This morning was free time, we were supposed to rest and acclimatize. We had trouble breathing through the night and through the day before. It is more humid here and much harder to breathe. We woke up early and the 2 of us went for a walk. We passed a church where some young girls were dressed as angels and carrying baskets of rose petals, apparently in honour of St Martin, we were told. We wanted to find a geocache, but after walking for kilometers and then finding out the last kilometer was straight uphill, we gave up and took a dollar and a half ride back to the hotel.
Frankie lost her sunglasses and looked everywhere for them, with no luck. They are prescription and her favourite pair.
At noon the 6 of us walked to the main square to find lunch. We ended up getting Peruvian fast food, just like McDonalds and just as yucky. Although we got a laugh at their "Justin Huever" special. Frankie was waiting outside because Anton was fixing up a messed order, and he completely missed the parade that went by. Lots of bands and costumes and dancing. And a huge gorilla guy who pretended to cut off Frankie's hair with giant plastic shears. The main feature of the parade was a giant statue of Mary being carried with some priests. After the parade a cleanup crew went through with brooms and garbages.
Our new tour guide Dennis picked us up with a new driver and a spanking brand new van. He gave us a city tour of Cuzco, starting with the Cathedral. The thing is huge, built by the spaniards around 500 years ago. There is an altar made of 1200 kilos of silver. Also a huge painting depicting the Last Supper, where they are all eating cuy. Cuy is guinea pig, a very common dish in this area. No, we haven't tried it yet. Apparently it is served whole with a pepper served in a wide open mouth. Also in the painting, everyone is white but Judas has darker skin and was modelled after the nasty spaniard Francisco Pizzarro who decimated the Incas.
The most interesting part of this cathedral was the black Jesus. He used to be a white statue of Jesus. One day during a horrible earthquake, everything was falling apart until they grabbed this statue and took it outside. Suddenly the earthquake stopped. After that people lit candles at the statue's feet in worship, and he turned all black from the smoke. Some women tried to clean him with vinegar and egg whites, but that only succeeded in making the black permanent.
Our next stop was the church where we had seen the angel girls, Convento de Santo Domingo. It is a Catholic church built on top of some Inca ruins, Koricancha (courtyard of gold). This was the location of the most important temples in all of the Inca empire, which included the Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon, Temple of Thunder and Lightning, etc. The Incas were a pre-Columbian race that unified and ruled a large portion of South America along the Andes from 1100 to 1500, until the Spaniards came for the gold and silver. The Incas had a very developed society, and their stones were perfectly cut and placed together, but they did not have the wheel. They worshipped one Incan king and when he died they continued to worship him, carrying his mummy through the towns. That area would continue to worship that king, and another king would rise at his death and rule over another area. Unfortunately, the spaniards had most of the mummies burnt.
Our next stop was Saqsayhuamen (pronouned "sexy women"), which was an Incan fortress to protect Cuzco, which was the center of the Incan universe. It was capable of accomodating 5000 fighters.
Next was Tambomachay, a place where the Incans worshipped water. They used water in their purification rituals. Some people called this place Baths of the Incas. It is not known where the source of the water is. Anton asked the guard if he could take his picture, and the guard grabbed Frankie so she was in the picture too. Then he took out his own cellphone and had Anton take the same picture on his phone.
Lastly, Dennis took us to Kenko, one of the largest huacas (holy places) in the Inca region. It was a labyrinth of naturally occuring rock formations where there was a huge sacrificial stone. The Incas used to sacrifice to the local mountains. They also performed surgeries here, and some Incan skulls have been found with dental work (stones implanted in the jaw).
We drove by Puca Pucara, Inca military ruins used to defend Cuzco.
At the end of our day, Dennis told us that Frankie's sunglasses had been found in Henry's van, she must have left them there last night. They will arrive in Cuzco with another tour group driver within the next few days.
We went with Pete and had a really nice dinner at a more upscale restaurant than what we've been used to, it was a nice change.
Sent from my BlackBerry.
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