Cusco, Peru

March 6, 2006-Jesus
(Photos:Jesus at Inca wall,
Temple of the Sun)

Jesus, our guide had wake-up calls for us at 4AM. We were eating mini-muffins at 4:30 and loaded on the bus for the airport at 5AM. This is getting to be a habit. I’m afraid I’ll be waking up at 4AM even after we’re home. It’s now 9:15AM and I feel as if I’ve put in a whole day.

Jesus isn’t as easy to understand as our other guides, but he repeats things enough so we eventually get it. The good thing is that you’ll have less to read. He has an assistant, Americo, whose only function as I see it is to be our crossing guard, take us to the potty, provide Kleenex for said potty, and be another person for us to tip.

Jesus told us to sit on the left side of the plane to Cusco. That’s where most of the passengers sat. The pilot must have been used to flying so unbalanced. It was worth it. As we came down through cotton puff clouds the rooftops of Cusco, population 300,000, shimmered like so many sequins. At first I thought they were metal roofs but as we got closer they turned out to be rooftop solar water heaters. We descended into the valley and left behind velvety green mountains with razor sharp ridges jutting out as if to shake hands with our wing tip. Welcome to Inca Central.

Inca Central

We made our way to our bus through a gauntlet of photographers. They’ll eventually show up with finished photos of us for sale. They’re very entrepreneurial here. Women surrounded our bus and peered into the windows offering handicrafts and trying to get our attention. I thought I was back in China.

We’re at the lovely and I think newer Hotel Jose Antonio. It’s yellow stucco with a red tile roof and flowers cascading from balconies. We tried to get a queen bed but there were none available. Jesus offered us his room but we declined. We told him he’s single and might get lucky. That he understood.

We’re so used to being on a bus that when Jesus called for taxis to take us to lunch we were surprised. It must be because the streets are very narrow here and buses could be a liability. He’s like a little mother. He asked if we washed our hands before we ate and then told us he had hand-sanitizer for us if we did not. He does’t want us to get sick.

We were entertained at lunch by a local band. The music was in the same Andean style but several songs were sung in Quechuan, the Incan language. Of course they had a CD for sale.

After lunch we took a walking tour of Incan walls. Since we’ve been here so long a lot of the information is familiar. The pre-trip to Bolivia was invaluable. We have a basis of knowledge that those who joined us later do not. These walls, as all Incan walls, were built leaning inward to be earthquake proof. No mortar was used. The stones have a greenish cast with pink and salmon tones. They’re most remarkable. The restoration walls were put back together with mortar, but not because they fell down. When the Spanish arrived in Peru in 1532 and in Cusco in 1533 they used the stones for their buildings and built their buildings on the Incan temples some of which had been here since the 11th century. Unfortunately for the Incas they were in the midst of a civil war when the Spaniards came. Two royal brothers were fighting for dominance and one killed the other. Of course, the little boys we saw playing soccer and using the walls to bounce the ball off of were unimpressed.

Church Central

We came to the main plaza where the Spanish influence was apparent. Two churches loomed over the manicured park. I thought the lovely fountain in the park had a statue on top until it moved and I realized it was being fastidiously cleaned. The Peruvian and Inca flags waved proudly over the government buildings. I never knew that the rainbow flag decal (symbolizing the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender community) on our cars could double as an Inca flag. Jesus was familiar with the rainbow flag as a GLBT symbol and told me there were some parades from time to time.

Jesuits had run one church until they went back to Spain to help with the Inquisition. A negative remark was made by Phil about the Inquisition and a Catholic member of the group, Kathy, retorted saying that no religion is exempt from doing bad things sometime in its history. We decided that Buddhism might fill that description and perhaps Bahai.

Mercy Church and Convent housed the Sisters of Mercy who seem to be doing very well financially. Jesus said they owned the entire block of land including the buildings housing the gift shops. Seventeenth century gold leaf ceilings and picture frames were in good repair and the Spanish style detail was impeccable. One particular gold sculpture that had thousands of diamonds and pearls was exquisite until you thought of the number of Indians who died mining the gold. The oil paintings displayed around the cloister were pristine, but exposed to the weather. Jesus said it was hard to keep them well restored and they were worked on constantly. Weather be damned; we weren’t allowed to take pictures of them for fear of flashes damaging the surfaces. We saw lots of what they call Andean Catholicism. There’s a painting of the crucifixion with a dark-skinned Jesus wearing an Incan skirt. The Madonna is wearing an Incan sun god headdress and the shape of her gown echoes the shape of the mountains.

The Convent of Santo Domingo and Church of St. Dominic sits atop the terraced gardens of the Incas. It’s a perfect example of how the Spanish used the Incan temple walls on which to build. In 1950 there was an enormous earthquake. The church collapsed but the walls on which it was built did not. The offset block construction, trapezoidal doors, windows, and niches, and the inward leaning walls survived. A deal was struck between the church and the government. The government would help re-build the church on the same sight if the church would be open to the public and would restore the Incan walls it had destroyed. What was hidden all those years was the Temple of the Sun. When conquered by Spain the gold that had covered all the temple walls was melted down and shipped back home. It wasn’t until 1969 that a law was passed forbidding the destruction of Incan sights.

A discussion began of who built the temples. Jesus insisted they weren’t slaves but common people who worked for the love of their gods. That’s what they told us about how the pyramids were built in Egypt only it was the farmers who loved the pharaohs so much that they donated their time when they were not busy with their crops. We also debated whether or not Andean construction happened in a vacuum. Jesus disagreed that previous civilizations had contact with Egypt but there are too many similarities to discount that theory.

Recovery

Jesus paces our walks very slowly. That’s the word of the day. Pedro in La Paz did us a great disservice taking us on a fast walking tour shortly after we got there. We flew all night to La Paz and had little time to rest. The group never recovered comfortable breathing. We had about three-hours to rest at the hotel in Cusco before lunch. We walked a lot today and no one was out of breath.

Dinner was at a folkloric restaurant that had traditional music along with Incan and Peruvian costumed dancers. Americo was waiting for us with a bottle of hand sanitizer as we got in line for the buffet. Next there will be a fingernail check. I don’t know what the Japanese tourists thought of us. The buffet included alpaca and guinea pig. Nina tried the guinea pig. She reported that it was full of bones and tasteless. She cannot wait to tell her grandchildren what she ate. She got sick yesterday but I’m sure that under Jesus’ watchful eye she will recover. I wonder what guinea pig does to a bad stomach. I didn’t eat it, but it turns mine.

Tomorrow we don’t have to assemble until 8:30AM. I finally feel like I’m on vacation.

Toby