Last Day in the High Altitude of Cusco

Templo de la Compañía de Jesús, the statue of Pachacuti atop the fountain in the center of the Plaza Mayor,
and a small child who seems oblivious to Pachacuti just over her left shoulder. 

For a tourist town, Cusco sure has a lot of beautiful and/or interesting places where you are not allowed to take photographs inside, even "sin flash." Outdoors? Snap away. Step inside? Put that camera down.

First stop was the often-overlooked Museo Inka, the Inca Museum. Maybe you'd get more visitors, Museo Inka, if you let people take photos inside "sin flash," without flash. A surprisingly large amount of the exhibit space is taken up by the civilizations that prospered and controlled notable swaths of Peru in the pre-Inca era. And thus I learned: the only really important pre-hispanic archaeological area I have not yet visited is Tiawanaku, between La Paz, Bolivia, and Lake Titicaca. And it's high on my list, especially now that Bolivia has cancelled its visa fee for U.S. passport holders.

The Inca exhibits go back to the early years of the Inca, when the Inca were based out of the Lake Titicaca area, before they settled in Cusco. That leaves a surprisingly small part of the collection for the era of the Inca in Cusco, that 125-year period of the Inca Empire that existed before the Spanish arrival. There was pottery. There was jewelry (lots of its nasal based). Some textiles, but those were recreations because textiles disintegrate and do not survive the ravages of times. Mummies? Yes, a few mummies (and this where I would agree with the "no photography" rule -- it's bad enough you spend your eternity as a museum exhibit, but being subjected to endless photography somehow adds to the insult -- so "no photography" is a minor nod in the direction of dignity maintenance).

The biggest disappointment was only one small exhibit case showing the Incan quipus. This is a system of tying knots on strands of cloth for record keeping purposes, mostly numeric but apparently alpha-numeric. The Inca quipu system would be worth a museum in its own right. It's amazing and ingenious and I want to learn more. The Inca Museum, however, is not the place to achieve this objective.

What to do next? Sit in the Plaza Mayor, a.k.a., the Plaza de Armas, and contemplate one's next move.

While sitting there, I noticed something to the northeast corner of the plaza that I had not noticed the other day when I chilling in the chill of Cusco's Plaza Mayor:

Can you see it? Or should I see, can you see him? Up on the horizon line, at the top of the green hill.

Zoom a little closer:

Between those two trees sticking above the horizon line is Cristo Blanco, Cusco's answer to the Christ The Redeemer Statue on Corcovado above Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Zoom in to the max:

Of course, you can walk up and get a close up. But, of course, walking in Cusco Town requires climbing endless stairs. And I'm all staired-out at this point. Of course, it might not be the stairs, or at least not primarily the stairs. Could be the lack of "oxigeno," or, more specifically, "oxígeno respirable," breathing oxygen. I haven't gotten full-blown altitude sickness -- and yesterday's visit out of the "altitude sickness" zone to Machu Picchu helped-- but I do feel a mild tightness in my chest -- sort of like the mild onset of a panic attack -- but it's not a panic attack -- unless I am panicking from the insufficiency of breathable oxygen -- and I tire easily. So no trek up the hill to visit Cristo Blanco.

Final stop of the tourism day was a visit inside El Templo de la Compañía de Jesús, the Church of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit Church:

It's beautiful inside and out. And admission is only 12 soles, which is $3.50, a ridiculous bargain. But, of course, no photography inside the church, even though some of the altar pieces on display are breath-taking. This church, however, has come up with a really good compromise on the "no photography" rule. You can download a QR code and received pictures of everything photogenic inside. It did not do so because I do not have the QR code downloading software on my phone, primarily because I don't trust it. I don't know what's being loaded into my phone with a QR code. While, yes, I do trust the Jesuits to be on the up-and-up with their QR code, I can't say that with most QR codes I'm asked to download (such as restaurants that don't want to give me a paper menu, even one laminated in plastic, and want me to get the menu via a QR code which will send me spam when it's detected that I'm driving close to the restaurant).

But the church's exterior balcony is a "take all the photos you want" zone. So I did. 

The balcony overlooks the Plaza Mayor, which I've photographed before. But not from height!

Same goes with the Cusco Cathedral:

Looks even better from the balcony. And the street view was pretty good to begin with.

Zoom a little closer:

You can barely see Cristo Blanco in this photograph, especially since the clouds are perfectly placed so that the white statue blends almost perfectly into the white cloud.

Same shot, artsy version, framed by the balcony's arch.

Same artsy touch, only the other side of the arch:

Not a lot of photos today because I visited places where photography was verboten. I tried to paint a mental picture here. But this is a photogenic town and real photos would have been preferable. Tomorrow, it's back to sea level or close enough. Where's there's more than enough oxygen for everybody. Oxygen. You don't miss it until there's not enough of it.

Last Day in Quito: Church Church Church Church Church Museum

View of Panecillo from Santo Domingo Plaza

This was a mini-vacation. And when one is on a mini-vacation, the end comes soon. Tonight. Technically, tomorrow morning, but is 12:30 a.m. really tomorrow morning? Or is it simply tonight?

Today's agenda was to visit the churches that were pointed out in the free walking tour. Most of the churches has small admission fees, so this was, in effect, a $10 walking tour of Centro Quito. I started at the southern most point of this walk and would walk northward, hitting the National Museum just in time for the regularly-scheduled afternoon thunderstorm.

My walk started in Santo Domingo Plaza, with the Iglesia Santo Domingo. And who's the statue in the center of the plaza? Mariscal Sucre, the second most important liberator after the internationally-renowned Simon Bolivar. Sucre is more "local famous."

