This site of Sacsayhuaman is very important historically in the battle between the Spanish and the Incas known as the Siege of Cusco. Cusco at that time was held by the Spanish, but recently escaped Inca ruler Manco Inca (who had been a Spanish prisoner) had rallied his forces to try to expel the Spanish from the capital. Although the Incas had some early success in this attempt (probably the only real insurrection of the Incas after the Spanish took over), their attempt to retake Cusco failed in the end. After trapping the Spanish in one building in Cusco's main square, the Spanish were intractable. Their superior arms and weapons could repel any further Inca assault. The Spanish, a little desperate because they were surrounded, decided that their only path to victory was to send a fighting force out of their location in central Cusco and attack the fortress of Sacsayhuaman that overlooked the city and seemed to be the headquarters of the Inca's assaulting forces. They did this but were unsuccessful in breaching the walls of the fortress. However, Sacsayhuaman was not really built to be a fortress and its design actually contained doors in the walls. On a subsequent attempt, the Spanish were ultimately able to get through the doors. One of their tactical advantages was that they were prepared to fight at night, which the Incas were not accustomed to. When the Spanish took Sacsayhuaman, it was the beginning of the end of the Siege of Cusco. The Incas retreated to Ollantaytambo and then ceded that site and retreated further into the jungle. The Spanish did suffer a notable casualty at Sacsayhuaman, however. Francisco Pizarro's brother Juan died in the assault.
Today, the walls of Sacsayhuaman remain, but the structures at the top only have foundations that survive. The Spanish actually took stones from the site to build in Cusco and then ordered the local people to actually bury what remained of the site. They did this to try to erase any visual references to any Inca religious site.
Today at the site there were various folding seats and stage items remaining from a recent ceremony that had been held here. The ceremony was a play performance recreating the Inca's ancient sun ceremony, held on June 24th. The Incas would traditionally ask the sun to be generous and provide good crops. Llama sacrifice was part of the ceremony; the religious leaders then examined their livers for good or bad omens. These ceremonies were re-continued in the 1940's. However, current ceremonies include only a simulated llama sacrifice.
Standing here, we took a moment to appreciate the large magma mound adjacent to the fortress. This was a significant feature as it was considered nature "showing off" its uniqueness. Therefore it represented the power of nature, which commanded respect and needed to be enhanced. It was sacred. It was called "suchuna" or a place to slide. During the Siege of Cusco, the Spanish stood on top of this mound and plotted how they would attach Sacsayhuaman. The flat area between the mound and the fortress is probably built on stone chippings. In ancient times the common people could stay and stand on the flat area, but were not permitted into the sacred areas.
During the Siege of Cusco there were two native groups that fought alongside the Spanish: Chachipujos and Guiyos. These groups had been conquered by the Incas and wanted to throw off their control. They thought if they could support the Spanish in defeating the Incas, then the Spanish would leave and the native groups would have their independence again. Well, as we all know, the Spanish never had any intention of leaving. After their domination was complete, they instituted European style feudalism based on a mining economy, which destroyed the agricultural economy. Everyone, except the Spanish, were worse off.
Here at Sacsayhuaman, there are enormous limestone blocks. Where did they come from? The dark rocks that we saw were mined about seven miles away; they are Andecite. The blue rocks on the trail are basalt (we had also saw these in the trail to Inti Punku at Machu Picchu).
We climbed to the top of the site, which afforded lovely sights down to Cusco.
Wilbur our guide reminded us that the primary purpose of Sacsayhuamna was religious, not military. The writings left behind by the Spanish indicate that there were three towers; two were rectangles and one was round. The round building may have been a water tower. There is evidence that it was buttressed (to hold the weight of the water). The foundation of one of the rectangles has been found, which we could see, but the other has not been found.
There were three walls to defend the site. The outermost wall was built from enormous stones in a zig-zag pettern. This design would strengthen the wall in the event of an earthquake.
Rob and I were really in awe at this site, because of its historical significance. We stood below the walls and imagined what the Spanish would have seen when they stood here nearly four hundred years ago.
We also took a picture of our guides Victor (left) and Wilbur (right).
Leaving Sacsayhuaman, we boarded the buses again and set out for higher elevations. Our next destination was a farm that displayed the four South American relatives of the camel: llama, alpaca, vicuna, and guanaco. Along the way we passed two more archeological sites: Puca Pucara, which we could see next to the highway, and Tambo Machay, which we could not see. Victor told us about two other archeological sites in Peru: Choquequirao, which the Spanish knew about (can be reached by a two day hike from Cusco, but a highway is currently under construction to the site, which is also known as Machu Picchu's "twin"), and Quelap (or Kuelap), built by the Chachapoyas (not the Incas) in the sixth century in the northern part of Peru.
The farm, near the town of Corao, was very nice, but to be honest, Rob and I were not terribly interested in the animals. I did want to see what a vicuna looked like.
As we were getting ready to depart, a very colorful religious parade passed us by heading to a nearby church. We had to hustle onto the buses or the parade would have blocked us in.
Our lunch and afternoon in Cusco were free time for us, a refreshing break in our itinerary. We decided the best choice for lunch was at our hotel's restaurant, which offered outdoor dining in one of the cloisters. It was a lovely and peaceful lunch. We both had open faced chicken sandwiches with zucchini and side salads -- perfect!
After lunch, we began our stroll around Cusco. We first walked to the main square, but made a detour to a bookstore that I had seen previously from our bus' window. The clerk was unable to recommend anything since she did not speak English (also it did not appear the store had any materials in English), but we did purchase a very good bilingual tourist map, which we purchased for 25 soles (seems a bit high), then we set out on our makeshift tour.
In the square, we saw again the Cathedral that we had previously toured, then passed the church on the square called La Compania, but did not enter. We continued past the square and stopped at Inka Farma for cold medicine. Continuing southwest on this street we came to a nice small square, which was dominated by the church and monastery of San Francisco. We retraced our steps and then walked along the Avenue del Sol (kind of a main thoroughfare) past the Palacio de Justicia to the Santo Domingo Church (which we had also previously toured -- place of the Incas' Temple of the Sun ruins). Then we returned to the main square and walked all around the perimeter, then returned to our hotel. There is most certainly more to see in Cusco, but we were ready for a little rest. Spotting some lounge chairs in the hotel's smaller cloister, we relaxed in the open air.
Tonight, our tour guides have arranged an educational musical presentation. A local musician has brought his collection of musical instruments to show us and to play for us. He has ancient percussion, wind, and string instruments.
At the end he performed two songs that really demonstrated his musical abilities, which everyone enjoyed.
Dinner tonight (our "farewell" dinner) was a few blocks away at a restaurant called Le Soleil. We were presented with a menu that had a nice variety of choices, including vegetarian. I started with a dish called Avocado Curls; they were filled with vegetables. It was interesting but could have used some more seasoning. Rob started with an Andean Trout Roll with a curry sauce. For mains, I had Native Potato Gnocchi, and Rob had Lamb Shank with lentils.
We both passed on dessert to make it an early dinner.
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