Cusco square with the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin on the far right construction started 1539.  This was on a rare day of a national strike which stopped all vehicular traffic for two days.  The strike was actually one that we supported. A Peruvian legislator had proposed a bill to sell a national Inca site as a tourist location to a firm that would develop it with a gondola, hotel, restaurant, and  airport.  The Peruvians saw this as selling the national heritage. After two days of blocked roads, angry tourists holed up in their hotels, closed restaurants and businesses, and suspended flights to airports the bill was withdrawn. 

On the hill pictured here is the ancient ruin of Saqsaywaman.  The huge stones used in its construction put Stonehenge to shame.  The town was here before the Spanish arrived in 1533.  They overlaid their culture and rule over the environment and the people who had occupied this area from about 900 CE.