Last night, we made our way back to Cusco on the Orient Express once again. The train had an entirely different flavor by night. The brass luggage compartments and railing handles gleamed from the light of the elegant lamps atop each dining berth, the car attendants took on a more formal attitude with the service of a five-course dinner, and - in the biggest departure of all from our earlier trip - the majority of our fellow passengers celebrated in the bar/entertainment car by seriously getting down and boogieing.
Although we didn't participate in the Conga lines or drinkfests (okay, truth be told, we couldn't resist the Pisco sours), we did very much enjoy watching! It was somewhat like the way a National Geographic photographer must feel when encountering a large grouping of some species they are pursuing in the wild and are then rewarded with an interesting behavior in an unguarded moment. It was hard to believe these were the same reserved people we got on the train with! Perhaps after a couple of days spent reverentially eyeing the wonders and the majesty of Machu Picchu, it was time to let loose.
We are back in Cusco today, staying at the lovely Hotel Monasterio. The hotel was originally built on Inca foundations in the seventeenth century. It is a refurbished Baroque monastery and chapel, and is located just a block away from the Plaza de Armas (literally "Weapons Square" - the heart and soul of life in this city of half a million - surrounded by many unique and/or touristy shops and restaurants). Cusco is considered the historical capital of Peru. Like Machu Picchu, it is a UNESCO world heritage site (as the seat of the former Inca empire), and it receives more than two million visitors per year. But before moving on, here are a few night shots from our arrival at the hotel last night.
It is simply gorgeous! The only issue we have here is a dilemma with our room. Now that we are back at an altitude of 11,000 feet, it's a bit more difficult to exert, think, and - well, just breathe! We opted to pay an upcharge to have extra oxygen pumped into our room, mostly because of Karen's heart condition. Yet the rooms, which were all formerly monastic cells back in the day and have been preserved as much as possible as such, are stiflingly hot and stuffy, because the hotel lacks air conditioning. So it's a Sophie's Choice at night - do we wish to sleep comfortably with cool air flow through open windows, or would we prefer to get rid of our constant headaches and breathe easier? Despite the waste of money, the sleep has won out thus far.
A couple of interesting things about the Monasterio: one is that they have preserved a cell intact where "bad monks" were sent to be confined in a sort of penance while they thought about their misdeeds. The handwriting is still literally on the walls illustrating the remarks these fellows made while held captive. Another cool thing is the music that is played quite subtly but continuously throughout the hotel. For lack of a better way to describe it, it is a kind of "monk funk," incorporating techno elements with Gregorian chanting. Have you ever heard the song "Sadness" by the group Enigma? If not, check it out; this is very much in that style - haunting, soothing and kinda creepy all at once.
This morning, we awoke somewhat tired and told our guide that we wanted only a half-day of sightseeing rather than the full day's activity regimen we've been experiencing. After some brief rearranging, we set off to explore the city. Our first stop was Sacsayhuaman, an Inca site much like Ollantaytambo, complete with the identical massive stone fortress and retaining walls we saw there. No archaeologist or historian has yet satisfactorily answered how or why these people managed to move the huge boulders all those miles to the sites they've chosen. It is quite astonishing to think of, particularly as they did it without modern machinery of any kind. Also, the stonework was amazing. They still don't know how the Inca accomplished this either. Realize that these stones weigh as much as 300.000 pounds! The stones are cut and set so tightly that you cannot even get a knife blade between the blocks. The blocks are also positioned so that they interlock with each other to earthquake proof the structure. When a major earthquake struck the area in the 1700's ( I think it was about 1750), it did major damage to the cathedrals in the area, but the Inca structures were not touched!
In our oxygen-deprived state, we neglected to take any pictures of the site. But we did manage one shot of a group of alpaca.
We see these critters everywhere we go. They are very tame and have no issues about being petted. Llamas and alpaca are as common as dogs here. (On a side note, David will be happy to be home simply so he doesn't have to hear Karen joke about the daily llamas any more:)))
After this, we visited the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, aka Cusco Cathedral. Like many other religious structures here and around the world, it was built upon another earlier, competing religious structure - in this case, an Incan temple. It was a savvy move on the part of the Spanish to literally subsume the culture and dogma of the Inca by building over their temples, as most of the churches in Peru have done. They were certainly not the first to do so (think the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where at least four religions are known to have used the sight; think Hagia Sophia in Constantinople/Istanbul, with its lovely Byzantine dome and Christian mosaics veiled under walls topped with equally lovely Islamic geometric patterned domes and external minarets, to name just a couple).
Peru is considered a Catholic country (more than 80% of Peruvians self-identify as such), yet Christianity - or Catholicism, to be more precise - has a different flavor here. Try as they might, the Catholic Church has not yet managed to fully exorcise all elements of the native practices from the congregants, so what we have seen in the churches comprises a fascinating amalgam of ancient Inca practices and Catholic rituals.
One example of this can be found at the rear of Cusco Cathedral, where there sits a rather large and non-descript stone object. It is purported to be a rare Andecite green stone from the original Inca palace built by the last King who was defeated by the Spanish. The Catholic hierarchy first roped it off, then placed a large piece of machinery in front of it to deter people from accessing it in reverence. But try as they might, they were unable to stop the churchgoers from first paying their respect to it before getting a splash of holy water. They ultimately opted to turn a blind eye to its presence rather than banish it entirely, presumably because they believed that if it went, a large number of parishioners would leave along with it!
Additionally, there is a lovely and famous rendition of "The Last Supper" located on the right side of the apse of the church in front of the altar.
This work was completed by Peruvian Quechua painter Marcos Zapata in the mid 1700s, and it is quite unique for its depictions of local Peruvian menu fare at the meal - roasted guinea pig as the main course, purple chicha (a native fermented maize drink) in place of the wine, et al. Also of iconographical note is that Judas (pictured in the lower right foreground), who is depicted holding a money bag, is painted to look like Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conquistador who looted the region of its treasures and was responsible for the murder of the last Incan emperor!
The remainder of our day was a bit subdued because Karen had a mini-accident and lost a toenail in a gory, bloody mess. She would like to tell you a dramatic story of how it happened - a stumble down a precipice at Machu Picchu perhaps, or a llama treading on it in the wild, but she actually just slipped on a floor tile at the cathedral's museum. That led to something interesting we would not have experienced otherwise - a visit to the museum's infirmary where she received medical care which was built into our entry ticket.
Upon arrival back at the hotel, we rested a bit, then hobbled our way to dinner at a restaurant just down the block. The food was fantastic and the ambience superb. Then, we had another surprise back at the hotel, as the Monasterio also delivered David a birthday cake!
Tomorrow morning, we fly back to Lima for bit more sightseeing, then fly home at the ungodly hour of 11:30 p.m.
We wish everyone a fantastic evening!
With love,
Karen and David
