Nashville to Atlanta (trip to aquarium during long layover) and then on to Lima that evening. We really didn't see any of Lima, unfortunately, because our flight to Cuzco left early the next morning.
We needed to get to Cuzco ASAP so we could acclimate before our hike. Cuzco is a pleasantly touristy (at least to us) town located in central Peru at 11,000
feet. We spent two days sleeping, shopping in the well stocked sweater and textile shops, and eating great Peruvian
food. I balked on trying the guinea pig, but alpaca is quite tasty. [Little side
note...the Cuzco flag is a rainbow, much like the gay pride flag. Our guide told us that they get a lot of gay tourists which really enjoy that fact.]
We also took a short tour of the cathedral above(not Inka...LOL) which was really decked out because all the surrounding communities
had their "saints" brought in (sort of "floats" with various highly adorned saint statues on them). It was a very beautiful building, and
I particularly enjoyed the mixed cultural references. Many of the Jesus or Mary statues/paintings, have the sun or moon in them, as a shout out to the trad
Inka beliefs, and there's a huge last supper mural with a large platter of guinea pig and Peruvian fruits on the table. Anyway...
*science geek note here, it takes about three days for a chemical in your blood - 2,3 DPG - to recognize the
high altitude and reconfigure your red blood cells to release oxygen at a lower oxygen tension, therefore letting you
get more oxygen to your tissues and not feel so wiped out….snorts and adjusts glasses*
A couple other notes about Cuzco. It was the capital of the Inka Empire back before the Spanish arrived, and obviously contained great history. The city itself was laid out in the shape of a puma, which was the animal that represented the "real" world. The snake represented the underworld (and wisdom, BTW), and the condor the world above. The Inkas had no written language, but did leave messages in these necklaces with beads which told complicated stories, and in their textiles, which also told stories.
Unfortunately, this made true Inka history hard to reconstruct in modern times, as many of the Spanish accounts were horribly biased, trying to justify their conquest of the "savages." *boo* Much of what we know is based on one Spaniard who tried to represent the culture more fairly, but it's really too long to go into here. The Inkas were the children of the sun, but had temples for the moon, the rainbow, lightening, etc. Interesting that they too imagined and identified "constellations", but theirs were in relief (the dark parts of the sky) and the llama was located nestled right next to the Milky Way.
The architecture and stonework were stunning, they were master craftsmen. Here's a series of windows lined up:
Their doors always purposefully leaned "in" at the top, as did the walls. Since they hadn't figured out how to do arches, this made sense. My favorite spot in the Cuzco site (downtown) that we visited was this: There has to be a story behind this tiny rock amidst the huge boulders….
More amazing stonework:
Here's our shoutout to Indiana Jones:
That evening we packed in anticipation of our Inka Trail hike.
(see next page)
