Viaje a Cusco y Puno

So I will start by saying that this was a really amazing trip and I'm so glad that I got to go on it and see all these really cool parts of Peru. This trip included going to Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca, along with a bunch of ancient ruins and other places. Our first day we flew in to Cusco and did some tours of the city, starting with an old church that was built around old Incan structures.

 One of the most notable characteristics of Incan structures are that they are built with square shaped stones that are cut to fit together so perfectly that they say the thinest piece of paper couldn't get between the stones. Another characteristic of these structures are trapezoid shaped windows and there is a very scientific reason for them. Peru is a country that has a lot of earthquakes and the shape of these windows worked to absorb all of the energy from the tremors instead of all of the energy staying in the walls and tearing down the structures. This is why places like Machu Picchu are still around, because the structure is so solid it has been able to endure countless earthquakes and years of damage.

Another thing that I found really interesting is that the Incans built well type structures that they filled with water and used as mirrors to track the stars. The used the well things because they were stationary and made recording constellation movement very easy.

 They also used the position of the sun to mark their new year which falls on June 21st by building structures like sun temples, and on this day the sun would shine on that specific spot and the new year would begin. We also got to see replica of an art piece that showed the order of important things to the Incan people, religion wise. They believed in a god similar to the modern christian god and that was the most important to the people and under this god was the sun and moon, who took the roles of father and mother to the earth and the people. The order continues with other things like the starts and clouds and water until finally it ends with the Incan people and minerals.

Our next stop was some more ruins which didn't have anything really interesting until we got to natural slides, like park slides made of rock. It was a little scary because you slide down reaalllly fast but it was a ton of fun. Also at this stop was a cave pathway which got completely dark and we had to use the flash on our cameras to see where we were going so we didn't run into walls.

We visited a third ruin site which really only had a fountain thing that they used to collect water, which was kind of cool but probably not worth walking up the mountain to see it haha. 

The second day we started out by going to a zoo! We saw a puma, condors, llamas, ducks, parrots, and a few other small animals.

Then we went to the sacred valley which is literally a valley which was very important to the Incan people and there's a river there that goes all the way to Machu Picchu. In the sacred valley we stopped in a silver shop and they showed us how to identify real silver (another night we did the same thing in an alpaca shop).

After that we went to two more ruins and one of them had a sun temple, which I mentioned earlier.

 To end the day we caught a train to the city of Machu Picchu which is where pretty much just where people stay on their way to see the ruins.

We went to hot water springs that night and then got ready for the next day which was Machu Picchu!!!!!   I'll add pictures to this later because its not working  and continue tomorrow :)