Prior to starting the Inca Trail we had tours around Cusco, Peru. What an amazing city.  Seriously the tourist mecca of Peru being the gateway to all things Inca.

Many of the buildings are built on Inca temple foundations – the carved stones fit snugly together without mortar.  It is an astonishing site to see given the Incas did not have steel tools, instead shaped the stones with sand and other stones.  Some of the stones are enormous, up to 150 tonnes!  And in many cases the quarries were many miles away.  The Incas did use mortar between the stones but only if the building was not a temple or place of high importance.  Many will know that we have on our “yard plans” to build a gazebo over the other side of the creek amongst the garden.  I declared to Brian in front of witnesses that now the gazebo needs to have Inca temple foundations.  His reaction was worth it.

Our tours in Cusco took us through many villages.  They build their houses out of adobe bricks (mud & straw).  A two storey 3 bedroom house costs them around $1,000 USD for the adobe bricks, eucalypt timber and clay roof tiles.  (That’s right, eucalypt trees were introduced to Peru from Australia in the 20th century). Being remote, the windows and doors are scarce and expensive and cost them the same price or more than the cost of the house and roof.  So obviously if a window is broken by someone playing soccer or the like they are disinherited!  As a result many of the windows/doors are boarded up with adobe until the family can afford them.  The average wage is $150 Peru Soles per month (this is approx $50 US) so it can take a while.

We also visited many cathedrals where the native artists were hired to paint the murals by the Spanish after they conquered Peru.  This process was part of the education and training of the natives in the Catholic religion.  As a result the paintings we would normally see anywhere else around the world had quite a native spin on them.  For example the Last Supper – the main course in the centre of the table was Coy (guinea pig, a common food source in Peru) and Judas was depicted as a native Inca, dark skin and other features.  Also the painting of the 3 Wise Men showed their camels as half llama, half horse as the natives had never seen a camel.  Also, to ensure the natives associated their worship of the Mother Earth (Pachamama in the native tongue) with the Catholic religion the Virgin Mary is always depicted in a triangular style dress to depict a mountain.  The purpose of this was to convince them that the Catholic religion also worships the earth.  As a result the Virgin Mary is revered above Jesus in Peru.

Cusco was an amazing city with so much to see.  We only had 3 nights in total there throughout our Inca Heartlands Tour and could easily spend a month and still have more to see.  After a few days you get use to the “one soles`please, you want restaurante, no maybe tomorrow, you want alpaca hat and gloves, you want tour?” and of course the contant beeping horns.

Some funny moments:

• Brian being “born” from their teeny, tiny taxies (half a Daihatsu Charade),
• Pisco Sour high fives – one Picsco Sour at altitude is the equivalant of 3 cocktails at home, 
• Beautician heating up wax on alcohol burner on footpath prior to ripping out my underarm hairs very slowly, apparently slower is considered more effective by Inca decendants,
• Brian having Coy for dinner – served whole for photo opportunities and then they cut it up for very, very slow consumption, many small bones.

 That’s all for now, adios amigos. Team Kealey out.