Cuzco City

With a history dating back to 1200 AD, Cusco is often referred to as the 'Archeological Capital of the Americas.'  Aside from the altitude (11,000+ feet), the most striking thing about Cusco is the fact that the 'new' Spanish city was built on top of the original Inca walls.

It’s a tribute to the Incas that their design has survived the test of time while the Spanish colonial architecture has been rebuilt several times following earthquakes that have hit the city. 

The Sun Temple was Cuzco's most important ceremonial structure – it was the holiest of holy sites in this holy city of the Incas.   Its walls were lined with solid gold sheets weighing about 4 pounds each. There were life-size gold and silver replicas of corn, golden llamas, figurines and jars.  The golden walls were studded with emeralds and turquoise.  When sunlight streamed through the windows, the reflection of light off the precious metals was blinding.  All that remains today is the stonework; the Spanish conquistadors took the rest - unfortunately all the exquisite treasures ended up being melted down; nothing survived.

Somehow, the first conquistadors did not remove the holiest religious symbol of the empire, the golden sun disc, though they reported its existence. This solid gold disc, far larger than a man, mysteriously vanished before the main party of Spaniards arrived. To this day, it has never been found. The disc was positioned to catch the morning sun and throw its rays into the gold-lined temple, filling it with radiant light and bathing the mummies of the dead Inca rulers in sunshine as they rested in niches along the walls.

The entire temple complex was also an  celestial observatory. Every summer solstice, the sun's rays shine directly into a niche in which only the Inca ruler was permitted to sit. Along with the main temple dedicated to the Sun, there were others for the lesser deities - the Moon, Venus, Thunder and Lightning, and the Rainbow. 

After the Spanish conquest, the Santo Domingo Church was built in the 17th century on the walls of the Inca Temple of the Sun. The uninspiring Baroque decoration of Santo Domingo makes a poor contrast to the superbly crafted Inca masonry.  The church was largely destroyed by earthquake, but the Inca structures still stand.  After the church was rebuilt in the 1950’s, much of the cloister was gutted to reveal some of the original chambers of the great Inca Temple.

The city of Cuzco was laid out in the shape of a puma, a sacred beast in Inca lore. The heart of the puma is also the heart of the city - the Plaza de Armas.  During Inca times the Plaza was a place of ceremonies and military parades. When the Inca conquered new lands they would bring back some of the soil to be mixed with the soil here, as a symbolic gesture to incorporate the newly gained territories into the Inca Empire.

 The Plaza was once flanked with Inca palaces. Today it is home to churches, shops, restaurants and bars.  Many of the buildings have beautifully carved wooden balconies overlooking the Plaza.

  

The Cathedral of Santa Domingo dominates the northeast side of the Plaza and sits on the foundations of an Inca palace. The Cathedral was begun in 1550 and completed nearly 100 years later, built in the shape of a cross. It contains nearly 400 colonial paintings, including the Last Supper by Marcos Zapata showing Christ and the Apostles about to dine on guinea-pig, washed down with a glass of chicha (the local beer made from corn). 


The Cathedral's magic lies in the mingling of history and legend. It is said that when the Cathedral was built an Inca prince was walled up in one of the towers and that when the tower falls the prince will emerge to claim his birthright and free his people. After the earthquake of 1950, thousands of believers waited hopefully for the tower to collapse; despite severe damage, it did not and was later repaired.

La Compania de Jesus Church is located on the southeast side of the Plaza and rivals the Cathedral in grandeur and prominence. The original structure was built in the 1570's by the Jesuits on an ancient building said to be the most beautiful of all the Inca palaces. The church has an intricate baroque facade and two majestic bell towers.

Artisans are everywhere around town and they're never idle. They're always either spinning or weaving - no rest for these folks.

Lest we get carried away with the ancient beauty of Cusco, our guide introduced us to a present-day reality: the booming black market.  Everything's for sale here, from televisions to toilet paper.  NOW we know where the locals do their shopping.

*******

The Almudena Cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries in Cuzco, was a most interesting place to spend some time - but getting there was an adventure unto itself.  Our guide gave us each a coin and invited us to experience a ride on a ‘combi.’ 

A combi is a van converted into a mini-bus and used for public transportation.  These privately-owned vehicles are known for being very cheap and convenient, but also for being a bit risky.  They always seem to be crowded and it took a while to find one that we could fit into. Our guide told the driver where to let us off and we had to hold on tight and pray that he would actually stop long enough for us to get off.

The locals on the bus found us quite curious – not many gringos choose this mode of travel – but we made it to our intended destination.  The rest of our travelers arrived in twos and threes as other combis dropped them off.  It was interesting that different vehicles came from different directions and let folks off on different corners, but somehow we all ended up where we were supposed to be.

The cemetery was fascinating.  The tombs are stacked up on top of each other and each tomb has its own enclosed niche into which people can place flowers, photographs or other little mementos that relate to the person. Many had plastic miniature bottles or crates of Cusqueno beer and Inka Cola.

Families take great care of the niches – bringing fresh flowers, cleaning the glass, polishing the metalwork.  As the calendar was approaching All Saints Day, there were quite a few people getting ready for the celebration.

Families also must pay an annual fee for use of the tomb.  If the fee is not paid, the remains are removed and buried in a common area - and the tomb is rented to another family.

After walking around the cemetery, we walked back to downtown Cuzco via a portion of the old Inca Trail – this was a part of the trail that connected the city to the Pacific coast.










The San Pedro Market is a covered, daily open-air market for the citizens of Cusco. The market is about three blocks long, and a wide one block wide – a bit bigger than a soccer field - with a roof overhead.

Remember, this city is more than 11,000 feet above sea level, so it never gets very hot – a good thing since everything in the market is fresh and there’s no sign of refrigeration. The vendors close down their stands every evening and go home, and bring all fresh stuff the next morning in the dark. Massive inventories of goods are brought each day and taken away each night.

This market is not on the ‘standard’ tour of Cusco, so tourists don't usually show up here. We were just as much of a novelty to them as their goods and presentations were to us.  We just enjoyed looking at incredible array of food and other products – some of which we couldn’t identify. 

Our guide bought us some pastries to sample, some cherimoya (fruit) to taste, and a loaf of ‘doll bread’ for us to have at breakfast the next day.  This is a traditional food for All Saints Day.

The Museo Inka (Inca Museum), also known as the Archaeological Museum of Cusco, contains artifacts that trace Peruvian history from pre-Inca civilizations and Inca culture to the impact of the Conquest and colonial times on these native cultures.  The museum is housed in one of Cusco’s finest colonial mansions, built on top of an Inca palace at the beginning of the 17^th Century. 

The main draw of this archaeological museum is its collection of Inca mummies, but the entire facility is a great introduction to pre-Columbian Andean culture, including the rich cultures that thrived before the Incas. The museum's exhibits include ceramics, textiles, vases, jewelry, architectural models, and a collection of Inca drinking vessels carved out of wood, many meticulously painted.  In the courtyard is a studio of women weaving traditional textiles.