Cusco and Saksaywaman
Before heading off to Salkantay and Machu Picchu, we spent 2 days in Cusco wandering around, taking pictures, eating and "laying about" as our British friends would say. After returning from our trek, we've spent 2 more days touring and recovering. The first 2 days we took lots of pictures of churches and Inka walls, and yesterday, toured the ruins of Saksaywaman (pronounced "sexy woman" - sort of).
On the main square (Plaza de Armas)
On another square, at the opposite end of town
That is the road to our hotel that we've climbed up a few times every day. We've definitely developed our climbing legs!
The ruins at Saksaywaman are 2 km above the city, and as stupid, cheap touristas, we walked there, puffing and panting up many stairs. When we got there, we found a large parking lot filled with tour buses and taxis, but we felt healthier for it! We actually liked this site better than Machu Picchu, if you can believe it, because there were far less people, it was really spread out, and there were actually more examples of excellent Inka walls than at M.P. (and with really massive stones throughout).
As we walked into the grounds, we were treated to the sight of an alpaca giving birth! We spent almost 20 minutes watching it slowly getting stronger, and finally standing up.
Holding its head up was the first accomplishment
Face plant!
OK, enough baby alpaca pictures. On to more stones...
This was taken from the "parade grounds"
The views of the city from up there were stupendous (note the church at the bottom of the picture - that's on the Plaza de Armas).