spanish conquistadors .
In Incan times this was the site of Coricancha, or Sun Temple. The original Incan construction was largely demolished by the Spanish, but the foundations were incorporated into a Dominican Church
Remnants of the old Incan temples .
Originally called Coricancha,
The later Spanish parts .
To construct Coricancha, the Inca utilized ashlar masonry, which is composed of similarly sized cuboid stones. The use of ashlar masonry made the temple much more difficult to construct, as the Inca did not use any stone with a slight imperfection or break.
The walls were once covered in sheets of gold and its adjacent courtyard was filled with golden statues. Spanish reports tell of its opulence that was "fabulous beyond belief". When the Spanish required the Inca to raise a ransom in gold for the life of the leader Atahualpa, most of the gold was collected from Coricancha.
You can't even fit a pin between the blocks. Amazing .
World traveller .
The Spanish colonists built the Church of Santo Domingo on the site, demolishing the temple and using its foundations for the cathedral. Construction took most of a century. This is one of numerous sites where the Spanish incorporated Inca stonework into the structure of a colonial building. Major earthquakes severely damaged the church, but the Inca stone walls, built out of huge, tightly-interlocking blocks of stone, still stand due to their sophisticated stone masonry
Look at that !!!!!!!
Precision cut stones .
The main courtyard .
No photos , oops .
The Coricancha is located at the confluence of two rivers. Here, according to Inca myth, is where Manco Capac decided to build the Coricancha, the foundation of Cusco, and the eventual Inca Empire
Nice columns .
And an interesting inner gate .
Inside the temple .
The walls were all decorated those days .
The outer grounds which are all ancient Incan .
And the surrounding towns .
The outer walls to the main shrine .
During the Inti Raymi, the Sapa Inca and curacas would proceed from the Haucaypata, where they greeted the rising June solstice rising sun, to the inner court of the Coricancha. On a bench in the "sun room", the Sapa Inca sat with the mummies of his ancestors .
This is also called a star map.
An interesting read - http://thehiddenrecords.com/inca-pleiades-inti-punchaco-sun-disc-cuzco-Qorikancha-koricancha-Coricancha
Back to Cuzco on the way to our next destination .
Sights in the city .
We saw balconies like that in Spain, and they were old there .
Finally .
We're here to look at stones .
Sacsayhuamán .
This is a citadel on the northern outskirts of the city of Cusco, Peru, the historic capital of the Inca Empire. Sections were first built by the Killke culture about 1100; they had occupied the area since 900. The complex was expanded and added to by the Inca from the 13th century; they built dry stone walls constructed of huge stones. The workers carefully cut the boulders to fit them together tightly without mortar. The site is at an altitude of 3,701 m (12,142 ft).
Located on a steep hill that overlooks the city, the fortified complex has a wide view of the valley to the southeast. Archaeological studies of surface collections of pottery at Sacsayhuamán indicate that the earliest occupation of the hilltop dates to about 900 CE
According to Inca oral history, Tupac Inca "remembered that his father Pachacuti had called city of Cuzco the lion city. He said that the tail was where the two rivers unite which flow through it, that the body was the great square and the houses round it, and that the head was wanting." The Inca decided the "best head would be to make a fortress on a high plateau to the north of the city. But archaeologists have found that Sacsayhuamán was built by the preceding Killke culture; it was expanded by the Inca beginning about the 13th century.
Apparently its ok to go for a holiday with 5 different jackets :-P
Interlocking stones .
Huge !!!!
No one knows how this is done .
Because of its location high above Cusco and its immense terrace walls, this area of Sacsayhuamán is frequently referred to as a fortress.The importance of its military functions was highlighted in 1536 when Manco Inca lay siege to Cusco. Much of the fighting occurred in and around Sacsayhuamán, as it was critical to maintaining control over the city.
The best-known zone of Sacsayhuamán includes its great plaza and its adjacent three massive terrace walls. The stones used in the construction of these terraces are among the largest used in any building in pre-Hispanic America. They display a precision of fitting that is unmatched in the Americas
The stones are so closely spaced that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones. This precision, combined with the rounded corners of the blocks, the variety of their interlocking shapes, and the way the walls lean inward, is thought to have helped the ruins survive devastating earthquakes in Cuzco.
Llamas .
The longest of the three walls is about 400 meters. They are about 6 meters tall. The estimated volume of stone is over 6,000 cubic meters. Estimates for the weight of the largest andesite block vary from 128 tonnes to almost 200 tonnes.
Following the siege of Cusco, the Spaniards began to use Sacsayhuamán as a source of stones for building Spanish Cuzco; within a few years, they had taken apart and demolished much of the complex. The site was destroyed block by block to build the new Spanish governmental and religious buildings of the colonial city, as well as the houses of the wealthiest Spaniards. In the words of Garcilaso de la Vega : "to save themselves the expense, effort and delay with which the Indians worked the stone, they pulled down all the smooth masonry in the walls. There is indeed not a house in the city that has not been made of this stone, or at least the houses built by the Spaniards." Today, only the stones that were too large to be easily moved remain at the site
The explorer, architect, and author, Vince Lee who has studied various ancient sites where people moved large megaliths, theorizes that the blocks at Sacsayhuaman were put into place by carving them precisely. The method used to match precisely the shape of a stone with the adjacent stones is unknown;
How in the hell do you do that ??
