Peru Trip Day 8 - Kenki or Tambomachay

Tour of Peru

June 15-28, 2010

I figure that the easiest way to document this trip is to start from their itinerary and add my own comments, observations, and pictures. My stuff is in black.  Theirs is in blue.

Day 8/June 22: Travel to Cusco, elevation 11,400 feet, the “navel of the earth” according to the Incas, their Holy City, and center of the ancient Incan civilization. 

Cusco is the oldest inhabited city in the Western hemisphere.  When the Spaniards arrived here the beauty of its edifices, surpassing all they had yet seen in the New World, astonished them.  Gold in the form of intricate religious symbols and artifacts was seen everywhere.  Our stay in Cusco is centrally located, making it easy to enjoy this wonderful town where ancient, original Incan walls and cobblestone streets blend with colonial Spanish architecture.

On the way to Cusco, experience the immense stone ruins of Sachsayhuaman Temple.   The cyclopean stones of this temple fit so closely together that one cannot wedge a knife between them.  Also visit the very powerful purifying baths of Tambomachay, and the Temple of Kenko dedicated to the Earth Mother and the four elements.

On the way to Cusco, we stopped at 3 sites.  We didn’t see anything resembling baths, so am not sure if this “water temple” is Kenko or Tambomachay.

Most Likely a Sound Healing Space.

You can see some water coming out at the bottom of the pictures.  You apparently used to be able to fill water bottles from the spring, but they have it cordoned off now.  However, they have had sound engineers come to test the chambers at the top of the picture.  If you make sounds in those enclosures, the sounds are focused on a platform across the road:

Sound Platform.

We also stopped at the other place, but I didn’t take any pictures there.  More stones, more caves, more scenery. 

Then we stopped at Sachsayhuaman which was a huge temple complex.  We spent a few hours walking around there and then bused on to Cusco – a major city and as with all major cities, the people are grumpy and sad looking – not like the people in the countryside villages.  There is a lot of pollution from cars and trucks compared with comparable cities in the US.