A day out - Concacha and Saywite

A group of students from Lima came to AIDIA to visit the translation programme, and invited me to come with them on a day out.

We got a car to Concacha, where one of my colleagues lives, and visited him and his wife.  I helped prepare lunch (which was guinea pig, but sadly I was just helping with the salad) and managed a bit of conversation in Quechua - one of the students was learning it too so we both limped along together.

Then we walked down across a river and up the other side of the valley, to see the Inca ruins - as you do.

There were lots of of old stones - building foundations, bits of irrigation systems, rocks for sacrifices to the sun...

We arrived at the main ruins, which had HUGE stone steps, about as high as my shoulders.  There were normal-sized steps to one side, but I decided that would be no fun!

Finally we reached the roadside and the stone of Saywite - a famous monolith with carvings all over it.  Historians aren't sure what is represented although there are various theories - one says it's a map for a buried city which the locals can read but won't give up the secret.