...and that .
To move that stone today will require a large crane ,
Not to mention transporting it.
Look closely at all the stones and the angles they were cut .
My model demonstrates how huge they were .
See !!!!
The intrepid bunny explorer.
Look at the size of those stones .
By the way , its summer here, so its a nice 10C .
That's the HMOG stone .
And this is the '' Are you crazy '' stone .
Sadly both those Incan were sacrificed to the gods .
Amazing everywhere you look .
And they moved it with ropes and people only ?
What would Giogio say ?
So we keep on walking...
Currently 3571m
We slowly make our way to the end ,
And down ...
That means Sun gate, or main entrance .
Memories .
Imagine doing all this at altitude .
On 13 March 2008, archaeologists discovered additional ruins at the periphery of Sacsayhuamán. They are believed to have been built by the Killke culture. While appearing to be ceremonial in nature, the exact function remains unknown. This culture built structures and occupied the site for hundreds of years before the Inca, between 900 and 1200 AD
A last look around .
Bunny photos .
Some people walk back to Cusco .
We would rather drive .
On our way to the next site .
Some locals...
This is a site of military ruins in Peru situated in the Cusco Region, Cusco Province, Cusco District, near Cusco.
This fort is made of large walls, terraces, and staircases and was part of defense of Cusco in particular and the Inca Empire in general.
Mountains in the distance .
Interlocking stones but in a smaller scale .
The name probably comes from the red color of the rocks at dusk. Puka Pukara is an example of military architecture that also functioned as an administrative center.
3760m joy.
Puka Pukara is located in mid-southern Peru, roughly 4–5 miles (7 kilometers) from Cusco on the road to Pisac and near the Antisuyo, the jungle portion of the former Incan empire.
The fort is located on high ground overlooking the Cusco valley and Tambo Machay, creating a beautiful - and useful - view. When it was built, it was probably placed so that these areas were visible to give the military extra vision over important parts of the empire.
A beautiful view - true .
Although there is not as much known about Puka Pukara as a lot of other Incan ruins, there is a theory that this site was probably constructed during the reign of Pachacutec. Since he was the ninth ruler of the empire, it can be said that Puka Pukara was one of the later constructions. The stones used to build most of the walls are very irregularly shaped, stacked together in kind of a here-and-there manner to create walls that are functional, but lacking very much beauty as far as architecture goes
Because of this, it is possible that the buildings and walls were built in somewhat of a rush because the military headquarters that Puka Pukara became was thought to be needed very quickly. When it was first built, the differently sized and shaped stones that now appear grey may have actually been a red color (hence its name, red fortress) due to all the iron in the limestone used in the walls.
Short and sweet...
now here .
This an archaeological site in the Sacred Valley of Peru located in the Cusco Region, Cusco Province, Cusco District, about 6 km north east of Cusco .
It is one of the largest huacas (holy places) in the Cusco Region. Many huacas were based on naturally occurring rock formations. It was believed to be a place where sacrifices and mummification took place.
Looks like a quarry .
But when you go in .
The underground shrine .
The most defined space is inside, where the sacred rock has been carved out to produce a monolithic cave with several benches or altars. The most popular theory is that Q’enqo was used for funeral ceremonies and that the interior space was a hollowed crypt where the dead were embalmed and prepared for mummification. The deceased body would have rested inside the sacred sanctuary, safe from harm and enveloped within this rocky womb for several days
Next we get a cultural demonstration .
Purple corn. That's new .
The centre and shop. A short visit cause i got bored .
Traditional local outfits .
We actually drove down that .
Inner city roads .
More locals .
- Plaza de Armas of Cusco, Peru
Spanish design .
Known as the "Square of the warrior" in the Inca era, this plaza has been the scene of several important events, such as the proclamation by Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of Cuzco.
Similarly, the Plaza de Armas was the scene of the death of Túpac Amaru II, considered the indigenous leader of the resistance.
The Statue of Pachacuti can be found on the Plaza de Armas in Cusco. Pachacuti was the ninth ruler of the Kingdom of Cusco (“Sapa Inca”) and later the Emperor of the Inca Empire. Pachacuti began the expansion of the Inca dominion from the valley of Cusco to a big part of western South America. Some say that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for him.
Part of Cuzco cathedral.
Who keeps taking these photos ?
Gilded .
The main city square.
Soon it back to our hotel and zzzzzzzz.
Day 4
Today its a tour of the sacred valley .
By car .
Mountainous terrain .
Beautiful .
Llamas.
Again...its summer .
Another place ,another presentation .
Nice costumes though .
This is everyday wear for a lot of locals .
Llama wool is really soft .
The old ways .
And more of these.
I really like this mural .
Adios...
We continue on our way .
To here .
All uphill....at altitude .
On and on...
