Sacsayhuaman 16 May 2015

After entering from the entrance gate, there was a long way climbing uphill, a small waterfall on the way.

Sacsayhuaman is an impressive example of Inca military architecture.  It is made up of 3 large terraces which overlap in a zigzag fashion.  Some say to imitate the teeth of the puma figure whose head the fort may have formed.  Other say it represents the god of lightning.

Used as a fortress during Pizarro's conquest, the military site of Sacsayhuaman is made of huge stone blocks; the largest is 8.5 meters high and weighs more than 300 tons.  So perfectly are the stones aligned that Spanish chronicles recorded that even a fine knife could not penetrate the joints.  No mud mixture was used to bind thee stones together.  It's believed that some 20,000 men built it.

In designing Cuzco, the Incas imagined it in the shape of a puma; with Sacsayhuaman representing the head and its serrated walls as the beast's teeth.  Cuzco was the body of the animal, while the temple of Koricancha represented its tail.

During the battle of 1536 the Spanish forced the Incas back to the towers and slaughtered them.

On the other side, there is a car park for coaches, standing a Jesus statue, donated to the city in 1944 by grateful Palestinian refugees.

Gateway made with giant stones slotted together