Cusco Day 2 - Horseback riding to Sacsaywaman Ruins

Saturday May 21

Today we rented some horses and toured the ruins just outside of Cusco, not too far from where we are staying. It was a really nice way to get aound and the girls loved it. We pulled the old 'yeah, we are expert riders' move to ensure that we did not get stuck with the dud horses and we were not disappointed.

Although, Riley did get the alpha horse with gas. This horse was tooting up storm and would not let the other horses pass with out coiling up the rear leg for a nice kick. Riley really liked the fact that toots could come from her backside but her horse was to blame.

Our first stop was at a site where the Inka engineers built right on top of a spring and created what is thought to be a public bath. We took a quick peak at that and saddled up again for the main attraction.  These sites are not as impressive as Machu Picchu but are interesting in their own right. The ruins of Sacsaywaman (yup, it  is pronounced 'sexy woman', well almost) had walls of hand cut stone some weighing up to 350+ tons and were also positioned before the days of the hydraulic caterpillar.

After Sacsaywaman we visited Christos Blancos, a large statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched over Cusco. I imagine this is depicting His invitation that all those who are heavy laden with the burden of their sin to come rest in Him and cease in their trying to make themselves right with God. Jesus did not offer a self improvement plan to His followers, He offered perfection through His suffering and death alone.

From there we walked down back into town on a street that doubles as a training track for the Peruvian National Bobsled Team.

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