gary & anne go to S.America: Cusco 3

After the two tours we had a full day more in Cusco before a two day trip to Macchu Picchu. After that there were two more days in Cusco before flying off to Lima. This post concerns the remaining days in Cusco while Machu Picchu has a post all of its own.

There were two more museums to visit - The Inca museum and a return to Qorichanca where we could go at our own speed. The inca museum was actually about most pre-columbian civilisations rather than just the Incas. It was a large building but much underutilised. It consisted of a series of rooms of pottery arranged chronologically as well as a silver and a gold room. Not very inspiring, though it was an introduction to some of the things we would see further up country. One particular point of note is how pottery design did not necessarily progress in a linear fashion. The moche period was one of great concentration on ceramic work yet the following chimu period did not produce any outstanding pottery.

Qorichanca, when you have time to see it is very impressive. Some of that was not necessarily about pretty design but often more about precision engineering, being able to create openings for light and air where the dimensions and positioning of one space can vary by less than a centimetre over a large distance. The building was a Christian structure built over the top of the original Inca building but it was the latter that made you hold your breath.
In addition to the architectural/engineering aspects there were various bits of art work. In the Christian section, this mainly consisted of portraits of church hierarchy. One of the highlights from the incas was their illustration of the celestial constellations which take animal form. Outside the museum was a quite pretty garden

Anne and knight in shining armour

(other photos to follow)

Others items of note in the city: a) We wished we had booked accommodation in San Blas as there was plenty to do there and it would have been easier to go back to our room and then go out again in the evening.
                      b) we found a great place for hot chocolate and chocolate cake (Lots of carbs for altitude!)
                    c) we found a fantastic restaurant (bistro nauca) where we ate Alpaca cooked on a stone with quinoa sauce and their own amazing starter- a tower of 4 or 5 ingredients which I'm going to attempt when I get home.
                    d) we also managed to eat Avocado relleno another major feast!

                                      Yes, all these extra points concern food!