Mas Cusco

March 7, 2006-To Market Again
(Photos:Dwarfed by stone at Saqsayhuaman,
Shaman healing,
Roast guinea pig,
Pig paw)

Yesterday Jesus read the riot act to Phil for talking while Jesus was talking and then asking questions that had just been answered. It was well deserved since Phil has a pattern of asking inappropriate and foolish questions, but many in the group thought it should have been done in private.

We had a healer on the bus today. He was part of the program for later in the morning but hung out with us until then. Our first stop was another market, but this was all under roof and didn’t smell. It was the cleanest one we’d seen. It was their answer to Super K-Mart. Everything was available from innersoles to fish roe. The women there were filleting and chopping at a furious pace. Most were chatting with their neighbors and not even looking at what they were doing. They made Emeril look like he was all thumbs. Jesus bought food for us to taste as we went. They had the most yummy breads and cheese. I got braver and tasted some fruit he peeled. We then started buying for the people who were hosting our lunch. Several people had forgotten to bring a gift from home so they bought cheese, chocolate, and bread for our host family. That’s when I figured out what the healer was for. He became our porter and carried all the purchases.

(As I’m writing this, the lights just went out in the hotel or in the town. I don’t know which. I unplugged the computer and am running on batteries. I don’t want to risk a power surge if or when the electricity comes on.)

We did a quick drive through town to our next stop passing stunning squares and parks. This is a picture-book town. It reminds me of Rome. When you’re in the town the stucco and red tiles create a fairy-tale world of its own. But when you look up you see the ancient Inca ruins much like the Coliseum looms over Rome.

Sexy Woman?

We went to Saqsayhuaman (loosely pronounced-sexy woman) where the Temple of Lightning was built. Wild violets grew among the ruins along with Scottish broom and barley grass. The temple was built in the shape of a lightning bolt. It was a part of the original Incan layout for the city of Cusco. The city was platted in the shape of a puma. This temple was at its head and represented the teeth. The Temple of the Sun we saw yesterday represented the loins of the puma. If you recall, the condor stands for the heavens and afterlife and the snake is for wisdom much like it symbolized the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden tale. The intertwining of myths from culture to culture is fascinating.

The temple is built of limestone complete with fossils. Limestone comes from areas that used to be under the sea. At one time the Amazonian inland sea reached all the way to Cusco. We saw the largest stone that Jesus said is estimated to weigh 120 tons although Fodor’s said there’s one that weighs 361 tons. Every June there’s a Festival of the Sun on that site. It’s combined with a saint’s day and the celebration of the solstice as only the Andeans can do. One alpaca is sacrificed. They’re more restrained than the Bolivians. It may be winter but they never have snow in Cusco. It’s way below the snow line. The snow line is at 17, 500 feet because they’re so close to the equator. If El Nino occurs snow is possible.

Sham or Shaman?

After a short ride, Pedrito, the healer, welcomed us to his “medical office.” This was a lot less moving than the ceremony with the shaman. We were asked if we wanted tea and as the healer began the ceremony tea was passed and then the sugar bowl made its rounds. Jesus’ cell phone rang and he moved off to the side to take the call. Pedrito chewed on coca leaves as he assembled the offering. Then he blew on some coca leaves (not the ones he had been chewing) and gave each one of us three to hold. On a piece of paper he assembled incense, rice, sugar, garbanzos, peanuts, a rainbow hued ribbon, raisins, a condor feather, candy, coca seed, maize, sea shells, animal crackers (I kid you not), candles, wayruro seed, gold and silver foil, something to represent a book, magnetic stones, moss, a cotton wad, yarn, and white and red dried carnations. He took a bottle of wine and poured it on the ground three times to give to mother earth then he poured some on the offering. We stood and blew three times on our coca leaves facing in different directions kind of like we do with the lulav on Sukkot minus one direction. We presented our leaves to the healer and placed them on his pile. Now, suspend your disbelief. He poured alphabet soup noodle letters on top of it all so our names would be written into the offering. He wrapped the whole kit and caboodle in a cloth and the cleansing ceremony began. One by one we stood in front of him and told him our name and where we had pain in our body. He repeated the name and began chanting and rubbing the packet of offerings all over our bodies paying special attention to what ailed us. It was amazing how many had sick stomachs. When that was done he unwrapped the cloth and put the paper packet with the offerings on a fire. He poured the remainder of the wine on the ground and on the fire and it was done. I had one question. Why did he not heal himself? He had the worst case of toenail fungus I’d ever seen. People who go to him for healings pay him in goods. We gave him a cash contribution. I must note it for IRS next year.

OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) never used to take its people to tourist factories but there must be a new trend. We went to a place to learn about alpaca yarn and although I was not interested in the sweaters I did find my rug/wall-hanging. We then went to a silver and gold place to see how it was hand-made.

We had enough time before lunch to see Tenko, an Incan labyrinth. The footing was uneven and downhill and I was happy to have an orthopedic surgeon among the group. It was a natural crack in the stone that the Incas widened to access an underground sacrificial altar honoring the snake god of wisdom. They only sacrificed animals there but Jesus promised to fill us in on human sacrifice on the bus tomorrow.

(The electricity just came on. That was not too bad.)
Trick or Treat?

Efrain and Diana were our hosts for lunch. We started with quinhua soup and black corn juice. So good so far. Individual plates were passed to each person with a corn and vegetable fritter, bean and potato cream concoction, and cooked vegetables. Then Diana proudly brought in the main course. It was whole guinea pig on a platter. This is a delicacy for special occasions and was made in our honor. She took it into the kitchen to dismember. It reappeared on the table in all its little pieces and parts. The one that stands out is the little piggy claw curled into a little piggy fist as if waving hello (or good-bye) every time it went past. Several people tried it. David, Judi, and I were not among them. We consoled ourselves with the delicious dessert of sweet tomato that is sour. It’s a tomato stewed with spices. It tasted more like spiced peach.

After siesta we had free time to go to the handicraft markets on our own. There were hundreds of stalls most of which had little TVs blaring. Children were everywhere. Some were underfoot but many babies were being carried in the rainbow colored all-purpose serapes on their mothers backs.

At dinner I asked Jesus why OAT provided one bottle of water per person in Bolivia and Lake Titicaca and we got all we could use without limit on the cruise and in Cusco. He said that the OAT policy is one bottle a day but he and Eric believe that more is needed and pay for it out of their own pockets.

I have written to you about French who cut his finger off to avoid the draft. He claims now that he’s retired going to be a Unitarian missionary. He figures that it will be an easy job since Unitarians include all traditions He can tell them they’re all doing just fine.

We leave for Machu Picchu tomorrow at the civilized hour of 7:30AM. We drive half way then switch to a train. The altitude where our hotel will be is “only” 6,800 feet. That is 4,000 feet down from here. The site of the ruins is about 7,900 feet. Piece of cake!

Toby