Winter Solstice in Peru: We join the tour

Today our tour started. I think the thing we were most excited about is being off the Plaza de Armas and maybe sleeping tonight. The concert last night went until 1am and then the band did their march around the plaza from 4:45am until about 6am. And check out time was 9am, so no late sleeping for us. We were pretty draggy!

We ate breakfast fast, showered and packed and checked out by 9am. The hotel we are staying at for the first night of the tour is Novotel and only about 3 blocks away. So we walked. We have one big bag and two small bags. The big one is a roller and the small ones are small enough to carry. But rolling that big bag along streets and sidewalks that are all stones, bricks, and steps was hard work! We traded off and made not too worn out.

We had to wait to check in, but we decided just to sit in the lobby and play with our ipads to relax some. They were able to get our room ready early. This hotel is built around a couple of courtyards, the main lobby is a courtyard that has a plexiglass roof. But other than that, it is also a very modern hotel. Our room faces onto a little garden courtyard. It seems almost eerily quiet after our last hotel! We were very happy about that.

We met up with our tour after lunch at 12:30. Our tour guide is Diego who is from Lima, but has worked in this area for a few years. There are about 14 people on this tour ranging from a high school student to a guy who I think is older than us. We all introduced ourselves and then started our tour of Cusco. We were surprised that the first two places we visited where places we had already been (because they weren't mentioned in the tour documents). But we learned some interesting and different things from Diego.

First we went to the catedral. Diego pointed out all the many ways the catedral and its two sister churches merge Inkan iconography and ideas with Catholic ones. For example, he pointed out how the main altars of the three churches don't have crucifixes. They all have Mary in the front. Diego said that this was because when the Spaniards showed the Inkans a crucifix and said this was God, the Inkans couldn't believe it because their gods were the sun and the moon and the Mother Earth and this seemed to be only a dying man. But they could relate to Mary, so she has the prominent place on the altars. Also, he pointed out how all the images of Mary are shaped like a mountain with a head and hands and they never show her having feet. Here's a Virgen from the parade of saints earlier that illustrates this.

This shows that she is being portrayed as Mother Earth, which in Inkan iconography is a mountain. It wouldn't make sense to have Mother Earth standing on the earth. Mary is also often shown as pregnant in the paintings in the church which would connect to the important value placed on fertility by the Inkans. Diego showed us a stone that was basically egg shaped and about two feet high that represents the main God of the Inkans. For a long time it was inside the main altar of the catedral until a bishop discovered it there and had it removed. But they could not throw it out of the catedral or the current Inkans would not come to church. So they put it in the back of the church and had been using it as a door stop. Now it's enclosed in plexiglas and has a sign on it, but it doesn't say it used to be in the altar.

The second place we went was Qorikancha. Diego showed us places on the outside wall where little protuberances in the stone are believed to be a sun dial that keeps track of the time of year. They just looked like mistakes on the face of the stones.

While we were there a group of men dressed in traditional costume came into the building and marched around the courtyard of the building in two colums, stopping at every corner to blow on their conch shells three times (that's very loud!). Then they went into the courtyard and stood in a circle and blew their horns again. I'm not sure what this was, whether it was for solstice or just a general ritual.

 

Men in traditional dress with conch shell horns

 

After Korikancha we went to Sacsaywaman. But we went on a bus. All our worrying about our being able to make it up the hill and then they bussed us up! But we werer really glad we walked up yesterday so that we had the experience of being able to do that.

Diego said that although the Inkans had defended Sacsaywaman against the Spaniards, it was not a military installation, but was a religious center. It was built with three sets of walls, each 33 feet high, the second and third starting at the top of the previous wall. In the center of the top was a tower 33 feet tall (everything in 3s). The stones of Sacsaywaman are very huge, which is probably good, because 80% of the stones of Sacsaywaman were used by the Spaniards and other people to build buildings in Cusco. What is left may be mostly too big to move. Here's a photo of us standing in front of a corner stone on the bottom level of Sacsaywaman.

 

 

The stones of Sacsaywaman are limestone rather than the andecite of Qorikancha and so the stone faces are a lot more weathered (also, I guess, the walls of Qorikancha were enclosed in walls the Spanish built until the 1950 earthquake).

The next photo shows more of the bottom level of the walls of Sacsaywaman and some from the next level above.

 

 

The next photo of Sandra is taken on the second level. The stones to the right are the top of the first level and she is standing against stones in the second level.

 

 

We didn't go up further than the second level. After visiting Sacsaywaman, we rode in the bus to another area of the Sacsaywaman preserve to view the temple of the moon. We walked across some farmland to get to it. This photo shows the snow-capped sacred mountain (I don't recall the name) across a quinoa field. Quinoa used to be what peasants ate here, but of course now it is very trendy.

