We started out the day Monday very wary about the altitude sickness, but as the day moved on, we realized two things. One, that everyone was affected differently, and the second, that for the majority of people all it involved was being out of breath a lot quicker than we normally would. In addition, I have not felt that you digest food and drinks slower than at sea level. We have two guides who speak English, Spanish, and Quechua (the local language of the Andes). They are very knowledgable and will accompany us through the next three days. Today we went to 6 different places as part of a city tour of Cusco. The first was the Temple del Sol located in the actual city. Originally it was the most important Incan temple, but the Spaniards had built over it when they took over Cusco. You can see where Inca building ends and Spanish begins and our guides mentioned it as a metaphor for the change from ancient to colonial times in Cusco. In addition, the Incas built their walls at an angle to avoid collapsing during earthquakes, while the Spaniards built straight up and down. Because of this the Spanish church on top of the temple has fallen twice now while the Temple del Sol remains.

   The next place we visited was the Cathedral of Cusco. It was ornate with statues and carvings painted with gold leaf and silver everywhere. The guides were quite surprised when he learned very few of us were Catholic. I like the ruins over the churches anyway so I was glad when our next stop was Saqsayhuaman, the second most important Inca temple in Cusco. This one was located outside the city on an adjacent mountain and had an amazing view of the city below. We learned that Cusco was built in the shape of a Puma and Saqsayhuaman was at the eye. The Temple del Sol was located at the heart of the animal. Next was another set of ruins called Pukapukara. This one served as a customs building for those traveling to Cusco in the ancient times.

   After Pukapukara was Tambomachay, a set of ruins farther up the mountain, at almost 3,750 feet. This one included a 10 minute hike and we were all out of breath almost instantly. It was a place to clean both your body and soul and had three water fountains that still work to this day. Finally we stopped at Qenqo, a ruin that was in bad shape but once had a large statue of a puma. In addition there was a stone altar where it was thought llamas were sacrificed for the gods. Our guides told us that while most facts about these places are backed up by archeological finds, because the Incas had no writing system some of the information was actually theories. Finally we stopped at a local market and had a short presentation about how to tell the difference between real and fake alpaca clothing. The real alpaca at the store was crazy expensive and most of the people who had already bought clothing realized that while cheap, their clothes were made from synthetic material. Alpaca fur has been called the gold of the Andes and therefore plays a big role in their economy.