Cusco to Machu Picchu: the Tour Begins

We arrive in Cusco, at an altitude of 11,400 feet--about half a mile higher than Quito, where our Galapagos trip began. We have some time to acclimate and have lunch before our tour of the city begins.

Cusco, once the capital of the Inca Empire, is the continent’s oldest continuously inhabited city, with a current population of about 350,000.  The streets are often steep and narrow. Our guide, Rosa, tells us we may occasionally hear a language we don’t know: not Spanish, but Quechua, the language of the Inca.

Busy Cusco

Rosa takes us to the Plaza de Armas in the area that was once the Great Inca Square, the focus of the city’s social life.  The Cathedral dominates the Plaza.

Much of the stone used to build the Cathedral, (constructed from 1539 to 1654) came from the nearby fortress of Sacsayhuaman.  The Cathedral and the other churches near the main square, including the Church of Triumph and the Church of the Society of Jesus, have Inca foundations.  The Spanish intention was to eliminate the Inca religion and establish a stronghold for the Spanish Catholics.  But evidence of the Inca culture remains.

Cathedral in Cusco

Cusco

"Buildover" : wall on the right is Inca construction

During Inca Pachacutec’s reign from 1438 to 1471, he built the Coricancha dedicated to Inti, the Sun God. Gold covered most of the surfaces of the Coricancha, and gold statues adorned the temple. This is the same gold that Inca Atahualpa used to try to ransom himself from Pizarro.

Gold from the Coricancha

The Spanish built the Church of Santo Domingo where the Coricancha had been, but evidence of Inca remains, their stone walls incorporated into the Spanish construction.  Earthquakes have periodically damaged Spanish construction, but the Inca walls have endured.  Inca stone walls are often part of colonial and even some modern building foundations.   

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Next: Sacsayhuaman - the Inca Fortress