After machu picchu, we returned to Cusco for the inti raymi, which takes place in sacsayhuaman. We stayed at hotel oblitas. (s/d $ 18/26).  It's 1/2 block from the main plaza, close to everything pretty much. The place was decent, with hot showers, nice people, laundry and continental breakfast incl.  Is not hard to find a place to eat here, and there is a lot variety. However, I like to eat where locals eat since is usually cheaper and tastier! So I ask, sometimes front desk people or someone who I could trust would tell me the truth and not trying to patronice a place. I can't remember the street name, but there is a passage next to the church that would lead you to a street with tons of restaurants selling menus, this range from $1.5 - $3, includes salad, soup, a main dish, a drink and dessert. Not once did I get sick, the places were clean and just delicious. I would go to the ones that seem more crowded and cleaner, just in case.
That whole week the main plaza had something going on, mostly parades.  I think they divided one day, only kindergarden kids, the next elementary, and so on.  The last day was a parade was a mix of representation of the people from the mountains and the jungle, the clergy, the mayor and some police or the army.  It was really interesting. At the the Inca, who would take off from there to a park a couple of blocks from the main plaza and then to sacsayhuaman, where the inti raymi would take place. That night there was a huge party in the main plaza, there was hard to walk around, full of tourist, locals and people from all over Peru. Like I said before, bigger than christmas.
The inti raymi tickets were only sold by EMUFEC, in the website you could pick your seat number and everything, they are all the same price, so the sooner you buy it, the better seat you get. 
The ceremony was in quechua, though they gave us a booklet with the translation in spanish, english and quechua, so we could follow through. That day it seemed like it was going to rain and it could get really cold at times. The funny thing was, whenever the Inca offered something to the sun, the clouds would dissapear! making it more believable!!!

Not far from the main square in the city: Plaza de Armas... although you will need to walk up very high up the street. Lots of climbing in the hostel depending on where your room is. Has great views of the city and nice staff, which welcomes you with Coca Tea as it helps to deal with the altitude sickness. Highly reccommended place to stay in Cusco. Don't buy into their tours as you really do not need one if you do an Ok research on the internet. You can also get better deals at local travel agencies in the city. Just do not forget to bargain!!!

We met our friends who just flew in from New York and we took an early flight to Cusco. We stayed there for the night at Hostal Corihuasi. We had it reserved earlier. This was our second and last place we had reserved in advance. It was very close to the Plaza de Armas (every main square in Peru is called Plaza de Armas), and high up so we could see almost entire Cusco from the hostel.  We were greeted by very nice staff and a Coca tea. Supposed to make you feel better at high altitudes. Did not work for my boyfriend and my two friends, however I felt just fine. I think I was just very excited about the place. Cusco was just gorgeous! We bought a ticket that gets you into few historical places in Cusco. We did not use the whole package deal, however it was still worth paying the discounted price. You can get that ticket package at any of the historical places (one of the many churches, museums, etc.) Don't forget your VALID student ID! Big discounts on many things with the student ID, but they do check the date.

Walking around the city, we saw a group of children with the cutest animals. We took some pictures with them of course expecting they will want some money from us. There was so many children, that we gave out all our change to them omitting one girl. She would follow us for about half a mile (literally) making a scene and at the end cussed at us in english. I guess they learned that, as they have to use it a lot! hehe.

We also looked around on how we can get to Aguas Calientes for the next day. We knew there were two choices: Helicopter or the train. Helicopter was expensive and not flying at the dates we wanted! It was pain the butt to get the train ticket as the train station is open at weird hours and closes early. We were late, so we tried the agencies. They were trying to sell us the tickets but said  it's not guaranteed until morning that we will have the tickets, as they will have to wake up early morning to try to reserve it for us. This was ridiculous, because theywanted money in advance and we were not in a trustworhty mood. We decided to wake up early in the morning and take a chance. However we went to one of the internet cafes and found that you can actually buy the tickets online! This was great! We bought tickets both ways, however coming back from Aguas Calientes, we could only take the more expensive train, as the chaep one (backpacker) was already sold out.

