| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 15 February 2005 |
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One thing about the Incan ruins we've seen so far--there are no decorations or statuary. Aztec, Toltec, Mayan ruins all have elaborate decorative motifs, but the Incans seem to have concentrated on just making a very well-constructed building.
We got done a little early because a couple of churches we would have visited were closed because of Christmas Eve. We may get to them on Friday (our day at leisure in Cuzco).
At 6:30 we went to a folk dance show, which lasted about 90 minutes. There were about seven or eight dances, some simple, some complex. In between (during costume changes) the band played folk songs and at the end they played some traditional songs on traditional instruments. In spite of the Christmas Eve traffic noises intruding, we enjoyed it a lot.
Afterwards we had dinner at the hotel with the Kimuras and a couple from Denver that we met. The Denver couple was a lot of fun--he told us about his 70-year-old aunt who smuggled 500 yarmulkes into the Soviet Union, and all sorts of other stories. Service was very slow because the restaurant was crowded. I had sea bass with hearts of palm au gratin.
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Well, we thought we'd finally get a good night's sleep because our bus wasn't until 9AM, but the hotel mistakenly called us at 5:20 along with all the people who had a 7AM pick-up. I did get back to sleep, but it wasn't the same.
Breakfast was buffet--I had fruit, a danish, and mate.
Oh, I forgot to mention all the noise from firecrackers and fireworks for Christmas. This went on through most of the night.
We began with a ride past Pukapukara, near Tambomachay, and then over the mountains into the Urubamba Valley. This is without a doubt the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. I can't even begin to describe the mountains and valleys, the terraced slopes, the gorges...you have to see it for yourself. We stopped to take pictures a couple of times and the quiet was amazing. You could hear the river and the birds in the valley and nothing else. In spite of the steepness of the slopes, many were farmed using terraces, and many other had animals (cows, sheep, llamas, burros, pigs, even horses) grazing on them. The people we see here in traditional dress are not doing it for the tourists. We stopped in Pisaq and saw part of what I believe is called the March of the Mayors. These are parades, about 15 minutes apart, across the square (in Mexico it would be called a zocalo, here it's a plaza) to the church. I can't tell if this is done mostly for the tourists or not. The streets are very narrow (as they are in most towns here) and have drainage channels down the center or sides. At one point, the street was so narrow that the bus couldn't pass until the store owner took down her sign! We see a lot of dogs here (unlike in China), but they're all fairly mangy-looking.
We dropped off three women in one of the small towns we passed through (apparently we were doubling as bus service because it was Christmas) and proceeded to Ollantaytambo, one of the great Incan fortresses. Built to cover the side of a mountain (well, a small mountain), it consists of dozens of terraces leading up to barracks, work areas, temples, and other buildings. When we first looked at it we all thought, 'We're going to climb that?' but it was easier than we thought, with several rest stops, of course. Ollantaytambo is lower than Cuzco and it is easier to breathe. (Also we're becoming acclimated.) From the top you can look across the valley and see Incan ruins on the mountainside there. The top has a wall consisting of six huge rocks, brought from the other side of the Urubamba River, many miles away. Each weighs several tons. Although it was warm at the base, it was windy and chilly at the top, making me wish I hadn't left my sweater in the bus. And it also started to rain (just a light sprinkle, though, and my hat was sufficient protection). I asked the guide about the lack of decoration and was told that was traditional Incan design--very somber and solid.
We then went to Yucay and our hotel for the night, the Alhambra. Lunch was very strange. It started with an appetizer of two small pieces of pork (very tough), a small fried potato (some variety that tasted like it already had the butter in it), and a marinated onion slice and mint leaf salad. Then came soup (cabbage, we think) and the main course, which could best be described as a chicken fruit cake. It was a cold chicken loaf with bits of fruit in it; along with it were whipped potatoes (sweet tasting) and some fruit. For dessert, there was a cake with an orange gel filling with a layer of chocolate pudding. All in all, a strange meal. We were finished by 2PM, but had nothing scheduled until the next day. Yucay not being one of your major metropolises, we weren't sure how to spend the afternoon. We rested a while to let our lunch settle, then went out walking with the Kimuras. When we got to the main road, we found ourselves following a Procession of the Virgin (I think). We followed that for a while, then came back to a park where families were all picnicking and enjoying the holiday.
We went back to the hotel (the Kimuras walked on). As we were writing our logs a herd of bulls wandered by our window. Gradually people started picnicking on the lawn and other animals wandered by too. This is definitely rural!
Dinner (at 7:30) was much better than lunch (yes, I admit I wasn't fond of the lunch). There was cream of asparagus soup, followed by broiled fish in a mustard sauce with capers, beets, and potato. Dessert was a crepe. Even if you ask for tea at the beginning of the meal, it doesn't arrive until the end.
