Well well well. This morning we woke up at 6:30 am in order to meet Norka, the lady we booked our Inti Raymi tickets through, at 7:15 in the lobby. Dad woke up sick and now I am paranoid. It's just a cold though so no need to send the mounties. We ran downstairs grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to wait in the lobby. Well, she was on Peru time so she showed up around 7:45. We walked a block down to where we were supposed to meet the other members of our party.
First, some backstory. Dad and I decided that we wanted to attend the Inti Raymi pretty much as soon as we decided to come to Peru. The Inti Raymi is a major Inkan festival which celebrates the winter solstice and allows the Inka's to give thanks to one of their gods: the Sun. We looked for tickets in the U.S. but couldnt really find anything because they dont go on sale (for tourists) until a week before the festival. Luckily we met Norka who was the sister of our cab driver from the airport. She offered us an English tour with seats in the best section of the field. After shopping around we took 'em.
Flash forward, to dad and I sitting in a courtyard with a mother and son from Spain and a family from California (who's father was originally from Peru) who is fluent in Spanish, and a tour guide speaking only in Spanish. Yikes. Luckily the son, Ivan, who is 24 years old offered to translate for us. I was pretty okay following along but dad was pretty much lost (whats new). The whole family helped fill in the blanks when I came up short. We were given a DVD, informational pamphlet, and the best, a radio receiver that was supposed to translate for everyone since the entire ceremony takes in Quechua, the native peruvian language (a mix of Spanish and Inkan).
Dante, Our Guide
The first portion of the celebration takes place at Koricancha, the temple we visited a few days ago. We all waited along the fence and got to know each other a little better. We were packed in like sardines. Finally the horn blew and represetatives of the 4 regions of the inkan empire took the field below Koricancha. Cusco was the capital of the Inkan empire because it was the place that these 4 regions connected. There were warriors, messengers and accolytes from each region, the Inka's wife and daughters and finally, the man himself: The Inka. The Inka is the son of the Sun. He ruled over all the Inka's and lead today's ceremony. It was wonderful to watch all of the different regions displayed with different colors all together on the field.
at Koricancha
After initiating the ceremony at Koricancha we hurried to the Plaza del Armas for the second portion of the ceremony. And by hurried I mean we tried to move through the other sardines as best we could without getting lost. We hurried up to wait. We waited, and waited, and waited at the Plaza del Armas. All the while the masses were pushing and inching their ways into our laps. Finally the Inka processed in and told us all that we should proceed to Sacsayhuman (pronounced "Sexy Woman", dad just likes saying it for that reason) for the official ceremony.
Plaza del Armas
We body checked people out of our way to get to our van and all loaded in, after a potty and water break. The van began the accent up the hill, along with every other van in Cusco. Our guide told us different facts about Cusco and Macchu Picchu, translated of course by Ivan, but it helped to pass the time.
Finally we made our way to Sacsayhuman. This ancient fortress is located high above Cusco. It overlooks the entires city. It is made of stones that were brought there by the Inka people from 5-10 km away, this without a wheel. We made our way through the throngs of people and found our seats. It was like woodstock, people everywhere, selling hats, food, and native Cusqueños (residents of Cusco) sitting on the hill high above the field. We found our seats and found that something had gone right, we had the best seats in the house. We were dead center right in front of the Inkas throne. Our guide left to get our bag lunches while we took the time to people watch. The ceremony began with everyone parading in, but while this was happening we heard a commotion behind us. They had allowed the Cusquños to take seats on the hills behind us! It was a freakin zoo, like the running of the bulls or something. This massive group of Cusquños ran down the mountain all fighting for spots on the hill. At last the ceremony went on.
The hills behind us.
The ceremony included several sacrafices. The first was an offering of Chicha, or corn beer, to both the sun and the mamapacha, the earth. Next a llama was sacrificed (but not really) and its heart and lungs were examined. There was one point where the Inka asked everyone present to raise their arms and pray to the sun god for warmth. The clouds at the time were blocking the sun out and it was actually quite cold. As I turned to dad and told him to raise his arms, believe it or not, the clouds parted and the sun shone down. Dad is convinced it was him but I have my doubts. It was truly a moment I will never forget.
Throughout the ceremony I had tried to pick up this promised "english transmition" with no luck. No matter how many times I went through the radio stations it wasnt there. As we left the field I joined our guide in cursing the "mentirosas", the liars.We headed back to the van with the other thousands of people who were in attendance. We waited for the van with our group and finally boarded. It took us over an hour to make the normally 10 minute drive back to Cusco. The whole time we chatted with everyone in our group. While talking about cold drinks (or lack thereof) dad asked Ivan if he had been drinking the water here. Ivan said he didnt because he was scared of getting sick. To which dad replied "si, caca agua...see, I can speak Spanish". Ivan cracked up.
The ceremony was the most fascinating part of our trip so far, in my opinion. The Peruvians are forced to lead dual lives because of the past. They have deep ties to the Catholic church from when the Spanish colonized here yet still maintain ties to their Inkan roots. It truly is a situation like very few in the world.
And now, after getting dad some cold medicine (we think) at the Peruvian pharmacy we will be hitting the hay. Well in dad's case passing out of Codine purchased over the counter! Hay Oh! Tomorrow we will be heading out to the sacred valley. We will stop in Moray, Chincheros and end our day in Urumbamba: our last stop before Macchu Picchu. I'm not sure what the computer situation will be but hopefully we will be able to catch you up again. Thanks for reading!
Adios!
