Day 57 - Temple of the Sun

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Today Taryn left us for a tour of the Sacred Valley (which we were due to do on Thursday) so we could visit the city's main attraction - the Temple of the Sun, although the English name isn't so accurate; it is actually called Qorikancha, Quechua for Gold House because the walls were covered in gold leaf 4 fingers high. Only a small part was a sun temple (although the most important ceremony was dedicated to the sun) and there were many temples dedicated to all of the Inca gods: thunder, lightning, stars, rainbows... all the elements important for agriculture and wellbeing. The Spanish disapproved of the Inca's worship of many deities, and imposed the Catholic religion upon invading Peru in 1532. Francis Pizarro was the first conqueror from Spain, and gave Qorikancha to the Dominican priests, who destroyed part of the Inca's work to build their own churches. All of the Inca gold and idols were of course melted down for other purposes, and Catholic images painted over much of the Incan stone. But much of Qorikancha remains in tact, and is now an interesting combination of huge imposing Inca stone, featuring trapezoid designs to protect against earthquakes, amongst colonial churches and courtyards. Inca building techniques are truly ingenious - no mortar was used to hold bricks together, instead clever lock and key mechanisms, or the joining of 2 adjacent bricks with melted metal running through a carved semi-circle on each brick, joining to make a solid circle of metal.

In the centre of Qorikancha the Incas built a well in which they offered llama blood and chicha (beer) to their ultimate god, the sun, on the "principal day" (the day before June 31st, solstice, when they thought the sun was leaving). They thought the sun was drinking the llama blood, when it was of course simply evaporating. This well was thought to be the centre of the world, since it was in the centre of Qorikancha, which was in the centre of Cusco, which was thought to be the heart or navel (depending on who you talk to) of the world. Cusco translates as neighbour of the world, and was the capital of the Incan Empire (1438-1532) which spanned 4 regions: Qollaysuyu, Antisuyu, Kuntisuyu and Pawatisuyu (through the Adnean regions of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, northern Chile and northwest Argentina) Thus the number 4 is often used in Incan architecture.

That evening we tried to save money by cooking, so braved the central market. We would have succeeded in our thrifty intentions had we not bought a bottle of Peruvian wine (taking the cost from 1.25 to 2.50 each) which turned out to be unpotable as it tasted like a dessert wine. The sausage and cheese (in our omelette) tasted a bit funky too, and I concluded that in Peru at least we could still afford to eat out (especially off the main tourist strips where we later found deals cheaper than our home cooking) and it would be a much more pleasant experience! I miss Cheddar cheese and Lincolnshire sausages!

Chris's Corner

For lunch we wondered off the main square whilst in search of the Inca museum (which we ultimately decided not to go to) and found ourselves a very cheap 3 course meal with drink. We were enjoying our food and the view (several local women with llamas!) when we spotted a queue at the restaurant over the road, "Jack's cafe". Jack's is in the Lonely Planet but we were both dumbfounded as to why a queue of 10-12 people would form when over the road the local food was so good and cheap. We laughed at the queue more when we left and read the menu... English classics - toasties!

On our wonders round town we also bumped into Ishii again! Turned out we would be on the Inca trail at the same time! This 71 year old man is a machine!

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Photos

Smallest Inca Rock
Those Incas were all about precision

Comments

[Katie Joyner]

Jacks
You may laugh at Jacks but you should so go there for porridge in the morning......I felt unwell one day when we were in Cusco so went to Jack's knowing it would be like home cooked food, despite the fact it was pretty much dinner time I decided in my sick state that I wanted porridge and porridge only and oh my goodness was it amazing....seriously the best porridge I've ever tasted in my whole entire life. I subsequently went back there every single morning I think hehe xxx