Saqsaywaman, Head of the Puma

Located just outside Cusco's city centre, this half-day experience takes you on a circuit of Saqsaywaman (Sacsayhuamán), Qenqo, Puka Pukara and Incatambo, hosted by a local archaeologist. Delsi has worked on Saqsaywaman, and she recounts its legacy through first-hand stories, recent discoveries, and the latest theories behind its construction. Each of these sites reveals a different facet of Inca civilization. Saqsaywaman, the great zigzag fortress on the hill above the city, forms the head of the puma whose shape Cusco's old urban layout was built to trace. Qenqo's carved underground passages were used in Inca ceremonies. Puka Pukara, a small hilltop checkpoint, watched the road into Cusco. Also visited is Incatambo — a site most visitors miss, where Inca terraces sit alongside older carvings made by the Killke people who lived here before the Inca arrived. After the experience, you'll have lunch with Delsi at a local restaurant in Cusco before heading back to your accommodation.

Saqsaywaman took 80 years to build, beginning in the mid-1400s. These zigzagging walls with blocks weighing over 100 tons fit so precisely that you can't even slide a knife between them. And the zigzag in Inca cosmology represents the teeth of the puma, the sacred animal whose form Cusco was shaped to mirror. Walked together with Qenqo, Incatambo and Puka Pukara, the four sites reveal a civilization whose engineering, customs and rituals still draw scholars to study how it was done. How the Inca cut, moved and set those stones is still being studied. So is the question of what the site was for: fortress, ceremonial center or observatory. Having worked as a professional archaeologist at Saqsaywaman, she interprets the stones — noticing the alignments, sections left unfinished, and small details a typical visitor walks past. You talk about what the carvings might have meant and how daily life was organized. These open questions are part of what makes walking the site with Delsi special.

Delsi Espinoza is a local, fully licensed archaeologist from San Sebastian in Cusco. She has more than 15 years of experience working in the Cusco region on various official projects in a variety of locations. She has worked directly with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, international organizations, local municipalities, and national parks, including Machu Picchu, Saqsaywaman (Sacsayhuamán), Pikillaqta, and Urubamba, amongst others. She has led excavation projects, maintenance programs, and education initiatives in the region since graduating as an archaeologist from the Universidad San Antonio Abad Cusco in 2014.

Sun and rain protection, depending on the season. Identification — passport or equivalent. Comfortable footwear for uneven ground. Light layers or a sweater for shifting weather. A small daypack with water, snacks, sunscreen, and a camera.