Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: Andes

Saqsaywaman/Sacsayhuamán was an Inca fortress complex & the historic capital of the Inca Empire. The site is at an altitude of 3,701 m (12,142 ft). The complex was built by the Incas in the 15th century. Dry stone walls constructed of massive stones were erected on the site, with the workers carefully cutting the boulders to fit them together tightly without mortar. The figures on the extreme left give an idea of scale. The Spaniards used Sacsayhuamán as a source of stones for building Spanish Cuzco; within a few years, they had taken apart and demolished much of the complex. The site was destroyed block by block to salvage materials with which to build the new Spanish governmental and religious buildings of the colonial city, as well as the houses of the wealthiest Spaniards. HI (Inca) WW to everyone!

The final destination of our railway journey from Cusco. Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a 2,430-meter (7,970 ft) mountain ridge. The Incas built the estate around 1450 but actually abandoned it a century later, at the time of the Spanish conquest. It was obviously a tourist site when we visited but has become much more popular since 1980. In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide internet poll & I have to say its location in the Andes is absolutely stunning.

Colourfully dressed Peruvian girls with llama and lamb on the mountain top north of Cusco. I think we had been to Sacsayhuamán and drove on into the surrounding mountains.