Cuzco Peru and the festival of the sun

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I checked out of my apartment in Buenos Aires and hit the road for some new adventures. I met up with a friend in BA and we left for Cusco, Peru. We arrived in Cusco after 10 hours of delays and connections through Lima and Arequipa, Peru. Flying into Cusco I could see the big dry mountains begin to rise and see snow capped mountains further in the distance. As soon as I walked out the door of the airport the solicitations began...people asking if I wanted a place to stay, a taxi, a Machu Picchu tour package, festival tickets, etc. I chose one lady with a particularly interesting silver lined tooth (which I would later see on every older Peruvian woman) and she took us into town.

Cusco, Peru is the starting point for all Machu Picchu treks and tours. The town also hosts an annual Inti Raymi Festival del Sol (festival of the sun gods) that has significantly grown in popularity over the past few years and has been said to be the second largest festival in South America, after Carnaval.

It was clear to see how big tourism had recently become in Cuzco with Peruvians trying to sell you everything from postcards and woven hats and sweaters on every block, to Inca ruins tours or kids trying to shine your sneakers for 25 cents. It seems that tourism has definitely given the town some life, but also begun to take away from its original charm. It's a really neat town (at 11,000 ft high, one of the highest in the world) with a lot of character. It's a very dry, arid town with lots of stone buildings with slippery cobbled stone roads throughout the town. Some of the town is actually built on Inca Ruins. At first i thought the altitude wouldn't effect me, but after walking only 3 blocks with my pack I could barely breathe. It felt like someone was punching me in the chest and knocking the wind out of me all the time. My resting pulse rate jumped from a normal 58 or 60 near the sea level, up to 80 beats/minute here just laying in bed...crazy.

The Inti Raymi festival brought tourists from all over the world (lots of Israeli, English, Irish, German, and some Americans). It is also the high season for going up to Machu Picchu right now, so the town was particularly busy. The parades started at 9am and carried on until midnight every day of the week leading up to the actual festival ceremony. Flocks of Peruvians in costumes of every sort marched through the main town square, playing music and singing with people shoulder-to-shoulder watching. All the costumes were very colorful and elaborate...really amazing. the little kids were so cute dressed up in their hats and wool sweaters. The parade just seemed to keep going and going. I'm not sure where all these people came from since it's not that big of a town. The Peruvians all seemed to truly enjoy the parade and the culture and history behind it. The summer solstice is very important to the Peruvians dating back to the Inca times.

The grand finale for this Inti Raymi festival was a dance show and ceremony at the Sacsayhuman Ruins up on a hill overlooking the town. The ceremony started at 2pm but we had to get there at 9am to find a place to sit. It made for a long day in the sun but I'm glad we got there early; otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see anything. The ceremony ended with the sacrifice of a llama where they pull out it's heart and lungs and burn them as an offering to the sun gods. The ceremony was about 2hrs long and was a little slow, but people watching made the whole day very interesting, definitely some characters around.

Tomorrow I'm headed up to Aguas Calientes and then up to Machu Picchu. Hope you enjoy the pics...

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