We are in the middle of a 2 week visit by our niece and nephew from Oregon. They were here for less than 12hrs before we packed them up and we all headed off for Cusco and, ultimately, Machu Picchu. Dominick, Nicole, Carter, Jennifer, Mariza and myself. The flight to Cusco cruises over some snowy crags of the Andes before banking sharply around a mountain and landing in the town at 11,200ft. I had been drinking coca tea all week, plus we had all superstitiously taken the anti-altitude pills, and in the end no one suffered overly much from the altitude. Cusco was the center of the Inca empire and, later, the symbolic victory of the conquistadores. Many, many of the narrow streets are lined by ancient stone foundations with lots of colonial structures built right on top of the Inca masonry. For palaces and temples, the Inca masons were so precise that no mortar was necessary.
 |
| Daybreak down the street from our hotel. |
Our hotel was on one of these small streets, a typical colonial building set around a courtyard, with a breakfast room looking out over the terracotta roofs, many with the ceramic bulls that Cusqueños place up there to protect their homes. We immediately set out for a walk, succumbing happily to the first poncho saleswoman we encountered. Eventually, we found a place for dinner where I enjoyed the very local trout. Cusco is the hub through which travelers get to Machu Picchu and we had to leave the hotel for our train at 7:30am. Even so, we were all up before daybreak to go see a local market. The market was a failure (closed), but being up at daybreak was fantastic. We walked the streets, some of us stumbling upon one of the most famous Inca foundation walls, a mortarless wall that includes the famous "12-angle stone". We still had time for breakfast and the half-hour taxi ride out to the train station.
36hrs later we returned from Machu Picchu (see the next post for that trip), and checked into a different hotel. This hotel was bigger, snootier, but very nice; it was clearly once a very important building and was right next door to what was once the Temple of the Sun, the most important of Inca temples. Jen and I were celebrating our anniversary (16!) in a happily NONfancy way. We picked up some street sandwiches (pork, onion, avocado) and a couple of beers and ate in the corner of the room as Carter slept. There was plenty of time on Sunday prior to our return to Lima, so we walked the city again. Our first stop was the Temple of the Sun, but it was closed. There was a very cute little girl, dressed in native dress and hugging her lamb. We were taking photos and talking to her when another tourist came up and accused us of harassing her, a poor native girl alone in town. It was a strange moment and it was only later that I put together the proper imaginary response: the girl was put there by her family, his belief that little girls in Cusco just wander around in full fancy dress with their lambs was naive, and after 500 years of oppression and corruption and poverty, it just didn't seem so bad to give the girl a dollar for the privilege of appreciating the native dress. What, he would prefer that she grub for potatoes instead of milking some of the huge flow of tourist money running through Cusco?
 |
| Dominick at the market |
Anyhow...we headed off and this time found the Cusco market open. We had fun exploring the exotic offerings: pigs heads, trout roe, fabulous fruit smoothies, aromatic herbs and many things that remain a mystery. Eventually we found our way around a couple of other plazas and the central plaza. It's a beautiful town, and the sun was out, so it is easy to forget the bloodletting that permeates Cusco's history: battles and executions and later even more executions. Many people feel a spiritual power in the area, but I'm not convinced that it is anything more than this powerful resonance of a history both glorious and terrible. But forget all that, it was a lovely day and we found a cool, weird little lunch place. It supports a charity for children, near as I can tell it is a charity that runs community events for kids with clowns and facepaint, etc. They served me a very nice quinoa stew and our vegetarian niece Nicole was able to enjoy a papaya/banana pizza.
 |
| Carter's "vintage" poncho. |
 |
| Mariza and the 12-angle Stone |
We are in the middle of a 2 week visit by our niece and nephew from Oregon. They were here for less than 12hrs before we packed them up and we all headed off for Cusco and, ultimately, Machu Picchu. Dominick, Nicole, Carter, Jennifer, Mariza and myself. The flight to Cusco cruises over some snowy crags of the Andes before banking sharply around a mountain and landing in the town at 11,200ft. I had been drinking coca tea all week, plus we had all superstitiously taken the anti-altitude pills, and in the end no one suffered overly much from the altitude. Cusco was the center of the Inca empire and, later, the symbolic victory of the conquistadores. Many, many of the narrow streets are lined by ancient stone foundations with lots of colonial structures built right on top of the Inca masonry. For palaces and temples, the Inca masons were so precise that no mortar was necessary.
36hrs later we returned from Machu Picchu (see the next post for that trip), and checked into a different hotel. This hotel was bigger, snootier, but very nice; it was clearly once a very important building and was right next door to what was once the Temple of the Sun, the most important of Inca temples. Jen and I were celebrating our anniversary (16!) in a happily NONfancy way. We picked up some street sandwiches (pork, onion, avocado) and a couple of beers and ate in the corner of the room as Carter slept. There was plenty of time on Sunday prior to our return to Lima, so we walked the city again. Our first stop was the Temple of the Sun, but it was closed. There was a very cute little girl, dressed in native dress and hugging her lamb. We were taking photos and talking to her when another tourist came up and accused us of harassing her, a poor native girl alone in town. It was a strange moment and it was only later that I put together the proper imaginary response: the girl was put there by her family, his belief that little girls in Cusco just wander around in full fancy dress with their lambs was naive, and after 500 years of oppression and corruption and poverty, it just didn't seem so bad to give the girl a dollar for the privilege of appreciating the native dress. What, he would prefer that she grub for potatoes instead of milking some of the huge flow of tourist money running through Cusco?
No comments:
Post a Comment