I Spy With My Little Eye: Trip to Peru -- Inka Sites

I recently spent a week in Peru. It was my daughter's idea as a celebration of her Masters Degree graduation and she invited me to go along. We did the usual thing...headed to Machu Picchu...but there is so much more to see in Peru that we both want to go back. Here are a few pictures taken along the way. Peru does not exist simply to be the showcase of Inka ruins but that is what people think of...if they think of anything...when the topic of Peru travel comes up. This blog post will deal only with Inka-related pictures. The next following blog post will be a No-Inka-Zone photo posting. My travel blog "Ken Across America" as a description of the trip.

Sacsayhuamán

Sacsayhuamán is located on the heights overlooking Cusco. I'm not really sure that we have a firm or correct idea of of what it (or any Inka structures) was used for. It looks like a fortress and that's what most people tend to see it as.

Cusco was the Inka capital city and was filled with palaces, temples and various religious or government buildings. The Spanish destroyed or devastated most of these structures. But...old Cusco is built on the ruins and foundations of these Inka buildings.

Inka temple in Cusco

Cusco street with Inka stone walls

Temple stonework

Temple of the Sun peeks out from under the Spanish convent

Cusco is surrounded by Inka sites. The "Sacred Valley" is full of small and large ruins. It would be worth the trip just to tour the Sacred Valley sites and never see Machu Picchu.

Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo is one of the most important Inka sites, mainly because of it's spectacular location and the engineering required to build it, but also because it was one of the few places where the Inkas made a stand and defeated the Spanish.

Ollantaytambo is still considered to be a relatively intact Inka town. There are identifiable "quarters" where different groups of people lived. The higher you were in status the closer you were to the temple complex.

Inka store houses at Ollantaytambo

Chinchero

Chinchero is another Inka town that has well preserved and restored agricultural terraces.

Machu Picchu is the one place that was never found and desecrated by the Spanish so it is entirely intact as it was abandoned...plus the wear and tear of four hundred (+) years. Hiram Bingham was not the first outsider to find the place but he brought it to every one's attention.