Chinchero is a small Andean Indian village located high up on the windswept plains of Anta at 3765m about 30km from Cusco. There are beautiful views overlooking the Sacred Valley of the Incas, with the Cordillera Vilcabamba and the snow-capped peak of Salkantay dominating the western horizon.
Chinchero is believed to be the mythical birthplace of the rainbow. Its major claim to tourism is its colourful Sunday market which is much less tourist-orientated than the market at Pisac. The village mainly comprises mud brick (adobe) houses, and locals still go about their business in traditional dress
The village may have been an important town in Inca times. The most striking remnant of this period is the massive stone wall in the main plaza which has ten trapezoidal niches. The construction of the wall and many other ruins and agricultural terraces (which are still in use) are attributed to Inca Tupac Yupanqui who possibly used Chinchero as a kind of country resort
In the main plaza an adobe colonial church, dating from the early seventeenth century, has been built upon the foundations of an Inca temple or palace
Again the Spanish built over the Incas.
Also at central plaza stands a colonial church that built at 1607 on Inca ruins
It's located at 3,763 metres/12,500 feet)
The Incan foundations .
Original stones below and later additions above .
Clearly seen here .
A huge plaza .
On the mountain side .
Vistas
If you walk through the ruins, down into the valley, and follow the path along a riverbed, you will eventually emerge, after a few hours, at a small town where there are frequent combis to Urubamba. The path goes along the side of a verdant steep-sided valley offering beautiful views.
Incan terraces. A feature during the whole trip .
A full football pitch size .
With a sharp drop .
Amazing huh .
You can walk if you wish....
Terraces all he way down .
A last look and we leave .
Amazing views along the way .
On a random mountain side....
More terraces .
Zoom .
Lago Piuray (Lake Piuray)
Beautiful huh.
The scenery is great but...
The town and cities are messy.
The people don't paint or leave their houses like this to claim a different tax bracket.
When the whole country does it it really looks bad.
Anyhow we reach out next destination .
Here .
At the entrance .
Ollantaytambo is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some 72 km (45 mi) by road northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of 2,792 m (9,160 ft)
During the Inca Empire, Ollantaytambo was the royal estate of Emperor Pachacuti, who conquered the region, and built the town and a ceremonial center.
At the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, it served as a stronghold for Manco Inca Yupanqui, leader of the Inca resistance
Nowadays, located in what is called the Sacred Valley of the Incas, it is an important tourist attraction on account of its Inca ruins and its location en route to one of the most common starting points for the four-day, three-night hike known as the Inca Trail.
Precision cut stones .
Around the mid-15th century, the Inca emperor Pachacuti conquered and razed Ollantaytambo; the town and the nearby region were incorporated into his personal estate. The emperor rebuilt the town with sumptuous constructions and undertook extensive works of terracing and irrigation in the Urubamba Valley.
The town provided lodging for the Inca nobility, while the terraces were farmed by yanakuna, retainers of the emperor .
Terraces at Ollantaytambo were built to a higher standard than common Inca agricultural terraces; for instance, they have higher walls made of cut stones instead of rough fieldstones. This type of high-prestige terracing is also found in other Inca royal estates such as Chinchero, Pisaq, and Yucay
See the hill across ?
Zoom.
These guys man.
The Incas built several storehouses or qullqas (Quechua: qollqa) out of fieldstones on the hills surrounding Ollantaytambo. Their location at high altitudes, where more wind and lower temperatures occur, defended their contents against decay. To enhance this effect, the Ollantaytambo qullqas feature ventilation systems. They are thought to have been used to store the production of the agricultural terraces built around the site. Grain would be poured in the windows on the uphill side of each building, then emptied out through the downhill side window.
They build everywhere .
So up we go .
And up...
Almost at the top .
The terraces of Ollantaytambo
And the surrounding country side .
Ollantaytambo dates from the late 15th century and has some of the oldest continuously occupied dwellings in South America
Araqhama is bordered to the west by Cerro Bandolista, a steep hill on which the Incas built a ceremonial center. The part of the hill facing the town is occupied by the terraces of Pumatallis, framed on both flanks by rock outcrops.
Look at that. Amazing .
The huge terraces.
As Ollantaytambo is surrounded by mountains, and the main access routes run along the Urubamba Valley; there, the Incas built roads connecting the site with Machu Picchu to the west and Pisaq to the east .
Standing in living history .
The main entrance to the temple .
The Inca trail starts here .
:-) :-)
Now for the temple .
Ollantaytambo’s Wall of the Six Monoliths is one of the most iconic and baffling pieces of Inca architecture yet to be discovered. Standing approximately 36 feet wide and 14 feet high, the wall is one of the great mysteries of the Andes.
Archaeologists can only guess that its purpose was to face the winter sun, whilst scientists have only been able to add to the mystery by demonstrating that the stones were dragged 4km from the quarry of Chachiqata on the other side of the 1000ft deep valley and across the Rio Vilcanota. Weighing between 50 and 100 tons a piece, the effort verges on impossible.
A last look .
Then its off to a hacienda for food .
What a great day .