 

 

They don't really know whether the temple of the moon really was a temple of the moon, but there is an outcropping with Inkan carved steps and a small cave with an opening to the top of the outcropping. When the moon is full at certain times, the light comes into the cave, so they call it the temple of the moon.

 

Passageway into the temple of the moon

 

The wind was getting pretty nippy up so high and it was getting close to dark at that point, so we were glad when we headed back. We rode the bus back to about 3 blocks from the hotel (the hotel is on a pretty narrow street, only space for one car to pass) and hiked back. We had about 20 minutes to prepare for dinner and then we were all going to a restaurant on the Plaza de Armas. After figuring we wouldn't eat until 7:30 at the earliest and likely wouldn't get back to the hotel at 9, we bailed on dinner with the group and had room service. We hope to be asleep by 9pm. We have to be up by 6:30 tomorrow. We're counting on a full night's sleep tonight!

I'll leave you with a couple of fun signs I've collected in bathrooms on this trip.

 

In the Cusco Airport

 

At Sacsaywaman

 

 

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Last full day before the tour

Today is our last full day in Cusco. We had come early to acclimatize to the altitude so we'd be ready for our tour which starts midday tomorrow. We decided to test our acclimatization by hiking up to Sacsaywaman, which is either a temple or military installation built between 1000 and the late 1400s by the Inkans. It's a little over a mile from the Plaza de Armas, but a mile with a gain of about 1200 feet, meaning straight up. This first photo is Sandra on the Resbalosa Via Peatonal (a via peatonal is paved like a street, but is only wide enought for pedestrians).

 

 

When we got even just part way up, we had beautiful views of the city and the mountains beyond. Our camera doesn't do this great, but where the white on the horizon is, there is a snow-capped mountain.

 

 

Also on the way up, we encountered a woman with an alpaca who offered for us to take a photo. We've encountered lots of these entrepreneurs. On the Plaza de Armas, we have been constantly approached by people selling souvenirs, hats, jewelry, shoe shines, paintings, ice cream, chicharrones (cracklings), parched corn, hats, folding seats, parasols, and photos with traditionally dressed women and baby alpacas. We have bought some little colorful alpacas (keychains) to put on our seasonal tree, but mostly we've resisted. But I decided I wanted a photo with this woman and her alpaca. The cost was a voluntary "propina" (tip).

 

 

We made it to the park area and there were still many steps to go. We stopped to take off layers (it was about 36 degrees this morning, but with our climb we were ready for short sleeves). We had to rest a few times on our way to the top, but we made it. And I don't think it was much harder than it would have been if we hadn't been having to deal with the altitude. We didn't go into the park at the top because we'll be doing that with our tour tomorrow. We just wanted to make sure we could do it and we could! We did get to see some great Inkan stonework.

 

Sandra on the way up to Sacsaywaman

 

These rocks are really big!

 

Amazing Inkan stonework: No mortar, rocks fit tightly together

 

A staircase

 

After Sacsaywaman, we came home and had our cup of coca tea. Then we walked in the streets west of the Plaza de Armas where we hadn't been before to look at a place for lunch. We found a nice place right on the streets. It was good, but the vendors came onto the porch, so we had to deal with them all during the meal. That wasn't very pleasant.

After lunch, we tried to take a nap. The music went on all night last night using a loudspeaker, so it was hard to sleep. It got softer in the wee hours (maybe about 4am) when they quit using the loudspeaker, but then at 5:30am a band started marching around the Plaza: a very effective alarm clock. But we couldn't take a nap as they were testing the speakers for tonight's fandando and they are doing repairs somewere in the hotel. We are getting a little tired of this!

This photo of the front of the catedral is from this morning. We thought they had put a beer ad banner on the front of the church, but it's really on the front of the stage they are building in front of the church. If you look closely, you may see the giant speakers we'll be listening to tonight.

 

 

After not naps, we wanted to go through the Cathedral across the plaza from us. They've been setting up for tonight, which is in front of the catedral. They've put up barriers all around so it's hard to get to the door of the catedral. We did learn that the catedral was closed until 4:30 for a private function. So we decided to try to find Sandra more cough drops. I've figured out how to say it (from the package) "Queremos pastillas para dolor de la garganta": We want lozenges for pain in the throat. We walked and walked trying to find the place we went to before, but even though some places seemed familiar, we couldn't find it. I had to take out my Pocket Earth a couple of times to figure out where we were and how to get back to the cathedral. We did pass another botica and my new phrase worked like a charm for getting what we wanted. And we finally made it back to the Plaza de Armas, so we went to our hotel and I sat in the lobby and had more coca tea while Sandra went upstairs to drop off and pick up stuff.

