Tonight’s Short Report

It’s Sunday night, and we’re up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go to Machu Picchu, so this post will just be a short rundown of what I’ve been doing the past couple of days, and some photos.

On Saturday we visited the most important holy place from the Inca Empire, Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun. The temple was converted to a Catholic church now known as Santo Domingo, but it contains some interesting artifacts paying tribute to the Incas.

On the way to the church we saw some stunning examples of Incan stone walls and what the city is doing to preserve them.

Yes, they’re using toothbrushes!

We also visited the Inca fortress of Saksaywaman (pronounced like sexy woman!) high above the town. The scale of this site is massive, and there are great views of Cusco from the heights. 

Last night we did our first twilight shoot at the Plaza de Armas.

And this morning we went out of town through the Sacred Valley of the Incas, to Pisac, a colonial village about an hour away that has the most amazing market I’ve ever seen. I have tons of pictures I’ll share later when I tell you more. 

After lunch we drove up to the heights above the town where there is a large Incan ruin overlooking ancient agricultural terraces. As wonderful as Saksaywaman was, Pisac went one better. Our organizers, Bonnie and Efrain, have organized a great buildup to Machu Picchu.

Tomorrow on our way to Machu Picchu we’ll stop at another Incan village, Ollantaytambo, to see more ruins and catch the train to Machu Picchu Pueblo, formerly known as Aguas Calientes. If the weather cooperates, we’ll be able to shoot MP at twilight. We’re staying overnight there in order to take pictures at first light on Tuesday morning, then hopping the train back to Cusco.

I doubt I’ll be blogging for the next two days, as I’m leaving my laptop behind in Cusco and we have a very full schedule. This has been an awesome trip so far, and I know it’ll just keep getting better!