Cuzco!

Today was fun!  We are in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire. 

We started the morning with a visit from a real medicine man.  He had come from the mountain region to do a demonstration of a blessing for us.  It was really interesting!  I was not always able to understand the translator, so I'll need to look a lot more up, but here's the gist: medicine men inherit their ability.  They are considered very important people for their community.  Many people who live in traditional communities never visit a doctor or do any Western medicine at all- they all depend on their medicine man.

Medicine men are not necessarily men.  The medicine man here was trained by his mother, who is so talented at her craft that she's traveled the world to treat people.  They cannot accept money for this gift, because it is considered an honor from the gods.  However, if they *need* specific items for their home and their family, they can accept it from people they treat. 

He's setting up his stuff here. 

The medicine man did a blessing for us.  He brought out a lot of stuff to place in a wrapping paper- the type you'd wrap a birthday gift in.  It was going to be a gift for the mountain.  He put in various items for the mountain, the Earth, and the water.  They included rice, herbs, and lots of candy!  Apparently Mother Earth loves candy.  He also included metal balls, wine, and carnations.  The carnations were important for the ritual.

A close up of the gifts for the mountain.

We were then each given three coca leaves and told to wish for what we needed.  We were told to blow on the leaves in the direction of the mountain, then we put the leaves in the package.  He wrapped it, then wrapped that in an alpaca blanket.  He sang and rang a bell.  We then each got a blessing from him.  It was a really unique experience.

Kirk getting his blessing.

After the medicine man demonstration, we went to the market.  That was a lot of fun!  It's the market that the locals use, and it was huge! There were all kinds of things there.  They bargain here, and if you're good at it, you could leave with a lot of food for very little money.  They generally cook at home here and buy fresh food frequently. 

That cut up squash was huge.

I love this shot that Kirk got of the woman sorting through the black corn.

All kinds of grains.

Coca leaves.  Locals chew them and make tea with them.

A saleswoman and her grains.

Baskets

Spoons

 Our tour guide bought some bread for us to try. The bread here is flat and huge- and delicious!  It tastes sort of like Hawaiian roles.

The bread is flat and large here.

A loaf like this costs about $1.50.

Breads

Meats

You can also get clothes and other items made right in the market.  There was a whole row of seamstresses ready to work up whatever you need.

Seamstress taking an order.

The fabrics were right above them.

There were also ceremonial masks for sale.  They use these on special holidays.

Ummmmmm...NSFW.

Potatoes were a huge part of the Peruvian diet.  There are 3000 types of potatoes here.  That was not a typo- Three. Thousand.  There were not quite that many varieties at the market, but there were still more than I've ever seen in an American supermarket.  We kept seeing huge bags of what we thought were mushrooms, but it turned out they were dehydrated potatoes.  Potatoes.  It's going to be a thing.

Dehydrated potatoes.

So many potatoes.

Flowers.

Chocolate and coffee.

The unwrapped chocolate is baking chocolate.

Cathy really liked the cheese aisle. (Everyone who knows her: "No way!")  There were several varieties and they were all in huge blocks.  You would order what you wanted and they would cut it off and sell it by weight.

So much cheese...

Check out that middle cheese- we found Tupac! 

After the market, we went to see graves in the Almudena cemetery. . People are buried above ground and each grave has a window where the family places things that they liked in life, along with photographs and flowers.  It is believed that the dead need to eat and drink just like they do in life, so there are a lot of little bottles of water, Coke, and mini beers.  They will also bring food for special holidays, and even a birthday cake!  Each window is unique and shows what the person enjoyed in life.

 

Rows and rows of graves.

This was a child's grave.  They had a special section just for children.

Each grave must be taken care of.  In Peru, everybody works, even children.  This little girl was here to shine graves.  You see that she's in her school uniform.  They have morning and afternoon classes here.  She goes to school in the afternoon, and hangs around in the graveyard to shine graves in the morning.  People will hire her when they come to visit.  Our guide hired her to shine a neglected looking grave for a demo.

She also will refresh the flowers for a small fee.  Her mother is a vendor in the square.

She used lemons and rags to shine the metal.

Next we went to Cuzco Cathedral.  It was STUNNING.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside lest we damage the artwork.  They also had several alters made of gold or silver.   (Fun Fact: There's also a last supper painting with a guinea pig as the main dish.)

Colonialism came in compliments of the Spanish in the 1500's.  The Spanish knocked down many Incan buildings and temples to build their own churches and buildings.   They also melted down many Incan gold and silver artifacts to make elaborate alters. They then went about converting Incans to Christianity.  The Escuela Cuzquena was developed to teach Incan artisans how to paint in a European style.  They were limited to religious works, and not allowed to sign their work.   The Incan artists found ways to put their own symbolism in the art, and the paintings are filled with "easter eggs" of Incan influence.  For example, one of the alters honoring Mary was made out of silver.  Silver was associated with the goddesses of the Incans.  There's also symbols painted into the clothes of the saints, like snakes, pumas, and condors.  It's very subtle, and our tour guide said that they did this at great risk.  They could have been executed for putting symbols of their own religion into the Catholic art.

After the cathedral, we went to Qurikancha, otherwise known as the Temple of the Sun.   It was the most important temple in the Incan Empire. The walls were once covered in solid gold, and gold statutes filled the courtyard.  There was also an interesting display on the blocks that they used to build all these incredible walls.  Essentially, they were Legos. 

See the carvings?

Sundial- there was likely a statue here at one time.

Imagine this filled with gold.

Although the Spanish were not interested in the Incas and their sacred temples, they *were* interested in the Inca technology.  They knocked down their temples, but they did keep the earthquake resistant foundations, so many of the buildings today have Inca foundations with Spanish buildings on top.  You see the foundations all over the city, with more modern buildings on top.  The Incan aqueducts were so advanced that they are still using them!  20% of Cuzco's water supply is brought to the city using them.

We had lunch- and a cooking lesson!  We learned how to make an appetizer!  Basically, it is chicken salad served in a potato ball.  It was pretty good!  I'll make it for you all someday!  We even learned about presentation- it looked really pretty with pink beet sauce.  

Yum.

We finally went back to the hotel for a break, and then we had our last group dinner in Cuzco. (We were on our own for the last night.)  We went to a place high on the hill and had an amazing view of Cuzco at night.  We were served a buffet supper of traditional Peruvian dishes...and Kirk ate guinea pig!  He said it was sort of like eating gamey chicken.  He said that he did not think he'd have it again, but he is glad he tried it once. Cathy is willing to try a lot of things, but it turns out that guinea pig is not one of them.

They had a decorated guinea pig on the buffet table.

There was also entertainment- music and dancers.  

We finally got back and went to bed.   We were so tired after that long day, but we had an amazing time.