After dinner we went walking with some other Americans (one was even from East Brunswick!). They had seen Machu Picchu and were going river rafting next. Walking down the street we got pulled into a Peruvian hora. Even though we couldn't communicate very well, we had a good time.
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We woke up to donkeys braying right outside our window. Breakfast was two pieces of monk's bread, orange juice, and tea (Mark had coffee). We then went to the Ollanta train station--about a 40-minute ride from Yucay--to catch the train to Machu Picchu. The train station was full of people selling things, from ears of corn with kernels the size of marbles to wall hangings. A lot of the vendors are children, making us wonder what provisions, if any, have been made for their education. Luckily, we found our guide on the train--or rather, he found us, 'the four Japanese' as he called us. The train ride was magnificent, just like the drive the day before. We saw some distant snow-covered mountains, but as we descended the climate became tropical. The Urubamba River, which we followed, is the color of chocolate soda, probably from stirring up the riverbed with its force. We got to the Machu Picchu train station about 10AM and boarded the mini-bus for the 20-minute ride to the top. This ride is definitely not for the faint of heart, since it is nothing but hairpin turns and sheer drops on one side of the road.
What can one say about Machu Picchu? Even on a flat plain it would be impressive, but perched up on top of an enormous, almost impossible to climb mountain, it staggers the imagination. We spent three hours walking through it and merely scratched the surface of what there was to see. Now that they have the hotel there (not in the ruins, but just below them), one really should stay the night to have time to really see it (the train for Cuzco leaves at 3PM, meaning you have to take a bus down by 2:30PM). We both got slight sunburns, even wearing hats and long sleeves (I think Mark rolled up his sleeves, but I got burned on the backs of my hands). Our guide, Oscar, knew Hiram Bingham, the 'discoverer' of Machu Picchu, and had worked on several movies filmed there.
After three hours, we were quite tired out, and willing to go back to the Machu PIcchu hotel for lunch--vegetable soup, fish or beef with rice, and a fruit cup. And sodas--three hours of walking had left us very thirsty.
(Since entire books have been written about Machu Picchu, I will not attempt to describe it in detail--you can look at our pictures, or better yet, go yourself.)
By the time we took the mini-bus back down to the train station, it (the station) had become a marketplace with vendors selling books, postcards, T-shirts, jewelry, wall hangings, etc. We almost missed our train because we were looking for the 'b' train and it was hidden behind the vendors. We did get ourselves loaded on, though, and had a three and a half hour ride back. The first hour was scenery we had seen, then we passed Ollanta (where a couple of girls in the station were playing jacks with pebbles instead of jacks) and proceeded through new country (actually we had driven through it the day before, but the train followed a slightly different path). We climbed back from the 8000' of Machu Picchu to the 11000' of Cuzco (including a switch-back descent into Cuzco itself).
By the way, the festival on Christmas in Yucay has been written up in tour books, so that could be why we stopped there. They should have told us ahead of time, though.
Dinner at the hotel was less than thrilling. It took several requests to get our sodas, and my aji de gallina consisted mostly of chicken scraps. The causa limena wasn't bad, though--whipped yellow potato with meat, shrimp, avocado, and spicy onion topping. Except for my error in eating what I thought was a slice of green pepper; it wasn't. I quickly gulped down a quarter of a tomato to quench the fire and everything was fine again.
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We spent the morning seeing Cuzco with Kuniko (Katsu wasn't feeling well). We walked to the Plaza de Armas to see the Cathedral (which didn't open until 10AM) so we went to the Regional Museum instead. This contained one small room of poorly displayed Incan objects (which were mostly reproductions) and many rooms of art from the Colonial period, interesting for its mixture of European (Christian) and Incan symbols. Pictures of saints would often show Inca-style dress and snakes or pumas. The Indian interpretation of the Trinity is also unusual--three figures with the identical face. Often the Father is shown holding an orb, the Son is shown with His wounds, and the Holy Ghost is shown appearing to Mary. There was also a painting portraying Jews flogging Jesus. The guide asked us if we knew the word 'judios' and was somewhat embarrassed by the painting when we said we were Jewish.
The Archaeology Museum was very similar to Egyptian museums, even down to mummies, though Incan mummies are in a fetal position. It was a fair-sized museum of Incan (and a few pre-Incan) artifacts.
We then went back to the Cathedral. It was very ornate and (one might almost say) garish). We did get to see the painting of the Last Supper showing the Apostles eating guinea pig (which was the meat for ceremonial meals for the Incas). There was also a Crucifixion by Van Dyck and many more paintings, too numerous to describe. |
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