We went back to the catedral and it was completely blocked off and the barriers are guarded by military types who looked like they meant business (are the performers tonight certified rock stars?). They said we had to go to the other side of the catedral (half a block away) and there was a passage to get us back to this side. So we did that and finally made it inside.

The catedral is really three churches: the main catedral and two smaller churches on the sides. It was built on the location of an Inkan temple and was built in part from stones taken from Sacsaywaman. It was finished after 100 years in 1654. There are many beautiful and elaborate altars along the sides, many carved from wood and then covered with gold or silver. There were also lots of paintings. My favorite was a painting of the last supper where the food was cuy (guinea pig) and other traditional peruvian foods. There were also the saints we've been watching parade the plaza for the last two days. They stay in the catedral for 7 days before going home. We lit a candle for Sandra's mother.

After the catedral, we were really tired. We walked around a bit looking for a new restaurant to try, but in the end went back to Inka Grill on the plaza because we knew they made good Pisco Sours and we wanted to celebrate our success in climbing up to Sacsaywaman. For dinner, Sandra got alpaca skewers. The sauce was tasty and the meat okay, but it was a bit tough and gamey.

It's been a long tiring day and we're ready to sleep, but tonight on the plaza is the "Night of Sound and Light." The sound is a super duper stage in front of the catedral complete with giant TVs on either side and huge speakers. The light is a light show on the front of the catedral and fireworks. If the fireworks come before we try to go to sleep, we should be able to see them perfectly outside our hotel window. We saw them preparing the launches about half way up the hill on our way to Sacsaywaman. So anyway, we're not feeling very confident we'll get much sleep tonight. I have to say, we'll be happy tomorrow night when we join the tour and our hotel is not right on the square. We could use a good night's sleep!

As I finish up writing this, we're listening to the loud rock band and screams of the crowd. Yesterday it was religious ecstacy, today, it's a rock concert! But in the end, we did get to watch the fabulous fireworks from the comfort of our bed.

Fireworks over Cusco

 

 

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Navigating the streets of Peru

We have mentioned the harrowing taxi rides, in Lima. Let me explain. First of all going from point A to point B apparently requires a minimum of 25 turns. I think one trip we took I felt like we turned 50 times. Most of the roads are one way streets, however they are not marked, at least not that I can tell, and narrow. There are numerous traffic circles and all hell breaks loose in them, cars criss cross, changing lanes all the while honking horns. There is so much honking it is hard to know who is warning you they are coming through. There are signs everywhere stating 'NO HONKING'.

We have mostly walked in Cusco but the following is true of both cities. Pedestrians cross where ever they like, many times stopping traffic and the honking goes crazy. There are, at the busiest intersections, pedestrian lights however the folks around here do not wait. There are also traffic cops with bright lime green gloves and whistles. The cars will stop for the cops but not the pedestrians they just try to weave through the cars. When there is no traffic light or cop we usually wait until there are a few others waiting to cross and then join the group (safety in numbers). It works well if you ignore the honking.

Traveling by foot has been adventurous, we have averaged 3 to 5 miles a day.
Posted by Sandra

Festival de Corpus Christi & Qorikancha

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.

 

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.

 

 

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.

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.

 

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.

 

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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Festival de Corpus Christi & Qorikancha

Today was the day: the Festival de Corpus Christi. The program we had said the opening mass was at 8 on the Plaza de Armas, but we're getting smarter. We had a leisurely breakfast and 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.

 

In front of Golden Sun Custody in its silver carriage

 

They were in the process of brining out the saints. Some of the saints had last minute fashion emergencies that had to be taken care of.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

A few minutes 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 was more full of 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 could 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.

One 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 let's 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 the original 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 who tore down much of the building to build a convent and church, which still runs the property. After an earthquak in the 1950s, some of the Dominican building fell down revealing the foundations of the earlier Incan walks 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.

Sandra at Qorikancha

 

In the photo below, Nita is standing in the main cloister built by the Dominics.

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

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 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 we hadn't been to 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, although I can only hear one band at a time now. Good thing we can sleep through this!

 

 

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A light day in Cuzco

Today we are trying to take it easy while we get used to the altitude. We planned to visit the Museo Inka, the main Catedral, and view the Entrance of the Corpus Christi in the Plaza de Armas. All of these are either on the plaza or a block off. We started out with a leisurely breakfast at the hotel with coca tea, scrambled eggs, bread, and fruit. (We passed on the mixed fruit with strawberries because we've been warned about fruit you don't peel, but we had papaya which was very good.

