Sacred garden of the Coricancha temple. Spanish chroniclers describe it as a garden of golden plants with leaves of beaten gold, stems of silver, solid gold corn-cobs and 20 life-size llamas and their herders all in solid gold. Also many other animals like colibris, snakes, butterflies and even spiders formed a detailed garden of gold and silver. Gold was considered the "sweat pearls of the sun" and silver the "tears of the moon".🌞🌚

Coricancha "The Golden Temple" with Convent of Santo Domingo above. The Coricancha was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. It was destroyed during the Conquista. It must have been very impressive with lots of gold decorations. The remains form the foundation of the convent. There is a museum inside which also includes art collections (Cusco School and contemporary art). The green area is the sacred garden. The man in the white shirt is just leaving a small archaelogical museum, which is located directly under the garden.

That's on my way from Santa Teresa (Machu Picchu) to Cusco (capital of the Inca Empire). I traveled with a colectivo, that's what the collective buses are called in South America. The whole trip was an adventure. A little later, when it was already dark, we stopped in the middle of a winding road somewhere in the mountains. We had to push the bus for it to start again. Most of the other passengers, although native, hardly spoke Spanish. Not every Peruvian speaks Spanish as a mother tongue. Quechua is the most spoken language in some regions. When we finally arrived in Cusco, it was after midnight. I remember how excited I was when I finally got to the hostel.😁

In Chinchero I bought this great woolly hat.
Alpaca wool is super soft. And this is baby alpaca!
At least that's what they told me.
Maybe an expert would like to pet my head and verify that?

Chinchero is located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, northwest of Cusco in Peru. The village is known for its colorful alpaca textiles. A little insight into the traditional production showed us this Quechua woman. I came a bit too late to the show, because I got stuck with the cute alpacas in the entrance area. 🙃

In the sacred valley of the Incas are these salt ponds. Traditionally, the salt mines have been available to any person of the community wishing to harvest salt. The size of the salt pond assigned to a family depends on the family's size.

Chinchero is located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, northwest of Cusco in Peru.
In the church, which was built on Inca ruins, the Mass is held today in Quechua.

The bus rides were the greatest. But in my first description I was wrong. That's on my way from Ica to Cusco. Somewhere between Abancay and Cusco. I think, it was near to Curahuasi in the Apurímac region. Sorry for my mistake! ✌

You can see different symbols on the houses and on the mountains. In Peru, elections took place at the time. In rural areas, the literacy rate is lower. The symbols serve to advertise the candidates/ parties. The ballot papers also contain these symbols. At least that's how they explained it to me.

In the sacred valley of the Incas are these salt ponds. Traditionally, the salt mines have been available to any person of the community wishing to harvest salt. The size of the salt pond assigned to a family depends on the family's size.