     We had a free day in Cusco upon our return from Machu Picchu and I decided to explore as much as I could.  Being a teacher, I was anxious to see several museums and their treasures.  Some places allowed pictures, other prohibited them.  I would have liked to sneak a picture of some of the Inca mummies but never got a chance.  Too many police and closed circuit TV.  The artifacts photos at the bottom of the page were taken at the Pre-Columbian Museum of Art.  A lot of gold and silver items were displayed, but the photos did not turn out well.  Several churches were open for viewing (for a price) and some of the altars and artwork was unbelievable!  Nearly all the museums, churches, stonework, etc. that I visited were within 3 or 4 blocks of the Plaza de Armas, which was very convenient.
     A guide book I had purchased before the trip directed me to the Stone of Twelve Angles.  While trying to find it, a young college student approached me with a notebook, offering to explain the history of the stone, theories on how the wall was erected, and even figures of the condor, jaguar, and snake whose shapes would be seen as a cluster of stones (when pointed out to the untrained eye).  Quite informative!  She spent a good 30 minutes pointing things out, explaining the history and just educating me about Inca building techniques.  Later, she directed me to one of the two remaining Inca stonework doorways still standing.
     I wandered about the streets a good bit taking pictures.  I came upon a fantastic mural about the history of Cusco.  It seemed everyone had street scene artwork of Cusco to sell.  Curiously, all the paintings seemed to be done in the same style, maybe the same artist.  There were two high school guys that followed my around for two days before I obtained one of their paintings.  They did harass me.  They wanted to talk about American soccer, Madonna, and Baywatch.  Go figure!  I finally traded two of my baseball caps for one of their small paintings.
     My wish is that somewhere amongst my ramblings and these pictures you have found something of interest.  My only other noteworthy trip was to Paris, France, but given a choice I would return here first in a heartbeat!  I just feel in love with the people and the land.  All together, I snapped over 600 pictures in 6 days.  I hope the ones I have chosen give you a fair representation of Cusco and the Inca!

We returned to Aguas Calientes, had lunch and our guides gave us our return tickets to Cuzco. We were totally surprised to discover that we were all going to go on different trains back to Cuzco. After arguing with the tour guides we had to accept the situation. Nelson went alone on the first train. Both Rutes, Pedro, Elsa went on the second train and Daniel and I went on the third train.

We talked about travelling; our next trip for 2009 and I read a book I had bought in Aguas Calientes about Inca History. We had 2 hours to go to Cuzco when a woman appeared at our window with a sign saying she had a Bus ready to transport anyone interested to Cuzco in about 30 minutes. We ran out of the train to catch this opportunity and went on our way. On the bus we met 2 Americans biology students that were working on a college project in Peru. We talked a lot about travelling and about Peru.

We finally arrived in Cuzco and went to eat dinner at Inca Grill. We returned to Hotel Marqueses, prepared our luggage to check-out the next day.  

wow cusco the city of the inca!!!!!!!!!!!!!!the amaru hostal was a great place to stay if u going to cusco i think is the best hostal in the place all is so close of this hostal u are on the main street appromimatly 6 minute by foot of the old place of cusco !!!!!!!!!the inca rocka wsa at 2 minute of ur hostal u pass in front each time u going in the central place!!!!!!!!!!! the palce where i stay was to beautifull u open the door of ur room and u have a little stair and u climb on it and u arrive at ur room so nice!!!!!!!!!u have a wonderfull views of the place all was so relaxe and peacefull i really love the place!!!!!!!!!!!!! on the site u have internet,u can give ur cloth and they will wash it and u receive it in the same day!!!!!!!!!u have a good restaurant for breakfast but for sure all is close of ur hostal so u can find better one outside for sure!!!!!!!!! the price of this palce was very cheaper only 16 dollar for anight not very expensive i think ahahaah!!!!!!! Amaru hostal was a great place to stay all hte staff there was very friendly and like them job so dont worry about that all is very sympatic and very secure too !!!!!!!! i recommend this palce for each other !!!!!!!

