Church, Chinchero, Moray & Mara

Church * Chinchero Ruins * Market * Moray * Maras

Today is our last day in Cusco. It’s been nice to have been at the same hotel for 4 nights. Our next 3 nights will be spent in 3 different locations. Lucky for us the church was a quick 3-minute walk down the street. We weren’t the only visitors in church today, there were a couple of other gringos hanging around. We stayed for both hours, sending Charlie to young mens by himself. He said the lesson was on dating and the law of chastity. Good to know those topics are important around the world.

We started our touring immediately after church heading to the town on Chinchero to visit the market and ruins. As we were walking to the ruins, we passed a processional of mountain people in traditional clothing playing music on a drum and violin. We weren’t sure what that was about, but it was fun to watch. When we arrived at the archeological site, we quickly looked at the Catholic Church and then noticed a group of worshipers outside in traditional clothing, separated by gender. It looked like there were having some sort of Catholic, traditional religious ceremony. At this sight we also got another glimpse of the Inca Trail.

After an hour ride along bumpy dirt roads with a few wrong turns we arrive at the Moray archeological site. This is an amazing display of circular terraces in this area, all built into a recessed area of the mountain. We walked around getting a overview of the impressive structure.

Our lunch was amazing today. We drove into the town of Maras which looked like other run down, Peruvian towns, only to be surprised with a beautiful home behind a secured gate. It was elegantly decorated with a gorgeous view of the Andes. We enjoyed a delicious, private lunch which we needed! (It was already 3 pm)

The final stop of the day was the Maras salt mountain. First, we visited a little family shop where their darling 16 yo daughter gave an explanation of how the salt mines work and what different products can be made from the salt. We tasted chocolates and smelled all sorts of salt rubs. Of course, we had to buy some chocolate. Afterwards we visited the impressive sight were 500 families own the hundreds of salt ponds. During the dry season, the ponds fill with water from a nearby saltwater springs. As the water evaporates, the salt is collected and harvested to be sold all over the world. The salt ponds are hundreds of years old.

Ancient Temples, "Modern" Churches, Wandering

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.

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.

Cusco Food, Arts, and Culture

Urubamba * Ollantaytambo * Chinchero * Cusco

Our bodies needed a solid, nights sleep. Even after a good nights rest in a comfortable bed we have very sore muscles! Arms, back, calves, thighs, it hurt to walk this morning.

Roger let us sleep in just a little bit (in comparison to the Inca Trail) and we met him in the hotel lobby at 900 a.m. Our first stop this morning was a local market in Urubamba. It was great because we were the only gringos in town. If felt very authentic. Roger walked us around the market, grabbing small samples for us to try. Roger seems to have friends everywhere. In the market Irene purchased some peas and then proceeded to eat them raw, the ladies in the vegetable stands did not like that at all. They said we should cook them.

After the market we drove to nearby Ollantaytambo to visit a traditional mountain home, complete with guinea pigs running around and a corner dedicated to their worship of idols and ancestors. Ollantaytambo was built hundreds of years ago and the streets are narrow with water channels down the sides and middle. After our city walk, we climbed a nearby hill to visit the old grainery, but mostly to get a good view of the Ollantaytambo site. Our legs screamed as we climbed up the mountain.

The most impressive part of the Ollantaytambo site are the huge stones that are perfectly carved and shaped together like a big jigsaw puzzle for the Temple of the Sun.  The temple is unfinished because the Incas abandoned it when the Spainards arrived. We looked at the ramp at the back of the site where the Inca likely moved the stones from the valley floor up to the top of the site to build their temple.

After Ollantaytambo we had a yummy lunch with traditional food and Marinera horse and people dance. The horses pranced around on their light feet and were beautiful. Lunch was followed by a fun pottery class at a local artist studio, Senor Seminario has been an artist in Cusco for over 40 years. His inspiration comes from all the ancient Peruvian cultures, but he has become more famous and even has some pieces in the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. We enjoyed learning about his art and then making our own clay tile and mask.

Our final stop today was the high town of Chincero to learn about how traditional clothe is made. The workshop was run by a coalition of single women, and they did an amazing job of teaching us about traditional methods of collecting wool, dying it, and then weaving it into clothe. They had an amazing selection of blankets, sweaters, and other items that of course we couldn’t resist buying several items.

From Sea Level to High Altitude

 Pisac Ruins * Pisac Market

Today we traveled from Puerto Maldonado to Cusco. A quick 45-minute flight from nearly sea level to 11,000 ft above sea level. It was up, up, up over the Andes. We had some extra time at the lodge this morning, so we enjoyed some card games while we waited for our canoe ride back into town.

When we arrived in Cusco we were meet by our guide and treated to a very quick lunch at a fancy restaurant with a view of the main square. In fact, we were only able to enjoy the appetizer because we needed to get to Pisac by 4:30 to see the archeological site. Our guide was very impressed that we wanted to climb up to the top of the site to see the citadel despite having just landed in Cusco. Apparently, most tourists need some time to acclimate in town before heading to higher elevations. We didn’t feel overly winded as we walked to the top of the site - our guide was impressed. We were also able to make a quick stop in the Pisac market and a jewelry shop where Sydney and I purchased a few things

Tonight, we caught up with Maren and Matt in our darling hotel in Yucay, just outside of Urubamba. The hotel use to be a monastery and is very charming. There was even a wedding party going on inside the courtyard. As we were approaching the hotel the area looked pretty run down, but amazingly enough as we turned into the property, it was beautiful and well maintained.

We also met our guide for the Inca Trail and our time in Cusco - Roger. He gave us our duffle bags to pack for the porters and let us know the plan for the next day. We later learned he was very worried, and he had never started a trek on the same day as someone arrived from the US. Tomorrow Irene and Dave fly in and will meet us in Ollantaytambo for our first day of trekking. I’m not worried though.