Walking Tour Cusco * Relaxing Afternoon
Today was the first day in a long time that we didn’t have a formal guided tour for the entire day. It was nice for a change. Our morning was spent with Roger again visiting nearby archeological sites and the city of Cusco. We started at Sacsayhuaman, the final location of the Inti Raymi festival yesterday. We marveled at the amazing stonework the Incas left behind. It’s too bad not more of the temple remains.
Afterwards we visited the temple to the water where a spring supplies water to some waterfalls and pools. Still today the Mountain people come early in the morning to bath in the holy waters. Our last archeological site was an Incan “funeral home” or “mortuary”. In-between and under a set of huge stones was an area created for preparing the dead for a funeral and for the family to take the mummy back to their homeland. The area was cold, and the stones acted as refrigeration while the body was being prepared. There was a small opening that allowed sunlight in which was then reflected into the dark space using a devise made of gold or silver.
Our last stops on the tour today were inside Cusco City. Roger isn’t too fond of the Catholics, so even though we visited a monastery and two Catholic Churches, he was quick to point out the Incan influences. One of the Catholic Churches was built on top of Coricancha - we didn’t even realize that until we walked out and saw the walls from the ancient Incan Temple and the site of the first part of Inti Raymi.
Inside another one of the Catholic Churches was a large painting of the last supper with “cuy” or Guinea Pig as the main dish and represent Judas - Pizarro. A definite dig on the Spanish conquistadors.
We finished off the day with a nice lunch chased by a McDonalds McFlurry, some souvenir shopping, and hot tubbing at the hotel. Dinner was a traditional roasted chicken with fries and salad.
No comments:
Post a Comment