This morning I got up early to walk around the city for a while at random. After walking through the main square and cathedral, I headed up the hills to Sacsayhuamán. It was pouring rain when I get there and I didn't have the time to really walk around the ruins in detail, but I was able to get an enjoyable view of the city and overall feel of the area.
While some of the others of the group were shopping, I had to unfortunately spend part of my day dealing with a luggage SNAFU involving the bag containing my camera and a few other essentials that were left in Lima, but fortunately everything was eventually settled, so I was able to enjoy the rest of the city. After getting my good camera back, I headed visit the Coricancha, the site of one of the most important temples in the Inca empire. The Church of Santo Domingo was built on the site, using the ruined foundations of the temple that was destroyed by the Spanish in the 17th century, and shows how Inca stonework has been integrated into the structure of a colonial building. Major earthquakes have severely damaged the church, but the Inca stone walls, built out of huge, tightly-interlocking blocks of stone, still stand thanks to the sophisticated stone masonry. I wandered the area for quite a while, eventually coming across the markets and other various places off the beaten path.
Here are links to all of the (mostly unedited) pics taken on the trip. I recently upgraded my Picasa Web Album space, and figured I might as well use it. There are about 3500 pics total in the first three albums. Peru album 1 Peru album 2 Peru Album 3 Peru HDR
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