Sunday, February 14, 2016 - Cusco, Peru

Valentine's Day we would visit around the Cusco area. We started out visiting Blanco Christo. This is a white statue of Jesus Christ donated by a group of people who tried to settle in the Cusco area. After several years they determined that was not where they wanted to settle and they left. The statue remains on the hill and is a big attraction for tourists and locals. 

I've chosen six pictures for this Blog post of Blanco Christo. The first is the statue. The second is a tiny little boy learning to kick a soccer ball. Must train up a child correctly. The third is the closest I could get to a Kentucky view. This is a horse farm and there were beautiful horses in the field. Well, they sure looked beautiful from a distance. Up close many of the cows and horses looked a bit undernourished. However, my view of a well-cared for horse is slightly skewed from living in the Bluegrass area where those gorgeous Kentucky horse farms are located. The horses in our part of Kentucky have a very pampered life. Next is a gorgeous flower. Loved noticing their types of flowers in vegetation. Claude and I are in the next picture with a view of Cusco behind us. The final picture was taken of the view behind the statue. The scenery was amazing. Pictures really don't do it justice.

 

So many possibilities to post of the countryside as we drove from Blanco Christo to Puka Pukara. I am opting for this one. It was interesting to see the decoration on the front of these homes. Llamas on each end and a pyramid shape around the door with the Incan cross between on each side of the door. 

Puka Pukara means 'red fortress or red fort'. Some think it was a storage place for Inca nobility or a hunting lodge. It may have been all these things. It is in an ideal location as the road beside it leads to the Sacred Valley. We would visit there on Monday.

The first pictures is of the Puka Pukara area. The second was a donkey standing across the hill from Puka Pukara. It just looked like a good Peru/Andes type picture so I zoomed in and snapped it. The third picture is some of the ruins. Then we have Claude and I with the road to the Sacred Valley behind. I took so many pictures of that view. The sun was hitting it just right and it was simply gorgeous. The fifth picture is vegetation growing between the rocks. I just found that lovely but the truth is that is what will destroy the structures. More on that at Machu Picchu. The sixth picture is my honey walking ahead of me. I love taking pictures of him walking down or through something we are visiting. Next to last is a picture of some of the ruins. Finally, one more picture of Claude and me as seen through one of the windows. 

We would stop on our way to our next site in a little community that sells authentic sweaters made from alpaca and real silver jewelry. We were treated to a demonstration of Andean music. I truly love this music. It is very mellow (suave) and speaks to my soul. Then a young lady explained how to tell the difference between synthetic material and really alpaca. Once we understood, we were invited to browse their store filled with articles of clothing and another room for silver jewelry. I found a bracelet with lapis lazuli inlaid in it. This was a stone that was prevalent in Egypt and I kick myself for not finding some little something with it in it while in Egypt. This was my chance to correct that. This simple silver bracelet will now bring back great memories of both destinations. I also found a very pretty sweater out of baby alpaca and Claude found a sweater out of baby alpaca for him. It was much harder to find things for Claude. The people are now XXL. I did have him try on a sweater I liked in a style he has never worn before. We did not purchase this sweater as it was a little too snug. This is a picture of him in the sweater we didn't purchase. Where's Claudo in this picture? Then, can you find Alan photobombing the picture?

A word of explanation about baby versus adult alpaca. When a true alpaca sweater says 'baby alpaca' on the label, that means it was the first shearing of that sheep (alpaca). From that shearing point forward (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.) that sweater would be labeled 'adult alpaca'. 

Here are two other pictures from our shopping stop. This is the roof of an Incan home. True to the teachings of their Catholic faith they have a little cross on the top of each of their homes. But, in order not to lose their Incan traditions and beliefs, each of these crosses has a bull on either side. This is a sign of strength and protection. The Spanish had them become Catholic but all through the religion you will find Incan beliefs and traditions meshed with the Catholic faith. The last picture is a field but the back of it is being used as a makeshift soccer field and the buildings behind are the little village and the shop we visited.

