When we arrived in Cusco, we walked to Plaza de Armas to find something to eat. What we found, besides an excellent restaurant, was a city full of life and full of tradition, and beautiful colonial architecture built on top of the ruins of the Inca Empire with indigenous and mestizo people proud of their culture.
Plaza de Armas was full of people with folks from the surrounding villages dancing in their traditional clothing. Every evening seemed to be that way. It was celebration time in Cusco. The biggest festival of the year, Inti Raymi, was on June 24th. It is also the time that they celebrate the anniversary of Cusco.
Inti Raymi, the "Sun Festival" is a traditional celebration of the Inca peoples giving homage to the Sun God . It dates back to the 15th century, but was prohibited by the Spanish in 1572 as a pagan ceremony and not part of the Catholic faith. In 1944 a historical reenactment of the ceremony was done and has been ongoing every year since. It is largely a theatrical event based on historical records of Spanish chroniclers. It takes place in three locations in Cusco of importance to the Inca. It begins in Qorikancha with a short ceremony and offering to the Sun God, then proceeds to the Plaza de Armas for a longer ceremony with the actor representing the emperor meeting the mayor of Cusco and different peoples of the Inca Empire giving tribute to the emperor. Next the event proceeds to Sacsayhuaman for a longer reenactment of the ceremony. I had read that the event was mostly aimed at tourists, but that was not my experience. If so, most tourists were Peruvian. And it seemed like most people were local. It was definitely a time for celebration, and everyone, including the actors, were having a great time. From Plaza de Armas, I followed the crowds up to Sacsayhuaman and found a place among the crowds on the hill overlooking the ceremony. I maybe saw less than a half dozen other white tourists. Maybe there were many more in the grandstands on the field, where they paid a lot of money to watch. But I was quite happy on the hill with the locals. After the ceremony ended, I was walking down the hill back to the campsite and I came across the actors walking across the street to a staging area. They looked like they had such fun, smiling and posing for pictures.
We stayed in a nice campground at the edge of the city near the Inca ruins of Sacsayhuaman. Had some time to catch up on things and get ready to head home to Oregon for a visit. Hank had a nice bath and an oil change. We ate at some excellent restaurants, found some good coffee, and visited some nice markets and shops. All in all, a great week in Cusco.
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