Actually, it's not what you think...
We arrived in Cusco just in time for holy week celebrations. We stayed at The Point Hostal located about three blocks off of the main square. This hostel, like many others in the area, created a chain based off of backpacker inclinations toward a party. Unlucky for me, the guy in the bunk above me was one of those partiers. He would sleep all day and come in as a wrecking ball at five or six in the morning. Once, he brought a lady home... ear plugs don't stop the shaking... I assume he was vigorously praying with her.
The Horny Llama is both The Point Hostal's bar and restaurant with American priced food and drinks so we stayed away in the evenings. The breakfast consisted of bread jam and butter, but better yet, drip coffee! We've had so many conversations about the instant coffee crap South Americans give to unexpecting Americans with a cup of hot water--they grow it here, but they don't drink it here.
Anyway, Cusco has hundreds of ruins surrounding it and dotting the sacred valley. A tourist ticket will set you back 40 bucks (130 soles) but is good at 16 museums and archeological sites so well worth it if you've got a couple days.
Being that we wanted to see the holy week festivals, we chose the ticket good at a few of the sites. Which brings me to sexy woman--
Sacsaywaman (pronounced kinda like Sexy Woman) is an impressive facility on a hill behind the city. There you can truly feel the importance that Cusco once had for the Inca people. The ruin itself is in ruins, yuck yuck, but the stones are colossal for what remains. Blocks weighing 120 tons were not only moved, but were also lifted into place. Per usual for the Incas, the seams of the rocks are so tight that a piece of paper couldn't slip between.
Three other sites followed. First, a fifteen min walk from Sacsaywaman lays a terrific rock fort that would have been the ultimate playground for a young Inca due to the stairs on top and the caves beneith, yet Q'enqo was designed for religious purposes. Last time I was in Cusco they let you on top, but this time they'd closed it off so goofy tourists like us don't go running around them up and down stairs and potentially fall off.
Senior del Huerto bus company drives right past Q'enqo up toward Pisac every few minutes. We hopped aboard and 15 minutes later we were at Puka Pukara, our second site of the day. This one stands high over a valley like a castle. Its main purpose was to guard an important road into Cusco and to ward off any trouble before it got to the Inca capital. I read the blocks are not the perfectly fitted ones you see in other ruins because it was constructed hastily toward the end of the empire.
Finally, we walked the short distance down the road to Tambomachay. A couple hundred yards off the road lays this temple dedicated to water. It may have served as a spa for the kingdom with its many water features. We were excited to see the path to the site was lined with the same trees we saw in the magical forest of Cajas National Park in Ecuador. The aqueducts built by the Incas still function today to feed these truly unique trees. Ironically, the only water features we've seen working in pools, parks, etc have been the ones built 600+ years ago. The ones built recently are broken.
I recalled that Cusco was a lively city always willing to through down for festivals. Easter week the city's biggest series of festivals of the year. I lost count of churches we visited on the Thursday before Easter when they all open their doors to the public. Their congregations spend an amazing amount of time decorating the altars and preparing their patrons for processions through the street.
Everyone shows up for these processions, excluding the guy sleeping in the bunk above me. The military even took a turn carrying one of the floats, as did the city's firefighters, not to mention the hoards of others who also helped. Each church had a procession and bands were in short supply, so at the conclusion of one the band would tear off to another engagement.
Night after night, the churches brought out different holy relics or they used the same statues with entirely different adornments as the week progressed. The cumulation of the week was on Saturday night when the entire town, except the partier, was quiet. Easter Sunday had two masses, one in Quechua and one in Spanish. Finally, Rob dressed in accordance with the dress code (no shorts or tank tops / girls cannot show knees with their dress) so we could attend mass in Quechua (because it was later).
We're off tomorrow to Machu Picchu. I'm excited to get back there again (my mom, aunt and uncle went in 2007) This time though, we're going by car instead of the famous IncaTrail I took last time or the super touristy, and super expensive train there.