Our next stop was at Sacsayhuaman. This can be spelled many ways. Our guide was always telling us the Spanish word for something and then he would tell us the Quechua word. Quechua was the language of the Inca and is still the language of many of the people. 

Sacsayhuaman is called a 'fortress' because that is what the Spanish recognized it as when they arrived based on their own life experience. However, to the Inca, it was probably a Temple to the Sun as well as a place of homes for rulers and people. It would have been a sacred sight to them and may have been a small city within the city of Cusco. It's construction was with the largest stones moved to a place and joined in Incan fashion in the Incan empire. The layout of Sacsayhuaman was in the shape of a jaguar. Here are a very few pictures of this gorgeous place.

Aren't these trees amazing?!  There is a herd, so to speak, of llamas that live here and roam at will. We were told to stay a safe distance back. They will hurl a wad of spit at you from a good distance if you disturb them. Alan had a first had experience with this in his past and was very careful to warn us.

The next three picture give you a panoramic view in three shots. The first is the mound to our left. The second was the huge field that ran between the two hills of structures. The third was the mound and structures on the right. 

When we got close to the opposite end of the three pictures above, I took this picture to show that the layout of the right side in picture three was a zigzag design. This would have represented a lightening bolt.  

The day before at Qoricancha we saw the tiniest stone carved and set in place by the Inca. Sacsayhuaman had the largest stone carved and set in place by the Inca. The man standing next to Franklin, Ron, is well over six feet tall. The stone is behind him.

Claude in his Samson pose. 

From the top we could look across in one direction and see Blanco Christo and in another direction was views of Cusco. We flew in between these mountains and the airport is in this picture of Cusco. Another things that fascinated me was the carving in the mountainside of words or symbols. This is like our putting the initial of the school on the mountain side in Utah with chalk. The third picture shows 'El Peru' done this way. Often this was done with how they laid out their terraces for planting. 

Time to wander back down the hill. First picture was more ruins. Second picture was of the Andean glaciers on a mountain far away. Alan assured us these were not always visible from this distance. We were indeed blessed with amazing weather during the entire trip. Just the right amount of rain at just the right times. The rest of the time sunshine and nice temperatures. 

I include this picture of our descent to the open space between the hills as it shows the three levels with which the one side of Sacsayhuaman was constructed.  The open plaza (field) would have been symbolic of the under portion of the earth (snake is the symbol), the level with the thatched roof buildings is the middle level or the earth (puma or jaguar is the symbol) and the top level would be the part representing the sky (condor is the symbol). These three levels also make up the Incan Cross. 

As we went back to our bus, we walked through this gorgeous grove of unique trees. They had planted a small garden in this portion.  

Back to Cusco our bus traveled with the intent of visiting the Cathedral. However, we were there during Carnival. The Plaza de Armas was filling with people and the police were blocking off streets around the Plaza to accommodate the celebration. The Cathedral is located at one corner of the Plaza de Armas. Our bus made it through the area but could not stop to let us off or return to pick us up. It was determined we would visit the Cathedral on our way out of town the next morning. 

One of the traditions of Carnival is the kids purchase cans of spray foam and soak each other with it and water guns. We were told we could come back and enjoy Carnival if we wanted but warned we would return to our hotel a soaked mess...and that is part of the fun. This is not unlike our daughter, Andie, and her family hosting the whipped cream wars on the last day of school on their street each year. We opted to have dinner at the hotel. 

We were treated to some more of that lovely Andean music. We enjoyed it so much, we purchased three of their CD's to bring home. Our server was the same as the night before. Such a kind man. He lit a candle at our table. It was a tea light candle floating in water that was colored red. Nice for Valentine's Day. A drop of water got into the tea light when he dropped it into the glass. In a bit the water put the flame out. Claude and I were not concerned. However, our server noticed it from a distance and returned to relight our candle. 

Cusco means 'navel'. As we toured all these sites right close to Cusco, we came to understand it was the 'center place' of the Incan empire which stretched from the top of Central America to the bottom of South America. Cusco was the capital and all things radiated from there.