First on today's agenda was a walking tour around the main area of Cusco. Joan was, once again, a great sport, as most of the walking was up steepish inclines. We made our way to the main square, where many people were gathered. There were marvelous grassy areas (that, I found out, you don't walk on!), flowers, churches, restaurants (Mama Africa, Paddy's Pub, Italian, coffee shops, you name it!) and many people just sitting, visiting, enjoying life :)
Bobby gave us a lot of history, as usual, and a tonne of information about everything from local customs, to plants, to traveling tips, etc.
Cusco was originally named Qosqo, a Quechan word for belly-button, as Cusco was the centre of the Inca world and the Incans thought of Cusco as the capital of South America. But when the Spanish came over, they could not pronounce Qosqo, so they changed the name to Cusco.
There are many churches here, about 18. This is because, as we have seen in other areas of Peru, when the Spanish came over, they conspired with the Roman Catholic church and tried to convert native Peruvian's to Catholic religion, and one of the ways they did this was by trying to flood the population with Catholic churches.
"The Cathedral" (in the first picture above) is an example of this. But inside, there are some classic evidences of the smart native Peruvian's keeping "their own foot in their own door." Cusco is famous for their paintings, and most of the paintings in the churches and government buildings in Peru come from Cusco (don't forget- Cusco is the best! ), but the Spanish would only allow Roman Catholic paintings to be displayed. So the Quechan people would become creative to try and incorporate some of their traditions into these settings. Two of these paintings include Christ on the Cross and The Last Supper. Where Jesus is on the cross, his legs are not straight, but instead bowed at the knees, as this was common for Inca and Quechan people. In The Last Supper, there is no lamb on the table, but instead a guinea pig. And the glasses are not full of wine, but are mugs of chicha, corn beer.
Way back when, Cusco's plaza was double the size with a river running through it. Now, the river runs underground (it has been canaled) and a few buildings divide the plaza, creating two plazas.
On the way to the other half of the plaza (or the second plaza), we stopped at a map where Bobby showed us how the old town of Cusco was in the shape of a Puma. (Pumas are very important here, as it PachaMama (mother earth), and Inti (the sun)).
Next stop: the local market! Bobby warned us, but, well... You see it started out a normal-ish market, with flowers, and bread, and fruits & vegetables...
Even some nuts and seeds...
But along came chickens feet...
And then 'twas but a pigs head...
But that hardly prepared us for the hanging boy-balls (of who knows what!)...
And don't forget the frogs! (Live ones on left, skinned ones on display, right)
Let alone the donkeys mouths and the dead alpacas fetuses (I think I could make a poem out of this)...
By the way, I skipped the pictures of all of the intestines, stomachs, tongues and ears, as I just had to concentrate on not ralfing from the smell of the "innards" section... They eat all of this (and there were restaurants at the market!), except for the dead alpaca fetuses; these they only buy as an offering back to PachaMama (Mother Earth) for unknowingly taking a pregnant alpaca.
They even had masks of all kinds (including toque versions!)... And we can clearly see that Bobby has been lying about Cusco being the best, as his nose has grown like Pinocchios!...
It was a good morning, and the weather held up beautifully for the afternoon. Martina came with me for my mystery date (stay tuned...) and we found a lovely hole to order fries and fruit shakes from... Amazing! (Best fries and fruit shakes yet... And the fries came with aioli, or alioli, as they said)
The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent trying to frustratingly upload pics to Facebook.
Then a mate loud dinner at Uchu's (Thanks, Lindsey and Geoff, so much, for the recommendation... Everyone loved it!). I had a dinner of mojitos, appy of coconut curry soup, and shared a hot stone platter of shrimp, alpaca and chicken with Martina, with a side of salad... All Sooo marvellously delicious!!! Everyone's meal was so good!
Location:Cusco (Qosco)
