sacsaywaman / mercado

Our second day in Cuzco we took the advice of one of our waitresses, and headed up a ton of steps over the hill to some pretty cool ruins called sacsaywaman. these were the most impressive ruins we had seen to date. It's amazing how the incans shaped and fit all of the huge boulders together like puzzle pieces. No mortar necessary and One of the stones weighs over an estimated 300 tons!

 i was afraid to get close

 had to do it

 sneaky pic #1

sneaky pic #2

 old-school doorway

 puzzle pieces

 what craftmanship!

 taking in the ruins

 

big rock...

 ...and even bigger rock.

 how sweet <3

At the front end of the ruins there is access to the cross of Cuzco which is also one of  the best views of the entire city.

 the cross

plaza de armas from above

Across from the ruins is the Christ statue. Not quite as impressive as the cristo statue in rio de janeiro but again, Had great panoramic views of Cuzco.

 3 amigos

Rounded out the day wandering artesian markets for '100% authentic alpaca' items. It's pretty funny how far some of the vendors go to convince you that their goods are the real deal when it is obvious the items were clearly made by machine. One dude told Jimmy his grandma made a sweater by hand while in the sacred valley...and oddly enough the same sweater was in the next 10 stalls we passed!

jimmy and his "handmade" sweater
 

 cute dog #463 i wanted to take home

finally, i got a salad for dinner! This is a big deal since We are seriously lacking on the greens intake and this salad was pretty amazing. Meat and potatoes has been the name of the game otherwise.

Day 3 in cuzco we woke up and hit up the Big mercado which in my opinion,  is a photographers paradise. I could Wander a market for hours. Rather than say much I will just post some interesting pics that could speak a thousand words...but Let's just say that the 'meat' section was most likely the worst we had ever seen in any country and now when I am eating meat it is sometimes hard to swallow when thinking of where it came from.

 nice refrigerated meat isle

 cow testicles anyone?

 purple corn for chicha

 these guys are still smiling at least

 sleeping on the job

 white potatoes! not good btw.

 tired of selling bread i guess

 local making a purchase

 magic potions and lotions

 at least he is wearing his hairnet around the food

 hallucinogenic cactus

 um...no!

 say cheeeese!

 tub of aloe vera

Wandered into a different area called San blas, which has more of a bohemian vibe than the other areas of Cuzco. Super cute cafes and like a ton of areas in cuzco... good views.

 sweet braids and top hats

 we love

We had our orientation for our hike that night and met our group we would be spending the next 4 days with...6 dutch boys and 9 americans all aged 26-33. We could tell this was gonna be a great group from the get-go. headed out at 3:30 a.m. super exhausted but really excited for our Bus ride to the trailhead of the inca trail!