Cuzco

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Monday

In the morning we had a tour of the city of Cuzco, seeing the remains of Inca Temples which the Spanish, after conquering, built their churches over. Some of these remains were in the San Domingo Monastery and were only discovered after the earthquake in 1950. We visited the colonial church in San Blas which housed an amazing pulpit carved in one piece from a single cedar tree cut from a nearby plaza. It four years to carve by one person whose skull is said to be resting on the top, it was clearly visible. All of the main tourist attractions were guarded by police including armed and riot police. We went snide the cathedral which was originally built by the Spanish in the early 17th century on the site of the Inca Palace of Viracocha. It has been extended to consist of three churches joined together. All of the churches had exaggerated Baroque style floor to ceiling alters covered in gold and silver leaf which was purported to have been stolen from the Inca Temples. Our guide pointed out details in the paintings where the local artists had incorporated their beliefs and ancestry into the artwork they were forced to produce for their Spanish masters. Such as Inca faces for some of the people, a roasted guinea pig (a Peruvian delicacy eaten on special occasions) on the table for the last supper and how most depictions of the Virgin Mary made her triangular in shape in reverence to the sacred Inca mountains. We had also seen some of this evidence in artwork in Lima.

We adjourned to a local coffee shop for drinks where we sat in the sunshine on a balcony overlooking the main plaza. Teachers demonstrating passed by outside the Cathedral and again while we were in the coffee shop, we understood that the had been doing this every day for a month. We went to have lunch at The Fallen Angel in the Plaza Nazarenas, a very unusual restaurant mainly due to its furniture. Our lunch was served on table which was a glass topped bath tub, filled with water and goldfish. We chose this restaurant on the recommendation of Chris who visited it in 2011, the food was delicious. Our tour guide had recommended The Inca Grill restaurant for dinner in the main plaza, which didn't disappoint.

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