Cusco-The Navel of the Incan World

What a roller coaster ride it was into the 11,500 ft high Cusco airport surrounded by the Andes Mountains! We swooped down and then it was like pull up, pull up! We had no idea why the landing was aborted but we did finally land in a misty rain with white knuckles. Our guide Ada Romero immediately presented all of us with the Andean Indian Cross necklace to wear on our visits to the sites sacred to her people. This cross is very rich in meaning so I must recap in shortened form: the 3 sides have symbolic meaning with 3 a special number to the Inca; don´t lie, don´t be lazy,don´t steal; there is a section on the God of Peace, God of War and God of Power, the Intelligent God; Learn, Work and Love. The necklace is in stone layers with facets and different colors. Cusco is a UNESCO Heritage site so there is attention paid to preservation. There are 350,000 residents in the city with the economy 40% tourism. Our hotel is right beside the Indian Artisan Market with many little stalls and individual owners working the stalls as a family. The native people here work SO very hard. There is a beautiful Spanish style colonial square, the Plaza de Armas, in Cusco with the Cathedral and the Convent of Santo Domingo, near by is the Justice Palace. There is so much of historic value and interest here I encourage reading on the area. In more than one religious building here we have been introduced to scenes of the Last Supper with Christ and the Apostles as one would expect, but what is interesting in the art is the food on the table. The cuy (guinea pig) is central on a platter on the table with the corn and potatoes of this region. The first place our local Cusco guide took us was Sacsayhuaman(Sax-say-woman) famous for Incan construction on a massive scale. Stones weighing 125 tons are interlocked to form this huge complex overlooking the Sacred Valley. The walls of stone are zigzagged and prominant in the Cusco Center shape that is described as a Puma. This was a fort for 5,000 Incan soldiers. This was the place of ultimate battle between the Incas and the Spanish. Our hotel in Cusco is actually in the Puma´s tail. The stones are limestone and required real engineering skill to move into position. The Incas had no written language, all was oral communication. If you know the famous "Flat Stanley" lower school book for children, this will mean something- Flat Stanley visited here and was held aloft by local school children on a field trip to the ruins to be photographed, VERY CUTE! We drove by an Inca Trail rest stop for the ancient people who traveled the trail. Cusco is on the top 10 list of places to view the night skies. Now let´s talk about human sacrifice. The way I understand it, this was not all that common with the Incas preferring to sacrifice animals. HOWEVER, if things were not going well in their world and they thought they were in trouble with the gods, then human sacrifice did occur. Now to discuss the crops since it is summer here: At this high altitude the only crops grown are potatoes in the colors of the rainbow. These potatoes are somewhat smaller than our potatoes, but we owe our modern french fries to the fact that the natives of this region domesticated the potato. The nights are chilly here even in the summer season. The local guide explained that the Sacred Valley area we will visit later when we go to our school is lower than Cusco and very fertile due to the minerals in the ice melt that comes down out of the Andes. The temperature is fairly constant in the area with the soil a dark pink/red color. Coca leaves are grown here and are responsible for the importance of this region to Incan religious life. We North Americans have such a different view of coca- the commercial drug that ruins lives. That modern product has very little to do with the original leaf form of the plant. Coca was used by the Indians in all the religious services as offerings to the gods. Coca was used as currency for trade and barter. It is steeped in a tea that helps combat the affects of high altitude. The leaves at the breakfast bar at the hotel look like bay leaves. The day ended with a unique supper at a boutique restaurant on a little square in Cusco. The tables were made from old footed bathtubs with flipflops as washers to protect the glass tops placed over the tubs to use as tables. Inside the tubs were lights and live fish! Very cool decor. I am tired now and will close this blog. More adventures to come and the account of the mind boggling Machu Picchu!