After earlier hiking across the hills above Cusco to see the ruins at Puka Pukara and Qenko, we walked less than a mile on
to Sacsayhuaman, the most impressive
ruins in the Cusco area. Perhaps the most important Inca monument after Machu Picchu, Sacsayhuaman is thought to have been a religious complex during Inca times. However, from its strategic position high above Cusco, it was also perfectly placed to defend the city.Though the Quechua name means
‘satisfied falcon’, we read that most guides couldn't resist drawing attention to its
similarity in sound to 'sexy woman'!
We opted not to get a guide because the price we were quoted was more than three times what we’d paid a little earlier when touring Puka Pukara. We didn’t realize until later how much larger Sacsayhuaman was, however, compared to Puka Pukara which would have made the tour price more acceptable.
Near the entrance was a cave we walked through that we knew nothing about but was nonetheless intriguing. It was at that point I wondered whether we should have hired a guide after all!
After coming across this huge open expanse, we really had our first sense of how immense Sacsayhuaman was compared to the other Inca sites we'd seen most recently.
A fortress built at Sacsayhuaman was the largest Inca structure and it was begun in the reign of the great Inca empire in the mid-15th century. It was constructed on an elevated rocky promontory facing the northern marshy ground outside the Inca capital of Cuzco. Pottery finds indicate that the site had previously been occupied by Inca residents. The first structures were made using only mud and clay.
This must have been one of the three foundations where we had read that colossal towers once stood.
There were many carved stone seats like this throughout the complex. I believe they formed the suspected Inca throne.
Some of the rocks were finely chiseled out for some purpose but others just a foot away had been left untouched. Not having a guide, we could only wonder why.
We watched for a couple of
minutes as the kids went up and down these steep rocks at a great rate of speed.
Luckily, there were tires at the bottom breaking their fall!
Oh, to be fearless and young again!
Ahead were yet more massive fortifications that were part of Sacsayhuaman.
The zigzag walls that ran for nearly 300 meters!
Overlooking the Explanada, a parade platform where revelers still gather for the Raymi Festival of the Sun:
Three towers once crowned the top of Sacsayhuaman; we were luckily able to view the foundations of two of them. I read that during the Inca great rebellion of 1536, the Spaniards managed to establish a base on an opposing hill. From there, they spent two days charging across the plain you see below on horseback, attempting to scale the defensive walls. They were successful on the second day and forced the Incas into the three stone towers.
"As the Spanish massacred the estimated 1,500 soldiers inside, many Incas preferred to leap to their deaths from the high tower. The next morning, condors feasted on the dead bodies and this grisly image is part of Cusco’s coat-of-arms. The battle at Sacsayhuaman was the Incas’ last stand at the former seat of their power. It was a huge defeat in the supposedly impregnable fortress."
Inca rulers replaced the initial mud and clay structures with magnificent stonework which employed huge finely-cut polygonal blocks, many over four meters in height and weighing over 100 tons! I read in our tour guide that every Inca citizen had to spend a few months of the year on public works.
Working in a system of rotation, 6,000 were given quarrying duties while another 4,000 dug trenches and laid the foundations. The walls of the fortress were built in vertical sections. The Incas were master stonemasons. Huge blocks were quarried and shaped using nothing more than harder stones and bronze tools.
Marks on the stone blocks indicated that they were mostly pounded into shape rather than cut. Blocks were moved using ropes, logs, poles, levers, and earthen ramps, and some stones still have nodes protruding from them or indentations which were used to help workers grip the stone.
That rocks were roughly hewn in the quarries and then worked on again at their final destination is clearly indicated by unfinished examples left at quarries and on various routes to building sites. The fine cutting and setting of the blocks on site was so precise that mortar was not necessary. Finally, a finished surface was provided using grinding stones and sand.
The Incas ensured that their blocks interlocked and the walls were sloped to maximize their resistance to earthquake damage. Time has proved their efficiency as 500 years of earthquakes have done remarkably little damage to Inca structures left in their complete state and the Sacsayhuaman complex is no exception.
Sacsayhuaman's Megalithic Walls could only be called an incredible feat of engineering. Experimental archaeology has demonstrated that it was much quicker than scholars had previously thought to prepare and dress the stones used by the Incas. Even so, it would have taken many months to produce a single wall.
The rocks had been fitted together like puzzle pieces, even a triangular-shaped one. Even engineers had a hard time understanding how the Incas managed to fit the enormous stones so perfectly together. The masterful masonry was awe inspiring.
This was one of the few rocks with rounded edges that we’d seen.
Following the collapse of the empire after the European invasion, most of the stones of Sacsayhuaman were dismantled so that the stones could be carted down to Cusco to be reused in the churches and mansions of the conquistadors. This continued up until the 1930s, when builders arrived to cart away the pre-cut stones of the apparently limitless quarry. They were unable to deconstruct the walls due to the colossal size of the stones. As a result, it was difficult to appreciate how impregnable Sacsayhuaman must have been.
I cannot begin to tell you how we marveled at the enormity of the task that must have faced the Incas as they built these walls to fortify their fortress. I am still stupefied by their talents and ingenuity all these months later writing this post and seeing the photos anew.
I was fascinated to learn that Inca architects very often sought to harmoniously blend their structures into the surrounding natural landscape and the outline of the Sacsayhuaman was similarly built to mimic the contours of the mountain range which towered behind it. This is particularly evident when the sun creates deep triangular shadows between the zigzag terraces in exactly the same way that it does on the mountain range with its peaks and valleys.
Certain rock areas had been covered. We speculated it may have been due to prevent damage to them or to make sure they were stabilized but we could only conjecture.
One of the last features we saw was Muyuqmarka, a round Inca building used as a Temple of the Sun and situated within the Sacsayhuaman fortress. The temple and the two flanking towers were dismantled during the Spanish rule.
Llamas only a few feet away grazing in the grassy plain that seemed to be about as large as two football fields placed end to end.
I must admit to being drawn to the adorable and very live llamas after seeing so many very ancient ruins!
Being able to wander right up to and among the animals was not something we'd imagined being able to do!
Just like with humans, the llamas came in different sizes and colors!
I wondered how much the tourist had paid to have her picture taken with the local and the llama. A common sight at so many of the popular tourist venues throughout Peru was for locals to dress up and walk around with cute lambs, llamas, alpacas, etc and encourage tourists to take photos of them for a fee.
We exited the archaeological site through the paper tree forest and terraced gardens.
We could have taken a bus back to Cusco but decided we might as well continue our walking trek and so walked all the way back to Cusco.
Thanks to my telephoto lens, a view of the Cusco rooftops and the Plaza de Armas with the Cathedral:
Ancient Volkswagen Beetles were a common sight throughout Peru and so many South American countries.
The road back to Cusco took us past the San Cristobal Church which we’d visited our first day.
The wall behind the church had
11 openings in it where the sentries may have once stood, we theorized.
We had a pizza and a glass of wine for dinner that night which cost less than $10. It was remarkable how little money we spent on food each day. Granted we almost never stopped for lunch, but even so we rarely spent more than $10 a day eating out at least for the first couple of months of our trip.
It had been a long day of hiking and even a longer one, it seemed, of exploring Inca ruins while learning more about their culture, military might and appreciating their brilliance. But, by the end of the day, we needed a break from seeing any more ruins!
Next post: Pisac's Weekly Market and Sunday Mass in Quechua
Posted on Sunday, January 14th, from Seattle, Washington.
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