Inti Raymi Festival

 Inti Raymi Festival

Our entire trip was built around the Inti Raymi festival that was on Eric’s bucket list. We didn't even really know what this festival was until Eric started talking about this at the beginning of our planning. The festival use to be an ancient Incan festival practiced from about 1400 AD until the Spaniards took control of the region. It was resurrected again in 1944 as a way to preserve the Incan culture and a way to show the Catholics that there were many Peruvians that did not want to participate in Catholic festivals.

The festival started at the Sun God Temple Coricancha in the center of Cusco. Our tour company had rented out a school that overlooked the plaza, so we had amazing seats. It immediately reminded us of a church pageant with colorful costumes, music, and wonderful dancing. After an introduction of the different regions under the Incan empire and a visit from the Incan king, we moved to the next site, the main square in Cusco.

Here the festivities continued, and the local dignitaries were recognized. Once again, the tour company had reserved a restaurant with a balcony that overlooked the main square. Roger knew that we would need to move fast to get the front row, so we put on our best Disneyland fast walked and worked our way through the traffic to be the first at the restaurant.

The last stop of the festival was the Sacsayhuaman archeological site where the Incan King performs a number of ceremonies to the sun god. The most curious was killing the llama on the alter, however, the llama was only hog-tied and held down while the King fake killed him. However, the king did pull out a real llama heart for show that he then threw into the fire.

The festival lasted all day, from 9 until 4. The music was catchy, but repetitive. It was mostly drums with the Incan flute. It was fun to watch the dances in their amazing costumes. After the festival we wandered around Cusco a bit before having dinner at a Peruvian Steak house. Irene and Dave leave tomorrow for Iquitos.