Before sightseeing, we went to some hiking shops on a narrow lane right off the plaza that we'd seen the day before. I wanted to buy a long sleeve t-shirt. All my shirts are short sleeved and I needed something in between that and my fleece. We've been watching the weather on our iphones for the last month and I'm looking at weather.com right now and it says mid 60s low and mid 80s to 90s high. But it just hasn't felt that warm. Today I finally checked google's weather and it's saying high of 70 and lows in the 30s. That sounds more like what it feels like! Anyway, I needed another layer. But most of the stores were still closed (it was 10:30).

So then we went back to the plaza and decided to sit in the sun while we waited until 11am when the Entrance was supposed to happen.

We sat on the stairs of the main cathedral. When we first got there, there weren't a lot of people, but it began filling up and so we were pretty sure we were in the right place for the Traditional Entrance of the Festivities of the Cuzquenan Corpus Christi. The festival of Corpus Christi is tomorrow, but today the saints are supposed to parade into the plaza and go into the catedral, where they spend the night to await the procession tomorrow. This festival is the biggest one of the year in Cuzco.

 

Nita on stairs of catedral: don't I look saint-like?

But nothing happened. After a while we heard a band and we saw a procession go past a corner off the plaza, but it didn't come to the plaza and it was pretty short. We heard bands playing in the distance a couple of times. Then around noon, we saw a procession with two saints go by the side of the plaza, where we could see them, but they went past and besides, we thought there were supposed to be more saints than that. (It turns out there are 15).

But by then, we didn't think we could stand to wait for the rest. We went back to the hotel for lunch and sat on the balcony so if more came, we could see them. But still nothing happened. We decided we needed naps (so far we've just had drowsiness and a little head-achiness from the altitude). We laid down and we could hear bands coming onto plaza, but we really needed naps. (And we're getting good at sleeping with bands going!)

After about 45 minutes, we got up and went down to the plaza and at last the saints were proceeding into the Plaza de Armas, up the steps of the catedral, and inside. (Are you sensing a pattern here? Things do not seem to start promptly at their starting time and go way longer than we expect.)

The saints come from all the parishes in the area, some as far away as 15 kilometers. The groups take a year to prepare their saints and train to carry them on litters from their churches to the catedral. We think that the saints were parading around the streets and gathering to one starting place before proceeding into the plaza and that's why it took them so long to get here.

Here's a photo of Saint Sebastian. I don't know if you can tell how hard his bearers were working. They had replacements going alongside to take care of any who needed to rest. There may have been as many as 20 men holding the litter at one time. And they had to carry him up the catedral steps and up more steps into the church.

Saint Sebastian

This is the back of the gorgeous gown of one of the virgen saints. It sort of reminded me of fiesta in San Antonio.

 

 

Each saint had banners and parishioners going before them and behind them was their own band. So there was lots of loud music the whole time.

 

Virgen and Child

 

Going through the door of the catedral

 

Another saint

 

We decided we'd seen enough even though the saints were still coming. We went back to the hiking stores and this time I found a workable long sleeve tshirt. Sandra also found an alpaca sweater she liked.

Then we went to the Museo Inka. It's housed in an old colonial mansion. The mansion itself was pretty impressive.

 

 

Inside were lots of artifacts from various periods of pre-Columbian cultures and models of various places like Machu Picchu. They also had some skulls that showed that some of the nobility deformed their skulls, elongating them, to show status. There was also evidence in some skulls that trepanning was practiced. From some skulls, it was clear the person died shortly after the procedures, but in others, there was bone remodeling that showed the person had survived a while after. There was also a display of mummies.

In the courtyard, there were women weaving and also woven items for sale. They were very beautiful (and very expensive).

We went back to the hotel and had another cup of coca tea. I can't tell that it perks me up in any way, but it's a pleasant herbal tea. We washed some clothes and read until time for dinner (we'd decided today wasn't a good day to visit the catedral).

We had dinner at a place called Inka Grill. I had Aji de Gallina, which is chicken with a sauce of aji chilis (not too spicy). Sandra had Quinotto with Chicken ( a chicken with sauce over quinoa and veggies). Both were very good. We also split a pisco sour. We're worried about alcohol until we adjust to the altitude, but they had the sour with the passion fruit infused pisco that we liked so much before. This was equally good. We had lava cake for dessert.

As I write this at 8:30, the bands in the plaza are still going strong. We hope this festival doesn't go on all night!

 

 

 

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