Cusco and Machu Picchu Extension

This morning we take a walk through the impressive ruins of Ollantaytambo, which are very close to your hotel. Once we're done, we'll board the van and drive in the direction of Moray and Maras. Moray is an unusual site featuring concentric terraces in natural depressions in the earth, thought by many scholars to have been experimental agricultural stations for crop hybrids. We then continue to the colonial town of Maras and begin our downhill hike through ancient salt mines where a natural saline spring flows into hundreds of terraced pools. This breathtaking site is still the main salt supply for the Cusco area, as it was in pre-Hispanic times. Overnight at Hotel Pakaritampu...BL

Machu Picchu: So well hidden in the jungle-covered ramparts of the Cordillera Vilcabamba that the Spaniards never knew of it, Machu Picchu allows us a glimpse into the Inca world. American historian Hiram Bingham, who had a fascination with Peruvian archaeology, found the site in 1911 while searching for the ruins of Vilcabamba, known to be the last place where the rebel Manco II took refuge. A villager told Bingham about some ruins on a high ridge above the Urubamba River and led him there; thus, Bingham found the ruins not of Vilcabamba, but of a mysterious Inca city now believed to be one of the royal estates of the 9th Inca king, Pachacuti—whose name translates as “Transformer of the World.” Pachacuti was a kind of New World Alexander the Great, whose son and grandson continued and consolidated the expansion of Inca power. Bingham returned in 1912 and 1915 to undertake the difficult task of clearing the thick forest that had engulfed the ruins. Peruvian archaeologist Luis Valcarcel undertook further studies and vegetation clearing in 1934, and in 1940 and 1941, a Peruvian-American expedition led by Paul Fejos did more study. Archaeologists know that Machu Picchu was built, occupied, and then abandoned in the course of 100 years. Discoveries in the 1980s of many other small ruin sites close to Machu Picchu have given weight to the theory that Machu Picchu also served as the administrative center of a huge and populous region. Whatever Machu Picchu's purpose was, it is certainly one of the most stunning archaeological sites in the world.

Inhabited by proto-Incas as early as 1100 AD, Cusco was partly rebuilt in the early 15th century by Pachacuteq, the Inca warrior-king. He is credited with creating the Incas' form of worship, system of government, and the distinctive masonry style we still marvel at today. Cusco was laid out in the shape of a puma. The megalithic fortress of Sacsayhuaman formed its head, while palaces, temples, squares, and streets formed the puma's body and legs. Cusco's paved avenues were flanked by temples and rock-hewn palaces with gold- and jewel-encrusted doors, and there were lavish villas for the Inca nobles and their retinues. Cusco's opulent inner sanctum was the Coricancha, or House of the Sun, a glittering temple to the gods, full of golden statues. Today the stonework remnants of this temple form the foundation for the colonial church of Santo Domingo. Overnight at Casa Andina Premium Cusco...B