The day began early, because we had arranged for Wilmor to pick us up and take us to see some sites and ruins around Cusco. We started off with the breakfast buffet at Inti Raymi, the restaurant in the Libertador. It was a fabulous buffet, with lots of pastries, several hot items (including wonderful dilled breakfast potatoes and scrambled eggs), an omelette station and fresh squeezed juice alongide the usual assortment of yogurt, fruit and cereal.
After breakfast, we met Wilmor for a tour of some ruins and sites around Cusco. We saw lots of people and could hear a celebration in downtown Cusco. We learned that it was Cusco's anniversary celebration and that the parade would be going all day, until midnight that night (we wondered if everyone in town would be getting a chance to march in the parade).
Our first stop of the day was San Christobal, an old church built in front of an Incan wall (the Spanish were fond of demolishing Incan ruins, building over them, or incorporating them into Spanish buildings--I left Peru with a profound dislike for Pizarro and the rest of the Spain). San Christobal afforded us a beautiful view of Cusco and the celebration in the town square:
Next step was Sacsayhuaman, a site of religious significance to the Incas, and the location of the Inti Raymi celebration the following day. Wilmor dropped us off and drove to the cab parking area to wait for us, and Mr. Y and I began to tour the ruins.
Then it happened. Mr. Y reached for his blackberry and it was not there. He searched his pockets, he searched his computer bag. Then he searched my pockets and my camera case (??). Then he searched the ground and walked back to where Wilmor had dropped us off. Then he went to find Wilmor and search the cab.
Alas, all the searching and leaving me behind at Sacsayhuaman while having Wilmor drive him back to San Christobal (thanks, honey) were in vain. The blackberry was gone, never to be seen again and Mr. Y's mood was definitely darkened.
I felt bad for him, but there was no solving this problem (even promises of a new blackberry when we returned home didn't help). He finally gave up and we went back to touring ruins.
Next stop was an Incan tomb--a very difficult to photograph Incan tomb. There were three levels so we toured underground, and lots of huge rocks. We didn't hire a guide for this one so we were a little short on details.
Then on to another religious site that had two separate water fountains, with the water still running just like Machu Picchu. A guide there described the ceremonies and the significance of the sun and the moon, and the role women played (man=sun, woman = moon), but I was more mesmerized by the water than anything he had to say.
Next was Puca Pucara, another site where people lived. These ruins were in the worst shape of anywe had seen, and it seemed a fitting end to our tour of ruins.
Finally, our tour ended with a visit to Cristo Blanco, which appeared to be a replica of Christ the Redeemer. It's an impressive statute, but very difficult to photograph up close due to all the security measures being in the photo.
Here is a slideshow of the sites we toured on Day 7:
After our tour, we returned to Cusco and walked around the city. We wasted about an hour talking to a woman who wanted to be our guide (we had to hire her for the following day to get rid of her), and missed out on photographing the parade up close and personal during the day. But we did take a few pictures of what we were able to see.
Here is a slideshow of what we saw in Cusco:
We were pretty tired after all the walking and touring, too tired even to get dinner out, so we returned to our hotel and ordered room service.
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