The Ruins and The Festivities

Day 3 - June 15, 2017

First, let me say that the altitude gods did not strike us on our second day in this high elevation (as warned by some others in our hotel). We all slept pretty well and were feeling fine.

We met our guide, Ronald (Ronnie), and driver, Andres for our adventures to various Incan sites around Cusco. Just when we thought we had that naming controversy settled, Ronnie tells us that the real name of the city is actually Qosqo (sounds like Costco); it must be true since we see it on some signs and stores around the city.

Our first stop was to ascend above the city of Qosqo to an Incan site called Sacsayhuaman (Ronnie says it is easy to remember since it is pronounced kind of like 'sexy women'). We did make a quick stop at San Cristobal (Christopher for the non-Spanish speaking in this readership) to get a birds-eye view of the city. As one interested in churches, especially Catholic ones, I wanted to go inside – see what’s up and maybe even offer a little prayer. Well, I learned that all the churches double as ‘museums’ and there is an entry fee (10 soles or about $3). I should have known this as we had to pay 10 soles to get into the Jesuit church yesterday, but somehow I thought that was special. Anyway, through broken English and broken Spanish, I asked if I could just go inside for a quick prayer. The answer was a polite, smiling, “Yes, for 10 soles.” OK, they need it more than I do.

When we got to an even higher elevation, Ronnie said about 12,000-12,500, we entered … I’ll just call it “S” so I do not have to write out the name. It was a huge expanse that was a religious site. There was a very large open field with high walls and characteristic terraces on either side (you got to get used to terraces because the Inca build a gazillion of them). We could see the city of Qosqo far below.

While the walls had the typical and incredible craftsmanship of being knitted together very tightly, the pictures does not do justice to the size of the stones. In the picture below, the one on the right side of the picture behind us is 32 feet high (some of it underground). The large rectangular stone in the background on the left is the largest stone on the site weighing 256,000 pounds !! Yes, that’s a quarter million pounds. How did they move that 2.7 miles from the quarry through the mountains to this spot and place it so precisely. Well, we will never know for sure since the Inca did not have a written language and they left no records.

Here is another view (with some rag-tag tourists) from on top of one of the sides of the site with the enormous open field below - perhaps the size of 3-4 football fields from end to end.

Next, still higher up, we visited the site of Tambomach’ay. We hiked a gradual incline, which was a little breath-taking, but nothing we couldn’t handle. It had some interesting remains, but nothing astounding.

A very short distance away was Pukapukura, which was a military watch post. Naturally it had a commanding view of the territory below to spot oncoming friends or foes. The scenery here was very nice, even if the remains were unremarkable (by Incan standards of construction).

Next we were on to another nearby site (Q’Enqo) where the Inca mummified their royalty. It was underground where the temperatures were colder. We had to walk through carved pathways in the granite to get to the underground spot (note our guide, Ronnie).

  



The view of Cusco below. We are nearly 12,500 feet at this location.



We returned to Qosqo and the Plaza de Armas to a jam packed area with side streets crammed with people celebrating, selling wares, eating and talking. It was an extremely festive atmosphere. It was the official day for the Festival of Corpus Christi. I do not know how to estimate the number of people in a large crowd, but estimated 40,000, and Ronnie told us the news reported 35-40,000. We turned our backpacks into ‘frontpacks’ at Ronnie’s suggestion and proceeded into the square.

Many figures/statues of saints and Mary paraded around the square and into the Qosqo Cathedral. The saints were for the various parishes - perhaps 15 or so. They are very colorful, including fresh flowers, with each parish having a band playing and followers dressed in their specific parish suits and dresses.



  

We ate a much deserved lunch (it was 2PM at this point) at a very good restaurant just a half block off the square called Morena (highly recommended if you are ever in Qosqo in this area). Like many buildings / storefronts in Qosqo, it doesn’t look like much from the outside, but inside it was very nice and the food was great (then again, maybe we were just hungry, but I don’t think so).

The youngsters (all three of them) went back to the hotel to rest/nap (they were acting like they were on vacation or something!), while the senior statesman went to the Inka Museum … it was only 10 soles ($3), so what the heck. It was OK, but I did learn some things and enjoyed a very sunny courtyard just relaxing and staring at the perfect blue sky absorbing the 68° weather.

The youngsters rejoined me later and we agreed to venture to a highly recommended bar named Limbus that was supposed to have a spectacular view. We had to walk up the hill from the Plaza de Armas to the art district known as San Blas (Saint Blase of throat blessing fame as all you Catholics know). We asked directions several times (which is very unusual for a group of men as any of you women can attest), and we could see the balcony on the hillside above us from several different angles. But I’ll be d---ed, if we could get to it. We marched up and down the very steep streets passing the same spot on more than one occasion … until alas, we saw a small alleyway off a side street (that we had traversed at least 3 times previously) that looked promising. Then Joe noticed, “Hey, there’s a sign here that say Limbus.”

We had some drinks while we watching the sunset and dusk overtaking the city. As the city lights came to life, we were glad that we had hiked the extra miles round and round to find it.

Dinner was on San Blas Plaza at the highly recommended Pachapapa where I had my first delectable encounter with alpaca (tastes like very lean beef but no cholesterol). After dinner sitting by a wood burning stove, we strolled back through Plaza de Armas only to see many groups of young dancers doing highly orchestrated dance routines, all of which seemed to tell a story or have some symbolic meaning that escaped our non-Peruvian understanding. Later we found out that they were practicing for a dance competition the next day that was still part of the ongoing festival, which lasts all week.