4-Hour City Tour of Cusco Including Four Ruins

The name Sacsaywaman or Sacsayhuamán is derived from two Quechua words: “Sacsay,” which means satiate and “wamán," which means hawk; together they mean “eat your fill, hawk.” This puzzling meaning is a reference to the fact that the birds were divine protectors of the Incas and the military battalions.

t is believed that around 20,000 men worked to cut and transport gigantic stones from Huaqoto and Rumiqolqa and build this ceremonial Inca fortress. Sacsayhuamán is an architectural work with megalithic walls made of stones than can weigh from 99 to 138 tons. The stones are different sizes and some have more than one hundred angles, each fitted and joined to the other with no mortar of any kind.

What is left today of Q´enqo archeological complex are carved rocks that couldn´t be destroyed by the Spanish; there is little left of the paths and aqueducts, as well as of the enclosures, the deposits or the liturgical baths, besides the great layer of gold that illuminated the whole place.

Q´enqo was possibly used by the Incas as a worship center; its passages, that resemble a labyrinth, have in their flanks several channels in the form of Amarus (snakes), through which ran the blood of animal sacrifices- that were usually the most beautiful and unique; maybe this was the reason that the black animals were the chosen ones. Some chroniclers like Juan de Betanzos describe it as “a savage act committed by the Incas to sacrifice not only animals, but also newborns that possessed special beauty; according to the Incas, these beings were born beautiful in order to join the gods”.

Q´enqo has a sacrifice room in one of its underground chambers, where a large rock stands out, that according to chroniclers, was covered in gold. In the upper part of the chamber you can see a hole, which was exactly above the said rock. The light of the moon penetrated through this hole, radiating through the golden layer, illuminating the whole place. Some historians claimed that in Q´enqo lies the tomb of the Inca Pachacuteq, the most important of all.

At 12,350 feet above sea level, the architecture of this Inca bath consists of a group of structures built with precisely cut stones. Water from nearby streams runs through the site in aqueducts and small cascades.

Tambomachay was linked to the veneration of water, an important element in the Andean world view. For that reason, it has two aqueducts with artistic engravings in the rock that transport and supply a constant flow of clean water all year round. Its name, which means "place of rest," leads experts to believe the Inca came to this bath to rest.

Today it is one of the best hiking routes because it offers tourists an adventure amid fascinating natural scenery.

The complex holds numerous halls, inner plazas, aqueducts, watchtowers and paths. Its role would have been a “tambo” or a place of rest and lodging. According to legend, each time the Inca visited Tambomachay, he was accompanied by a large retinue that stayed in Puka Pukara. Its fortified appearance led to it being called a fortress.