Semana Santa, Day 3: Part II

A walk outside Cusco in five parts:
Part II: “Sexy Woman”

Farther up the road we turned onto a trail on the way to Sacsaywaman (a.k.a. “Sexy Woman”), used during Incan times as a temple, intellectual center, and military fortress. It is most known for the great battle fought there between the Incas and Spaniards in 1536. After the Inca defeat many of the smaller stones were carried down to the city to make the cathedral and housing for the conquering Spanish. The awe inspiring ruins that are left are a testament to Incan masonry. Many of the stones used to make the fortress were just too big to be moved by the Spanish. But yet the Incas built Sacsaywaman in approximately 50 years moving the stones over 10km. Then cutting them and positioning them so precisely no mortar was needed to keep them in place.
The most striking characteristic of the remaining construction is the zig zag configuration of the outer wall. This could have been used as an ingenious defense tactic, for any storming army would be surrounded on all sides from above. Other scholars claim that it is evidence of the religious significance of the fort was to the god of lightning. My personal theory, granted with no sound research backing, is that the zig zags are the teeth of the puma. The city of Cusco is said to be laid out in the shape of a puma, Sacsaywaman is known to be the head. And what do you think the most memorable and fear inspiring feature of a pumas head is? Of course those jagged zig zag teeth!