Cusco Day 1

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

After a morning flight to Cusco, a city of 350,000 people nestled in the Andes mountains, we met our guide, Rosa, and checked into the hotel. Our hotel, The Libertador, overlooks the plaza Santo Domingo, which has Qorikancha, the temple of the sun. We walked through the central plaza, Plaza D’Arma, with a Cathedral and Dominican church. We ate lunch on the square and then headed just outside the city to see some Incan ruins. The altitude is about 11,000 feet here (up from about 400 feet about sea level where we were in the Amazon). Erin, our friend we are traveling with, unfortunately had some side effects of mountain sickness and required oxygen briefly, but is doing fine now.

The first Incan site was Tambomachay, which served as a resting place for people traveling from the surrounding areas into Cusco to trade and go to the marketplace since 2,000 years BC. There is a stream along the site and a temple area in which mummies were stored. The Incan mummies are placed in the fetal position and wrapped in layers of woven cloth over which a metal or wooden face plate it placed. At Q’enqo there is a cave area that served as an important temple where sacrifice was performed. Saqsayhuaman was an important area for rituals related to the sun god on June 21st, the winter solstice. There are huge stones that are fitted together amazingly tightly and the buildings have fantastic views of Cusco and the ceramic rooftops.

We returned to the city and went to the Temple of the Sun or Qorikancha. This was an Incan site with walls adorned with plates of silver and gold that were removed to pay the ransom that the Spanish demanded in return for the Incan king. The Catholics then built a church around the original Incan site. The juxtaposition of Incan stones with the 16th century arches and murals creates an interesting contrast. We went to the Plaza D’Arma to see the Catholic church, which is incredibly ornate and contains a lot of gold leaf. The church coerced many wealthy natives to contribute to the paintings and alters in the church. After leaving the church, we walked through the streets of Cusco, which contain areas of original Incan walls mixed with 16th century European style buildings, many of which have carved balconies and huge wooden doors. The streets are steep and cobblestoned, with some still showing the original Incan sewers. We ate in a restaurant and then strolled through the narrow streets back to the hotel.