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Published: March 27th 2007
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Day 2 in Cusco started again, of course, with a cup of cocoa tea. I felt a bit tired and a very mild headache, which I hoped was from my lack of sleep rather than the onset of altitude sickness.
We started our ´city tour´with a driveby of the Cathedral, followed by the ruins at Sacsaywaman, aka sexywoman, Q´enqo and Tambomachay. Sacsaywaman must have been an impressive structure before it was dismembered to build the cathedral in Cusco. To this date people are amazed by how the Incas were able to shape and fit the giant rocks, some weighing tonnes, to build such impressive structures. General similarities among Inca buildings were trapezoidal shape of doorways and niches, and angling (I recall 14 degrees) to give it stability. Many have temples of the sun and have structures for astronomical and sacrifical purposes. Incas were able to accurately predict summer and winter solstice (June 21st in the southern hemisphere).
This tour would have been looking at a pile of ruins had it not been for our local guide. I´ve been quite impressed by the quality of our local guides, who have added so much more to what we see. You´ll
see in many Inca ruins 3 steps, representing the upper world, middle world and the underworld. Most guides speak of the condor, puma and serpent representing these worlds respectively, however, I have also heard the upper world represented by sun, moon, star; middle by mountain, earth and water; and underworld by condor, puma and serpent. The Incas lived by the mantra ¨don´t lie, don´t be lazy and don´t steal¨and used it as their greetings. I think we can learn much from them.
At Sacsaywaman, some rocks were positioned such that they resembled the shape of a llama. It was here where a sacrificial altar was made, with 3 steps. At Q´enqo, our local guide Rebi (?sp) showed us the altar where many llamas were sacrificed, as well as a serpentine structure where the llama blood was poured into. It splited left and right; if the blood flowed left there would be a good year. We tried it with water and it flowed left! Near by were stone carvings of condor and puma, unfortunately they were damaged by the Spanish conquistadors. Rebi also showed us the spot where young beautiful women were brought as offerings for the gods. There is
a depression, and if the woman voids and misses, then she was not a virgin and would be dealt with according by her community. Apparently in 1998 a doctor brough a 13-year-old virgin to prove that missing the spot doesn´t mean non-virgin.
We were brought to a store that sells ¨authentic¨alpaca/llama/vicuna clothing and jewelry. I didn´t really pay much attention to the process of making jewelry or the knitting, but I did learn the differences between alpaca, llama and vicuna. Alpacas have shorter necks vs llama, and vicunas only have a patch of wool (?) at the front of their body that can be harvested. They are the softest and the most expensive. I bought a 2-sided touque for $12USD, down from $20, thinking that I got a deal, but I found out later at a local market something that looks identical for 12 soles! I tried to tell myself that what I bought was ¨authentic¨alpaca material and that I was contributing to the local economy.
For lunch we went to a restaurant where there were only locals, for the authentic local cuisine. I ordered a half cuy (pronounced
kwee or known in English as guinea pig. I
felt bad ordering it because I´ve had several guinea pigs as pets when I was younger, but I did anyway. You can see from the photos how little I enjoyed it. You are supposed to eat the skin, but it was very tough and I would describe the meat as very tough chicken, which wasn´t much to begin with as most of it was skin and bones. Later that night I had alpaca, which really tasted like steak.
We had the afternoon free and I was ready to do some exploring. I still had a mild but persistent headache which I hope would go away before the Inca Trail hike tomorrow. I had more cocoa tea before I went exploring.
I tried to see Q'orikancha, meaning "golden courtyard", upon which the Santo Domingo church was built. It was in fact known literally for its gold. Solid gold sheets once lined the temple walls and golden statues and pieces decorated the interior. Unfortunately all of this was looted by the conquistadors soon after they arrived in Cusco. Most of the gold was simply melted down. All that remains today is the fine Inca stonework, which forms the foundation of
Q'enqo
can you aim for the little depression? the church of Santo Domingo. Most impressive is a 6m high, curved wall at one end of the church, which unlike much of the colonial architecture, has withstood all of the major earthquakes that have rocked Cusco. I kept seeing the entrance to the musuem and the church, but couldn´t find an entrance to Q´orikancha proper, so I didn´t go in. It didn´t occur to me to ask either; even with my non-existant Spanish I should´ve asked as many locals in Cusco speak some English. I blamed it on my headache and that I wasn´t thinking clearly. Apparently it shares an entrance with the church, which I found out later.
After giving up finding the entrance, I went to see the Inka Museum. It features many many ceramic pieces, as well as metal aned some gold, but without a tour guide it wasn´t very informative or educational. I then walked down the 2 streets lined with Inca walls. One of them has a 12-sided stone. It was so not apparent that I had to walk up and down a couple of times to find it.
I had more cocoa tea before bed, hoping that my headache would clear
Q'enqo-2
a good year for everyone! before tomorrow´s hike. Hopefully the water flowing to the left would overcome my bad karma for eating a cuy.
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