We decided to make reservations for an afternoon City Tour with SAS Travel that would take us to the most important locations in and around Cuzco: The Cathedral, Santo Domingo Church and Coricancha, Sacsayhuaman, Q'enko, Puca Pucara and Tambomachay.

We spent the morning walking around and going to the Tourist Office because we had to buy the “Boleto Turistico” which is required for access to these sights. It can be bought at the Oficina Ejecutiva del Comité (OFEC), Av Sol 103, Cuzco.

There are three different kind of tickets:

• A full ticket (valid for ten days and for all sites), 70 soles;
• A student ticket (ISIC sudentcard required as proof), 35 Soles;
• A partial ticket, (only valid for one day and a limited number of sites) 40 Soles.
  

We started our tour with a visit to the Cathedral which dominates the north-east side of the Plaza de Armas and sits squarely on the foundations of the Inca Viracocha's palace. The Cathedral was begun in 1550 and completed nearly 100 years later, constructed in the shape of a Latin cross. The three-aisled nave is supported by only fourteen massive pillars. It contains nearly 400 colonial paintings including the Last Supper by Marcos Zapata showing Christ and the Apostles about to dine on guinea-pig, washed down with a glass of chicha! In the sacristy there's a painting of the crucifixion attributed to Van Dyke. Ten smaller chapels surround the nave, with the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, and the Chapel of El Señor de los Temblores (The Lord of Earthquakes) are worthy of special attention.

The Cathedral's real magic lies in the mingling of history and legend. It is said that when the Cathedral was built an Inca prince was walled up in one of the towers and that when the tower falls the Inca will emerge to claim his birthright and free his people. After the earthquake of 1950 thousands of believers waited hopefully for the tower to collapse, but despite severe damage, they did not and were later repaired. We continued our tour of the Cathedral complex to El Triunfo.

El Triunfo is on the right hand side and was the first Christian church in Cusco. It was built on the site of Suntur Huasi, the main Inca armoury where the Spanish were trapped during Manco Inca's siege in 1536. When the Incas burned the city the thatched roof of Suntur Huasi caught fire, but then mysteriously went out. The Spanish later broke out and recaptured Sacsayhuaman, ending the siege. The church was built to commemorate this victory and the miracle.

Next we went to Santo Domingo Church and Coricancha. Santo Domingo was built in the 17th century on the walls of the Coricancha Temple of the Sun. The uninspiring Baroque decoration of Santo Domingo makes a poor contrast to the superbly crafted Inca masonry - in fact much of the cloister has been gutted to reveal four of the original chambers of the great Inca Temple. The finest Inca stonework in existence today is the curved wall beneath the west end of the Church. In Inca times the walls of the Coricancha were lined with 700 solid-gold sheets weighing two kilos a piece. There were life-size gold and silver replicas of corn, golden llamas, figurines and jars. All that remains today is the stonework; the conquistadors took the rest - unfortunately all the exquisite treasures ended up being melted down; nothing survived. However the fist conquistadors to arrive did not remove the holiest religious symbol of the empire, the golden sun disc, though they reported its existence. This solid gold disc, far larger than a man, mysteriously vanished before the main party of Spaniards arrived. It has never been found to the present day. The disc was positioned to catch the morning sun and throw its rays into the gold-lined temple, filling it with radiant light and bathing the mummies of the dead Inca rulers in sunshine which were seated in niches along the walls.

The entire temple complex was also an intricate celestial observatory. Every summer solstice, the sun's rays shine directly into a niche - the tabernacle - in which only the Inca was permitted to sit. Along with the main temple dedicated to the Sun, there were others for the adoration of lesser deities - the Moon, Venus, Thunder and Lightning, and the Rainbow. 

Our next stop was the Sacsayhuaman ruins. Visitors to this magnificent Inca fortress, which overlooks the city of Cusco, cannot fail to be impressed by the beauty and monumental scale of this important Inca construction. Sacsayhuaman can be variously translated as 'speckled falcon' or 'speckled head'. The last interpretation refers to the belief that the city of Cusco was set out in the form of a puma whose head was the hill of Sacsayhuaman. The origins are uncertain but the fortress is generally attributed to the period of Inca Pachacuti, the man who essentially founded the Inca Empire.

