Final farewell to Cuzco

During our time in Cuzco we stayed at a monastery originally built in 1672 by Jesuit priests and Inca slaves. It has since been converted to a very nice hotel run by Orient Express, but retains much of the architecture of the original building. Soaring stone arches, no two walls completely parallel, odd shaped rooms with low (ouch!) doorways, thoroughly beautiful and charming. However, despite their best attempt at class, the Hodge's style prevailed. Here's a picture entitled "The Clampetts join the Monastery", followed by some local flora.













When the Spanish invaded and conquered the Inca's, they did their best to destroy all remnants of Inca culture. Beside the obvious enslavement, they tore down most of the Inca structures and used the stones to build new modern Spanish structures. Often in the same location and for the same purpose of the original. After all, what's the point of having slaves if you can't abuse them? Regardless, some of those surviving Spanish buildings are also beautiful:

























The skull and cross bones was over the doorway to a small addition to the Cathedral where Inquisitions were held. It has since been converted into a bookstore.

Outside of Cuzco, with a beautiful view of the city, the Inca's built a huge monument/meeting place/arena called Sacsayhuaman, pronounced "sexy woman". Again, most was destroyed by the Spanish, but the foundations and bases remain. Along with some fun natural stone formations.