Finally, the altitude isn’t bothering us at all today. We decided to spend our last full day here doing a walking tour (self-guided) of the ruins in and just around Cusco. We took a taxi to Puca Pucara (archeologists believe it was an Inca hunting lodge) thinking we’d hike back toward Cusco on a trail described in our travel book. Obviously we were the only ones with this idea. The trail was hard to find and follow, and we never saw another person while hiking it. Just glad we didn’t get lost. In the end we were happy we did this. For at least a little while we felt like we were the only two people on Earth, hiking through the Andes. Life doesn’t get much better.
Eventually we found our way to Salapunco, a big limestone rock with great views from the top, and the second stop on our tour. Next up is Qenko (the big Puma out front) where we met a nice couple from Cusco who were studying English. They gave us a free tour of the sacred site so they could practice their English.
Finally we ended our tour at Sacsayhuaman (pronounced something like sexy woman).The size of the stones at this place is incredible. It’s so hard to believe the Incas were able to move them around, much less place them in a meaningful manner. The biggest is estimated to be 8.5 meters high and weighs 361 tons. They’re not really sure what this site was, but probably a temple, and it was used as a fortress at some point too. From here we took a cab back to the center of town.
Tonight we had our pre-trek orientation, so we got to meet the rest of the group. Looks like we all live in the U.S. and one couple is even from Dallas. Small world! Can tell we’ll love our guides. Back to our hotel to pack up for the hike. Originally we were going to carry our full packs, but at the last minute we decided to have a chaski carry some of our stuff. We’ve heard lots of horror stories about people carrying their own packs, so we decided this might not be the time to be tough! We’ll probably only do this trip once in our life, so we want to enjoy it.