Cuzco followed by the longest bus trip ever!

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Today was almost a vacation day. We were allowed to sleep in as the four of us decided to skip the morning optional tour and opted for our own privately booked tour this afternoon. For experienced travelers you should be aware that there are options to the expensive tours offered by your tour company.Gate 1 is an excellent tour company with well trained guides, knowledgeable day guides and a well organized team of professionals. But, as all things in life there are options.

One option is to book a private tour. Sounds expensive right? Actually no. For example, Gate 1 offers a tour in Cuzco which covers the major attractions, Colonial Cathedral,Temple of the Sun,Sacsayhuarman,and then off to the market for an hour of shopping. Cost $75 dollars. We contacted a local tour company via the internet called Viators. They offered the same tour, plus we visited two additional churches, skipped the shopping and spent more time at each location for a total cost of $15. We did have to add the entrance fee at some of the sites but that brought the total to $53, but we only had 6 people in our tour. So there you have it, there are options if you are willing to break from the crowd.

So our tour began when they picked us up from the hotel for the short bus ride to the Colonial Cathedral of Cuzco. This Spanish Cathedral was build on the site of one of the important Inca temples called Kiswarkancha. This was where the ruler of Cuzco, Viracocha, worshiped. In order for the Spanish to tear down the Inca culture they had to tear done everything Inca.

The Spanish built their Cathedral beginning in 1550 and completed it in 1664 using stoned they cobbled together from other Inca sites. The building of the Cathedral not only served to show the Spanish god was stronger than the Inca gods but also allowed the Spanish to tear down everything Inca. A double bang for their efforts.

The Cathedral has 400 paintings of the Cuzco style. By this they mean the scene shows mostly the same events as depicted in the Spanish Cathedrals back in Span, but will include something Inca. For example there is a fine rendering of the Michael Angelo Last Supper where the main course in Guinea Pig. Yup it's true, they served Guines Pig at the last supper!

The Cathedral was part of a three church complex. There was the Sacred Family Church and the Convent of Santo Domingo. All designed to bring the Inca into the fold. Each church had amazing paintings, statuary, relics and gold and silver everywhere.

From here we went to the Temple of the Sun, mostly destroyed to build yet another Spanish Church. Here we saw some of the original walls, most of which were reconstructed. The Spanish again used many of the stones from this temple to build their churches. It was said that the Temple of the Sun was paved with gold in the streets and the roofs, all stolen and returned to Spain. One wall of the current structure was built upon the original Inca construction. The first church built on this site was severely destroyed by an earthquake all save for the Inca Stones which danced but did not fall.

From here we went to Sacsayhuaman, the site of an Inca fort. The stones here weigh over 100 tons each and were moved by brute force over 5 kilometers from the quarry. The site sits on a high hill overlooking Cuzco and the surrounding roads into town. One could see for many miles in 360 degrees allowing the Inca to have an early warning system in case of invasion. They knew the Conquistadors were coming long before they arrived. We climbed up and through the entire ruin and were treated to some spectacular views. Well worth the price of admission.

Pachamama is mother earth and is the giver of all life. The Inca worshiped Pachamama everywhere and said her name a hundred times a day. Our next stop was a cave temple to Pachamama where we visited the altar where Llama were sacrificed. The cave was a representation of the Pachamama uterus.

From mother earth to the water god, we headed to a sacred temple devoted to water. Here was a natural run off from the high Andes which was channeled through the earth to a beautiful structure that served as a sacred place for the water god and a source for sacred water for ritual purposes.

We finished the tour with a visit to another fortress, this one much smaller and built to protect a specific entrance into the city of Cuzco. All in all an amazing 5 hours of culture and a growing respect for the Inca engineers. I am sure with all our modern machinery it would still take forever to build these structures.



This morning we were to leave Cuzco for the last time and head high into the Andes to see Lake Titicaca the highest navigable lake in the world at 12,507 feet. But first to get there you have to go through hell.

We boarded our bus, it seemed safe enough, until we hit the road. The shocks were shot and so for the next 9 hours we rocked back and forth at a speed of 50 MPH for a journey of nearly 300 miles. The views were indeed spectacular but the rocking motion was compounded by the excessive bumps which made of a very uncomfortable ride indeed.

Now the Andes themselves are spectacular. We were surrounded by majestic views of the mountains as we climbed to a height of nearly 15,000 feet before we settled back to 14,500 feet. The air was thin so if you exerted yourself you had to pay the price of a few minutes of huffing and puffing until your heart rate fell to normal. Coca leave helped a bunch.

Our first stop was a potty run after two hours driving. There was nothing else there so we headed back to the bus and to the 15th century temple to Viracocha the pre-Inca creation deity. This was the largest pre-Inca temple ever discovered whose remain show some very elaborate stonework. Viracocha was one of the most important deities in the Inca pantheon and seen as the creator of all things, or the substance from which all things are created, and intimately associated with the sea. Viracocha created the universe, sun, moon, and stars, time (by commanding the sun to move over the sky) and civilization itself. Viracocha was worshipped as god of the sunand of storms. He was represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from his eyes as rain. (Wikipedia).

The temple is located within the town of Raqchi. Here was a large city of nearly 800 homes. The temple was an elaborate two story structure, said to be the largest Inca building under one roof. The area was populated by farmers and priests all focused on the worship of the deity. The Inca built 152 round buildings which were used as storehouses for grains and may have also served as living quarters. Little is known about daily life here in Raqchi.

Next we visited a local school where we gave the students a gift of paper, pencils, books and other supplies. They sang us a song in their language and seemed very pleased to see us. We were shown around the complex where about 56 students from 3 - 7 th grade were educated. The school was a typical third world school in need of everything, but next month the internet was coming so they were getting closer to the modern age.

On the bus again our next stop was a photo op at 14,876 feet for a view of the snow capped Andes and the highest point on our journey thus far. This was a short ten minute stop and back to the horrid bus, we continued the log drive. My back was now shot and my kidneys felt they went through a blender. The bus took us through the city of Juliaca a total rat hole of a location. Everything was broken and destroyed to levels beyond which we felt people could possibly live there, but they do. The road was a pot hole paradise and every building was falling down and filthy as were the people we could see from the bus. We could not wait to get away from this cesspool of a city. Why they brought us through her was source of amazement. The city of Juliaca is the seat of corruption in Peru. It is known for smuggling everything from cocaine to gold, oil, money and jewels. Everyone in the city is a crook. They city moves 1.5 billion dollars in elicit things. We followed the road until we reached Puno and our hotel for the night.

We were on our own for dinner and we walked down Lima street and found a nice local restaurant where I enjoyed a pizza and caprese salad. Tomorrow begins at 7:30 for a trip to the lake and the islands within.

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Comments

[Dancing Dave]

Cusco Cathedrals
Great rendition of the history of some of the churches in Cusco Phil. Was what we saw in these churches and the paintings that kicked off our quest to discover proof the Spaniards melded the Virgin Mary with the Inca mother God Pachamama to bring the Incas into the Roman Catholic fold. Still evident today. Fascinating stuff.