Loreto

Calle Loreto in Cusco is a narrow, straight passage framed by massive, mortarless stone walls. These blocks form the foundations of what were once Inca palaces, now supporting colonial buildings that lean over the path. When the Spanish arrived in the sixteen hundreds, they kept these precise stone bases as the literal ground floor for their own homes. The heavy, dark andesite stones still fit together so tightly that a blade cannot slide between them, despite centuries of earthquakes in the Andes.