I have to say that I am very impressed with how Mum and Dad have discovered some of the places we have been to...
First we boarded a local bus near where Zac and Milka live... Buses in Cusco are very different to those in Australia. They range from minivans to bigger buses but are mostly small minivans or slightly bigger buses (the 22 seaters in Australia) with a "conductor" who opens the door and yells the names of the places that the bus goes to - so fast that I can't pick up any of the words that are said. They keep taking passengers until there is absolutely no room to move (imagine standing in a small minivan?) and take your money just before you get out. They are really cheap at between s/0.70 and s/1.20 a trip (although we were charge s/1.50 for one trip - overcharged because we were gringos perhaps?)
Our trip took about 40 minutes and took us to the small village of Tipon where we got off the bus, along with a number of other tourists and also locals with their mantas packed with groceries from the market (one lady took up quite a bit of the standing room with her bags and boxes of fruit and vegetables - no livestock thankfully). There were about a half dozen taxis waiting at the intersection where we got off the bus waiting to take people (tourists mostly) up to the Tipon Ruins.
After convincing our taxi driver that we didn't need him to wait for us (we planned to walk down) we paid our entry fee and started walking. Of course the rain hit at just that moment too...
Tipon ruins are stunning... There are canals (water channels) running throughout the site in incredible formations and rock walls that just blow me away - I just can't get my head around the fact that stones can be shaped and moved without modern tools. These walls are so straight and will made!!
Steps built into the walls (these stones must be huge)
Water channels - the 4 channels are carved into the stones
More water channels - some of these go underground in some places.
A window in an Inca wall - see how thick these walls are!
Looking down the valley to Tipon Village
As we walked up to the next ruins the rain came down again... and as much as the clouds took away our view of the mountains, it was pretty special to see the channels and drainage of the inca site in action... The rain was pelting down and yet the way these building were constructed meant that the water was simply channeled away as it fell - what a sight to see (now if only some plumbers could put a drain into a shower with such affect!)
The floors of these buildings are clay, but in the rain I could have sworn they were concrete - the surface is so hard and didn't go muddy at all!
Looking down onto more ruins - I think these look like they're in the shape of a crocodile (or the head at least)
We didn't end up walking back down to the Tipon because the rain settled in and by that stage we were all feeling wet and cold. So we took a taxi back down to the intersection, boarded a bus for Cusco and then headed into the plaza for Nacho's and a Cider at Paddy's.
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