The main ramparts consist of three massive parallel walls zigzagging together for some 400m, designed to make any attacker expose his flanks. The massive blocks, the largest being 8.5m high and weighing nearly 300 tonnes, are fitted together with absolute perfection. The foundations are made of Yucay limestone brought from over 15km away. The outer walls are made from massive diorite blocks from nearby, and the inner buildings and towers are made from dark andesite some of it brought from over 35km away. With only natural fibre ropes, stone hammers and bronze chisels it must have been an enormous task. The chronicler Cieza de Leon, writing in the 1550's, thought that some 20,000 men had been involved in its construction: 4000 men cutting blocks from the quarries; 6000 dragging them on rollers to the site; and another 10,000 working on finishing and fitting them into position. According to legend, some 3000 lives were lost when one huge stone that was being dragged uphill broke free.

Sacsayhuaman played an important part in the final defeat of the Inca Empire by the Spanish. Pizarro's party entered Cusco unopposed in 1533 and lived there securely for more than two years before finally being caught unprepared by the rebellion of Manco Inca in 1536.    

Manco's troops took the fortress of Sacsayhuaman, overlooking the city, and used it as his base to attack the Spanish. After weeks under siege in the city the Spanish broke out and charged into the surrounding hills to the northwest above the city. They then doubled back to capture the rocky outcrop opposite the fortress. From this outcrop they made repeated attacks across the flat plaza against the walls of the fortress. All the Spanish reinforcements on their way from Lima to Cusco had been massacred, so if the Spanish failed to take the fort they were doomed. In the evening, against all odds, the Spanish eventually broke through the Inca defenses and scaled the walls of the fort driving the defenders into the fortified complex dominated by 3 towers (foundations only remain today). After two more days of fighting the Conquistadors finally overwhelmed the natives, putting them all to the sword. It was said that during the battle a leading Inca nobleman, armed with a Spanish sword and shield, caused havoc by repulsing every enemy who tried to scale the last tower left in Inca hands. Having sworn to fight to the death, he leapt from the top of the tower when defeat was inevitable, rather than accept humiliation and dishonor.

At this site we had the chance to get a bird’s eye view of Cuzco. For panorama lovers the site was magnificent!!! We took great photos of the city.

Next on our Schedule was Q’enko. This is one of the finest examples of a rock artfully carved insitu showing complex patterns of steps, seats, geometric reliefs and a puma design. The rock is an excellent example of the Inca 'Rock Worship'. In Inca cosmological beliefs the Incas held large rocky outcrops in reverence, as if they possessed some hidden spiritual force. On top of the rock are zigzag channels which served to course chicha (local maize beer) or sacrificed llama blood for purposes of divination; the speed and route of the liquid, in conjunction with the patterns made in the rock, gave the answers to the priest's invocations.Inside the rock are large niches and a possible altar. This may have been a place where the mummies of lesser royalty were kept along with gold and precious objects.

We continued on to Puca Pucara, situated on a hill with superb views over the surrounding countryside. Puca Pucara was more likely a tambo, or kind of post house than an actual fortress. Travelers may have lodged here with their goods and animals before entering or leaving Cusco. An alternative theory is that it served as a guard post controlling the flow of people and produce between Cusco and the Sacred Valley.

Finally Tambomachay, commonly referred to as the 'Baños del Inca' or Inca baths, Tambomachay was a site for ritual bathing. The excellent quality of the stonework suggests that its use was restricted to the higher nobility, who maybe only used the baths on ceremonial occasions. The ruins basically consist of 3 tired platforms. The top one holds four trapezoidal niches that perhaps were used as seats; on the next level an underground spring emerges directly from a hole at the base of the stonework and from here cascades down to the bottom platform, creating a cold shower just high enough for an Inca to stand under. On this platform the spring water splits into two channels, both pouring the last meter down to ground level.

We returned to the hotel to freshen up and went out for dinner. The next day would exhaustive!

