Day Ten our tour begins

Day Ten,

We didn't have a scheduled tour until 2:30. After breakfast we decided to venture out on our own. We just started walking with no particular destination in mind. We just walked looking at the sites and occasionally changing directions. We ran into a hearing aid office that I saw on our drive in from the airport. We stopped in and introduced ourselves to the owner (branch office?). She was very busy with clients, so we said our goodbyes.

 When we decided it was time to head back, we realized that we didn't have a clue where we were. We started walking in what we thought was the general direction of our hotel. We finally asked a gentleman in a business suit for directions. I asked him in my best (shaky) Spanish. To our surprise and relief he spoke English. He said we were not that far away about ten blocks and gave us directions. We thanked him and headed out. By this time we had walked over six miles and we still had the afternoon tour to do. We hailed a cab. As it turned out we were only about four blocks from the hotel. Oh well.

We went inside for lunch before our guide showed up. At the appointed time our guide picked us up. There was another couple on our tour. This was an English speaking tour and apparently not in high demand. The couple were from Israel. The had already been on a morning tour with this guide.

Our guide told us that Cuzco is a city of 400,000 people. The main industry is tourism. The only manufacturing was the Cusquena beer company. The city was the site of the capitol of the Incan empire. Our guide was Inca. He took us to many churches including the main cathedral. He explained that when the Spanish conquered the Inca, they destroyed all the sacred temples. They built churches on top of all the destroyed temples. They used some of the stone to build houses. All that is left is remnants of the temples. What a shame. He also explained that during the inquisition, the Spaniards killed thousands of Inca. They melted down there gold and silver icons, formed them into bars and shipped them off to Spain. Pirates had the last laugh as the ships were raided at sea.

The Spanish basically buried the Inca city and built a classic Spanish city in it's place. It's the same architecture  that exists today. Later he took us to the part of the city where the artists,craftsman, poets and writers live and work.
.
It was a very interesting day

This is a replica one of 7 shields of solid gold dedicated to the 7 Inca Gods 

Tour guide with fellow tourists inside remnants of temple to the sun

This was an Inca water fountain and grounds

This is the main Basilica built on top of the Incas most important temple

This is my future satellite office in Cuzco 

This is a water fountain at the end of the Avenue de Sol. In Inca time there was a river where this street is now.

This is the workshop of the famous Peruvian artist Hilario Mendivl