6/13/16
I woke up today around 5 am in agony. Warning to all those
who plan to visit Cusco, the altitude sickness is no joke and should not be
taken lightly. Additionally, in comparison to the very humid climate of
Miraflores, Cusco is very dry and so always keep a bottle of water by your bed.
I awoke again around 8am to the sound of someone knocking on our door. I looked around and was greeted by none other
than our Peruvian leader Henry, telling Hassan and I that we were later and we
should be ready to go in one minute. With no time to think I jumped up put on
clothes and ran out the door to the bus. The adrenaline must have helped a lot
because after that my head still hurt but it was much more bearable.
Today we hit six different sites in and around Cusco. The
first was the Incan temple of the Sun. The religious building had been redone
by the catholic church when they arrived but much of the original stones from
Incan times still remained. The art in the building was very interesting as our
guide even explained that Inca themes made their way into European art. For
example in one picture the heads of Mary and Joseph were outlines by a sun and
a moon, two very important parts of the Incan astrological belief system. One
of the things I found most interesting was that one they identified animals in
gaps within the milky way. I for one would never be able to make out the same
animals or even the Milky Way.
Our next stop was the Basilica Cathedral in the Plaza de
Armas a couple blocks away in the city square. This was my first time walking
around in Cusco and the hills made it very difficult. I felt like every step I
took uphill my head was getting one step closer to exploding. Not to mention
that this was probably the first time I have seen strong sunlight since we’ve
gotten here, because Lima is perpetually clouded. The colors were astounding as
all the Peruvians were wearing bright eccentric colors and there was a bunch of
flowers and beautiful decorations. There must have been a festival going on
because there were mounds of people watching street performers dance in
costumes. To assist anyone reading this at how colorful this city is, let me
just say that the Inca flag is the same as the Gay Pride flag in the United
States. Think a Pride festival but people dressed in native dresses instead of
leather. The church was interesting on its own. Like many of the others it has
a large collection of Christian artwork featuring the Immaculate Conception,
Jesus and the saints. There was a ridiculous amount of gold in this church to
accentuate all the pictures and their frames. The coolest part for me was the
first cross to enter Peru was stationed in the main room at the head of the
choir.
Our next stop was Saqsayhuaman (pronounced Sax-say-wo-man)
an ancient temple from pre-incan times. It was built over centuries and was
located on one of the mountains overlooking Cusco. We were given free time to
look around here for about 30 minutes which mostly consisted of us looking at
the spectacular view over the city and playing with a small herd of alpacas we
found near by. Our next two stops were Tambonmachay and Pukapukara, both old
temple ruins about a block apart from each other. Both had spectacular views
with Tambonmachey being significantly higher. I think Tambonmachey was cool
because it was made with amazing symmetry. There were two spouts flowing from
it and apparently if you place a jug under each tap they will fill at the exact
same rate. Another tidbit we learned was that all Incan architecture has slanted
walls, legitimately all of it. I’m not joking.
Our last stop was to Qengo, an alter where Incans would
sacrifice alpacas and mummified bodies in a small crevice between a collection
of boulders. They were saying that in the chamber there was a window through
the rough that would only let in sunlight at noon, and in the olden days the
sun would shine down upon gold that would illuminate the whole chamber. Inside
the cavern was a large slab that was freezing, which the guide said was perfect
for mummifying body. This location was supposed to be the head of the giant
Puma that was Cusco.
Our last surprise stop was to an alpaca store where we
learned the difference between real alpaca clothing, and fake alpaca clothing.
- Real alpaca is smooth on
the inside and outside, while synthetic is only smooth on the outside
- Real alpaca has a much
cooler base temperature
- Real alpaca comes in the
colors of white, brown, or black. Anything else is dyed naturally.
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