Tour of Inkan Ruins around Cuzco

Today, Saturday, we went on one of the planned tours of our trip.
The whole team went, and first of all we went horse riding through the forest. It was the most beautiful mountain scenery. All the scenery around Cuzco is beautiful, but this was something else, you could see the whole valley from a great height - magnificent. The horses were really lovely, but obviously infested with parasites because some of them farted every step they took, a sure sign. The young boys in the group spent their time trying to make their horses go faster and to lead the group but pack horses have their own pecking order and they kept giving way to each other which caused great hilarity.

We visited the Tambuachay ruins, a natural water site used by the Inkans as a sacrifical site as well. Water pours out of the Inkan built stone structure naturally like a constant water fountain.
Then we went to another site called Pukara (a census point) used by the Inkans to count the travellers going from one point of the city to another.
We then rode the horses back down the mountain.

We had lunch at Los Perros (The Dog) in Cuzco. Beautiful food but too much of it for our still tender stomachs.

In the afternoon we visited Saqsayuaman (pronounced sexy woman) a huge archaeological site that was used for ceremonial and entertainment purposes. The three layers of terracing with gigantic stones that lock together without mortar was an amazing site.

The first layer is for "those that have died" represented by the serpent for intelligence.
The second layer is for "the living" represented by the puma for power.
And, the third layer is for "heaven" represented by the condor for sending messages
to the Gods.

It was a lovely day but after a very busy week and a full day we were all very tired and had a early night. Most of the younger ones had been out partying the night before at the Salsa Clubs so they were all very subdued at the end of the day.

I bought a chess set for Bobby today. The Spaniards against the Inkans.
And, I saw a nice white alpaca rug that I might try to find again (perhaps for Clare if she likes it).