After lunch, we boarded the van for the tour of Cuzco. We were all exhausted, adjusting to the elevation difference, and a bit delirious. We started off at a beautiful cathedral. It was tough going up the entrance stairs, and there were many tourists waiting in line to purchase tickets. Patricia gave us our pre-purchased tickets and we passed the line. The church was filled with shrines lining all of the walls. One of the shrines was to a black Saint - he was the patron saint of earthquakes. He was blackened by accident because of the candles that burned beneath him. The smoke billowed up and stained his porcelain. There is a picture of the last supper - and in this version they are drinking Chicha Morada and eating guinea pig. They are eating cheese and fruit native to Peru. There are pictures of corn and snakeheads in many of the wood carvings. There are pictures of naked indigenous women in the choir chairs. Someone mentioned the "Inca Red" in the coloring of the paintings and artifacts and Patricia said it's hard to find now.

We then moved to the private temple. It contained temple of the moon and a temple of the stars. There were girls lined up in matching uniforms - all with their hair French braided. We later found out they were getting their confirmation. We learned that the Inca Empire was 9 million and spread over 4 parts - Ecuador, Chile, Peru and Argentina. The gods were outside. The stonework of the temple was perfect. They never used any type of cement or mortar, yet they fit together like leggos. And the rocks were huge, with no seams. Additionally, they withstood all of the earthquakes in the region. None of them collapsed.

The Inca empire was 700 years ago. Atahuelpa was the last king. Indigenous painters often don't sign their names on their work. They painted Jesus in traditional Inca clothing. The Spanish caught Atahuelpa and he gave them rooms of gold and silver - it was the largest ransom ever. He had a half-brother which the Spanish also caught, and then they took over. Cuzco the city was happy about that. The Incas caught the Spanish at one time during the war, but they escaped.

After we left the cathedral we went to a ruin called "Saqsauwaman" It was an outdoor structure and was a great example of incan architecture. It was solid, symmetrical and simple - which were the 3 tenants of their architecture. Trish kept thinking Patricia was saying "sexy woman" when she referred to it, until we got there. =) It was all about making offerings to mother earth. They offered sweet foods, flowers, wine, alpaca furs, etc. They also made Chica yellow here - it's a wine. There was a couple who had just gotten married who were taking their wedding pics while we were walking through. Many Incan descendants follow both religions - that of the Incas and Catholicism, which the Spanish brought over. Patricia says that she gets a Shaman cleanse every year. There are over 350 temples. Incans go to one every day.

We learned that a llama has short hair and a long nose. An alpaca has fluffy hair and a short nose. Incans believe in godmother and godfather day. For carnival, they hang dolls from the trees - the dolls represent important people. When we saw them, we thought they were similar to what a lynching looks like.

We left Saqsauwaman and went to Pucara - the red fort. This was a check point that is hidden on the Inca trail. This path lead from the jungle. It was a paved trail and they had to bring something from the jungle to the fort. We didn't get out here because we were all falling asleep and feeling sick. Not everyone was taking altitude meds.

On our drive back we stopped at a little store. It was clear that the tourism company had a relationship and brought all their guests here to shop. It was a cute and warm store. It was family run. They had lots of textiles and a little bit of jewelry - it was all marked up a bit from what I had seen before. They had a hairless dog there. It was mean and constantly shivering. I remember hearing how the hairless dog won the ugliest dog competition this year. This dog was a great representation for the breed. One of the young girls also gave us a presentation. She showed us the difference between alpaca (adult alpaca), maybe alpaca (a blend of alpaca and something much cheaper) and baby alpaca (the most expensive-oily feeling, soft, will never pill, heavy). It was a really cute presentation.

We went back to the hotel after this. It was relatively early - probably 6pm. Everyone was beat. We didn't have food so most of us went in search of something to eat. The only things open and close were pizza or chicken spots. We went into a pizza spot to order. The staff were semi rude. We could see the pizzas being cooked yet it took 40 minutes for us to get our pizzas. We went back to the hotel to eat. Khalilah Tequilla and I set up shop in the lobby to get online. The pizza didn't even taste good. The salsa helped. That night I had terrible creepy dreams and got sick. I found out the next morning Khalilah also had tummy problems and hardly got any sleep. It was rough.