Our first day in Cuzco was dedicated to walking around visiting the ancient capital city of the Inca Empire. Cuzco is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley (Sacred Valley) of the Andes mountain range and considered the historic capital of the Inca Empire. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cusco Province. The city has a population of about 300,000. Located on the eastern end of the Knot of Cusco, its altitude is around 3,300m.

Upon the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, the Quechua name "Qosqo" was transliterated into Spanish as "Cusco", which is how it appears on maps from the 17th and 18th centuries. On maps from the 19th century and through the mid-20th century, the name appears as "Cuzco". Today, in official Peruvian cartography the name has returned to the original transliteration: Cusco, with an S rather than a Z. The Z version of the name is still used in some official circumstances, such as the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, but the S version is official usage in English.

The Killke occupied the region from 900 to 1200 A.D., prior to the arrival of the Incas in the 1200s. Archaeologists discovered, on March 13, 2008, the ruins of an ancient temple, roadway and irrigation systems at Sacsayhuaman, a famed fortress overlooking the Inca capital of Cuzco. Previous carbon-14 dating of Sacsayhuaman revealed that the Killke culture constructed the fortress in the 1100s. In 2007, excavations uncovered another temple on the edge of the fortress, indicating religious as well as military use of the facility.

Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire (1200s-1532). Many believe that the city was planned to be shaped like a puma. The city had two sectors: the urin and hanan, which were further divided to each encompass two of the four provinces, Chinchasuyu, Antisuyu, Qontisuyu and Collasuyu. A road led from each of these quarters to the corresponding quarter of the empire. Each local leader was required to build a house in the city and live part of the year in Cusco, but only in the quarter of Cusco that corresponded to the quarter of the empire in which he had territory. After Pachacuti, when an Inca died his title went to one son and his property was given to a corporation controlled by his other relatives (a process called split inheritance), so each title holder had to build a new house and add new lands to the empire, in order to own the land his family needed to maintain after his death.

According to Inca legend, the city was built by Sapa Inca Pachacuti, the man who transformed the Kingdom of Cusco from a sleepy city-state into the vast empire of Tahuantinsuyu. But archaeological evidence points to a slower, more organic growth of the city beginning before Pachacuti. There was however a city plan, and two rivers were channeled around the city.

The first Spaniards arrived in the city on November 15, 1533. Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro officially discovered Cusco on March 23, 1534, naming it the "Very noble and great city of Cusco". The many buildings constructed after the Spanish conquest are of Spanish influence with a mix of Inca architecture, including the Santa Clara and San Blas barrios. The Spanish undertook the construction of a new city on the foundations of the old Inca city, replacing temples with churches and palaces with mansions for the conquerors. During the colony, Cusco was very prosperous thanks to the agriculture, cattle raising, mining as well as the trade with Spain. This allowed the construction of many churches and convents, and even a cathedral, university and Archbishopric. Often, Spanish buildings were juxtaposed atop the massive stone walls built by the Inca.

A major earthquake in 1950 badly destroyed the Dominican Priory and Church of Santo Domingo, which were built on top of the impressive Coricancha (Temple of the Sun). The city's Inca architecture, however, withstood the earthquake. Many of the old Inca walls were thought to have been lost after the earthquake, but the granite walls of the Coricancha were exposed, as well as many walls throughout the city. While some wanted to restore the buildings to their colonial splendor, a contingent of Cusco citizens urged city officials to retain the exposed walls. Cusco was also hit by a major earthquake in 1650.

The Inca Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco. The Inca Empire arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in early 13th century. From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges, including large parts of modern Ecuador, Peru, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and north-central Chile, and southern Colombia. The Incas identified their king as "child of the sun."

The Quechua name for the empire was Tawantinsuyu which can be translated as The Four Regions or The Four United Regions. Before the Quechua spelling reform it was written in Spanish as Tahuantinsuyo. Tawantin is a group of four things (tawa "four" with the suffix -ntin which names a group); suyu means "region" or "province". The empire was divided into four Suyus, whose corners met at the capital, Cusco (Qosqo), in modern-day Peru. The official language of the empire was Quechua, although scores if not hundreds of local languages were spoken. There were many local forms of worship, most of them concerning local sacred "Huacas", but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti " the sun god" and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama.