For centuries, the thick walls of the Saksaywaman citadel have been looking over the valley of Cuzco, the historic capital of the Inca Empire.
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Sturdy Sentinel
Tag: inca
From architecture to food, history lives on in the Andean city, where residents continue to celebrate their Inca heritage and traditions.
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Andes Police
Working the day shift at the Machu Picchu police station looked like a pretty quiet job. No troubles even from the neighborhood llamas.
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Incan Perspective
The sturdy dry-stone walls of the Incan site have been standing there since the 13th century. And they still look good on a group picture.
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Stone Giant In Sun Door
At equinoxes, the sun shines on the Pre-Columbian Ponce monolith through the Kalasasaya main door. In what is today western Bolivia, the effect no doubt left quite an impression on inhabitants of the Tiwanaku settlement near Lake Titicaca, then on Spanish conquistadors — then on French tourists.
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The Llama Guarantee
There are llamas and alpacas everywhere in Peru. Contrary to what people may think, they are very docile creatures and their infamous bouts of spitting are apparently quite rare. More to the point, both animals produce high-quality wool, which I can attest to: The bedspread I bought in Peru on this trip is still as […]
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Last Stop Before Machu Picchu
The tiny estacion in Aguas Calientes was the closest you could get to the famous Machu Picchu site when you didn’t feel like walking the 80 kilometers from Cusco on the Camino Inca (the Inca Trail). With just a few trains per day, merchants would set up shop on the tracks, moving their wares temporarily […]