In the hills above Cusco, lies one of the most impressive archeological sites we visited in Peru - Saqsaywaman.
We took a taxi up to the site one afternoon and were lucky to find very few tourists around. I had read about a labyrinth of caves on the backside - and upon entering the site, just across from the entrance, we found them right away. We winded our way through a few tunnels, and discovered niches carved out of the rock in keyhole patterns and possibly the Inca cross. After perusing the entire site, we came back to this spot, found a special cave, and made an offering of wildflowers and coca leaves to Pachamama, Mother Earth.
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| Some of the caves and niches carved into the rock. |
The impressive thing about this site is the enourmous boulders forming a zig-zag wall.The gigantic cut stones fit together like a puzzle with no mortar. - sometimes 8 sided with beveled edges. The largest weighing 70 tons! Could humans really have moved such massive stones? Or was there help from shamans or extraterrestrials?
In the Quechua language, waman means falcon. The Incas referred to Saqsaywaman as the House of the Sun - clearly a spiritual site. The structure dates to 1100CE with previous occupation dating to 900.
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| The largest stone. |
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| Visiting with some of the Quechua Women around Saqsaywaman. |
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