Today was the day: the Festival de Corpus Christi. The program had said the opening mass was at 8 on the Plaza de Armas, but we're getting smarter. We had a leisurely breakfast and leisurely getting ready and didn't get out to the plaza until 8:30. They were busy getting ready at that time, but the actual mass didn't start until 10, so we were still left standing for a long time waiting for things to happen.
Before we got out there they had already brought out the "Golden Sun Custody." This holds the consecrated host. The custody is pure gold and studded with pearls and precious gems and is carried in and 18th century silver carriage. But the custody is relatively small, so the main thing you notice is the carriage.
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| In front of Golden Sun Custody in its silver carriage |
They were in the process of bringing out the saints. Some of the saints had last minute fashion emergencies that had to be taken care of.
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| Fixing a saint |
There were legions of children of all ages in their school uniforms carrying their school banners. We later found out that they followed the Golden Sun Custody on its trip around the plaza.
At last around 10, the archbishop, bishop, and priests came in and the mass began.
One really cool thing about the mass was that the songs were sung in Qechuan, Spanish, and Latin. Here's the first page of the pamphlet with songs in Qechuan.
After a while into the mass, we were tired of standing so we decided to go back to the hotel and have a cup of coca tea (they keep a pot of hot water and coca leaves in the lobby). It wasn't easy getting across the plaza; it had lots more people than yesterday.
After we'd rested our feet for a while, we walked down Avenida del Sol away from the plaza. We needed to get some tissues and cough drops (Sandra has developed a cold today). She also wanted to get a windbreaker and I wouldn't mind a second long sleeve t-shirt. We found the windbreaker for Sandra, but no t-shirt for me. I had a terrible time telling the clerk at the pharmacy we wanted cough drops. I couldn't remember the word for cough. We demonstrated and then he brought us cough syrup, but I said no to that, and then he tried capsules. Finallly he said "como caramelo?" and I said yes. What we ended up getting is like cepacol, but it works.
On our way home we went by the hotel where we'll meet up with the REI tour. It's close enough we'll be able to walk even with the big suitcase. We tried to get the boleto turistico that gets us in to lots of sites, but he said they wouldn't come until this afternoon or tomorrow.
When we got back to the Plaza they were parading the custody around the plaza. We went upstairs to the hotel restaurant thinking we would watch from there, but even that lookout was packed for the first time. We were able to see pretty well, though, past people and below was shoulder-to-shoulder people and paced tight. What you can't see in the photo below is the large amounts of incense wafting up around the custody. Also, these bearers only had to wheel it, they didn't have to carry it. In front were the priests. Behind were the legions of school children all carrying their banners.
You can't imagine how packed the plaza was. This photo can give you an idea of how many people there were. But interestingly, they were respecting the green spaces in the plaza. That may be because there were lots of police around. At all these events there have been lots of police from a lot of different departments around helping with traffic and monitoring the crowds.
After we had lunch, we took naps. We're getting really good at sleeping with bands and loudspeakers going on outside. Last night the music went on until at least 3:30am (the last time I woke and heard it). But we both slept very well. After we got up, we decided we wanted to go see Qorikancha. As we left the plaza (almost 3pm now), they were beginning to parade the saints around the plaza. We walked a few blocks down the Avenida del Sol to Qorikancha
Qorikancha is the place where originally the main Inka temple stood. The walls were stone and covered with gold. When the Spaniards came, they stripped all the gold off the walls and took the gold statures and melted them down to ship back to Spain. Pizzaro give this area to his brother Juan, who willed it to the Dominicans when he died. They tore down much of the building to build a convent and church, which still runs the property. After an earthquake in the 1950s, some of the Dominican building fell down revealing the foundations of the earlier Incan walls built beginning in the 13th century without even any mortar. In the photo below, you can see a room built by the Incans, which is inside the Dominican building. The Incan room would have been roofed with wood and thatch. It was interesting how the Dominicans had built their buildings to include the existing walls.
In the photo below, you can compare the Incan masonry with the Spanish. To Sandra's left is the Incan wall. The stones fit together precisely and do not use mortar. To her right is the Spanish masonry; the stones are held together by mortar.
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| Sandra at Qorikancha |
In the photo below, Nita is standing in the main cloister built by the Dominicans.
Here's a view from the outside. The Spanish building is on the right and above and the Incan building is the outwardly curving piece on the right at the bottom.
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| Qorikancha |
It was really neat comparing the masonry and learning to recognize the stonework of the Inca. On our way home, we went went on a little passaje that was so narrow, only foot traffic could go. The guidebook said it had old Incan stonework along the way. We easily recognized what parts were likely to be Inkan.
By the time we got back to plaza, the last two saints were nearly around the square. We got to see them finish up and going into the catedral for the night.
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| La Virgen Imaculada Concepcion finishes her tour of the plaza |
In the video below, we are standing on the terrace on the roof of our hotel. You can see one of the last saints going into the catedral. There are not near as many people as there were earlier, but the plaza is still packed with people. I don't know if you can tell from the video here, but there are at least 3 different bands playing at once and police whistling. It just is chaotic and this has been going on for most of two days now!
We went to a restaurant up a street from the plaza where we hadn't been before for dinner. Sandra is feeling her cold and had "Pollo Dieta" which is chicken soup. It was nice with pasta and broccoli, carrots, and spinach in it. I had Lomo Saltado, which was beef with sauteed onions, peas, and potatoes. We also got a pisco sour to split, but instead of simple syrup, they just put sugar in it, so it had about a teaspoon of sugar in the bottom of the glass. It was not near as good as Ricardo's pisco sour in Lima!
We're getting ready to go to bed soon and the music is still playing and singers singing, although I can only hear one band at a time now. Good thing we can sleep through this!
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