Let's go in.

It was a very nice church.

Mass was in session so I had to be discrete with my photographing.

I knew there were more spectacular churches ahead, so off we walk.

You can see the Basilica del Voto Nacional, Basilica of the National Vow (or Vote, but Vow makes more sense) off in the distance. We'll get there soon enough,

Next up was the spectacular Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús, the Church of the Jesuits:

Spectacular is in understatement.

There's almost too much gold ornamentation inside.

Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside. Not just no flash photography. No photography of any sort. And I do not violate church law on photography, based on a really weird experience years ago. So nothing from inside Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. Just picture gold gold gold gold and more gold.

Next up: Iglesia El Sagrario. Church of the Tabernacle.

I was in the neighborhood.

I was en route to Catedral Metropolitana, on the Plaza Independencia, a.k.a. Plaza Grande.

It was still beautiful and sunny at the time so the plaza was packed.

There's one huge massive mega-reason to pay the fee to go inside Catedral Metropolitana.

The painting of the Last Supper where cuy (guinea pig) is being served.

Alas, no photography of any sort was allowed inside Catedral Metropolitana, too. You couldn't even tell it was cuy being served, the painting was so high up, anyway.

Now, in true Quito fashion, it was time to trudge up hill.

The Basilica del Voto Nacional.

And look who's there to greet me. Saint John Paul II.

The Basilica is a very recent addition to Centro Quito.

And its twin spires sore over Quito.

The tower in the back is the one you can walk up in, and get spectacular views of the city. You can. I can't. Mi piernas! My legs are still in a gelatinous state. So no climbing a million billion stairs just for yet another spectacular view.

Despite its recent vintage, the interior of the Basilica is quite impressive.

This is a small chapel in the back:

And that concludes my tour of Quito's churches. Now, it was on the National Museum.

Free admission! My kind of National Museum.

These are the Pescadores (Fishermen) from Ecuadorian artist Jaime Andrade.

And this is a scene from the rearing of the Baby Jesus you've never seen before:

Virgen de La Leche. The Virgin Mary feeding the Baby Jesus as only a mother can. It's from an anonymous painter in the 19th Century. But definitely a showstopper.

Not all inside was either religious or modern art. Inside were artifacts from pre-Columbian civilizations in Ecuador.

We interrupt the pre-Columbian artifacts for this work: La Nariz Del Diablo, by Guillermo Muriel, 1960. This is a stylized painting of Ecuador's famous "La Nariz Del Diablo," or "Devil's Nose" train ride through the peaks of the Andes.

Back to the pre-Columbian artifacts. This time in gold:

There was not anything even remotely close to the amount of gold ornamentation on displays in Colombia's absolutely spectacular Museo del Oro in Bogota. But the collection was quite nice.

We now come to the "interactive" part of the museum.

This is a three-dimensional rendering of this work:

El Club Estrafalario, by Juan Agustin Guerrero. Why do you need a three-dimensional version of this work?

So you can put yourself into the artwork. They did not give me a musical instrument to play, so I just stood there useless like Suzanne Crough in the Partridge Family. Or Davey Jones in the Monkees. Or Stevie Nicks with Fleetwood Mac, all of whom just stand there while the others in the band do the heavy lifting.

One last item from the collection of pre-Columbian artifacts:

And then we move on to the museum's masterpiece. From the interactive art section:
 

And that concludes my Quito vacation. Not sure when the next vacation trip will be since the May trip is looking like it's in serious jeopardy from the coronavirus scare. Here's hoping I get back to, and back into, the U.S.A. tonight.

Free Walking Tour of Centro Quito

Photo opportunity at the Plaza Independencia

The historic core of Quito is worth seeing. It's worth the visit. It's a UNESCO world heritage site. Not only that, in 1978, it became the first city on Planet Earth (can't vouch for other planets and planet-like heavenly bodies) to be named a UNESCO world heritage site. (Krakow, Poland, very quickly followed, if you're keeping score at home.)

I signed up for one of these free walking tours that they have in all the cities because (a) it's free, and (b) it's a tour. You tip what you think the tour was worth.

We had a small group for the Quito walking tour. Nine of us, I think, plus the guide. I was the token non-European. Germany was very well-represented, with single entries from Denmark, Switzerland, and Ireland. As well as Las Vegas, Nevada USA. This is the group, under a tree.

The first stop was the Mercado Central.

Lots of meats, but (sadly) no cuy (guinea pig to us gringos) on display.  Lots of chicken.

They sell them with an egg inside because, apparently, they make tastier soup that way. Ecuadorians love soup. They love soup so much that ceviche, the fish dish from Peru and copied by Mexico, is a cold soup. And Ecuadorians love chicken. Lots and lots of chicken restaurants in Quito.

And Ecuadorians love potatoes.

Not as much as the Peruanos, as they only have about 300 varieties in Ecuador, compared to 700-plus in Peru. They also have an excellent assortment of fruit, probably from the lowlands of either the coast (to the west of the Andes) or the Amazonian jungle (to the east).

The dragonfruit was actually tasty. It had flavor, which it usually doesn't on hotel breakfast buffets I've eaten at in Latin America and China.

Here is the price list.

And that concludes the Mercado Central portion of walking tour. Off to see what made Quito a worthy UNESCO world heritage site.

The market might be in the downtown, Centro, but it's not part of the historic core. So let's walk.

We are on a Free Walking Tour, aren't we?

This is interesting:

That design was made by embedding cow bones into the concrete. This is an older home that was converted in a hostel. But not a youth hostel. A hostel where you rent rooms by the hour. And the room comes furnished for that hour with a girl. Hence the leg in the shot. I believe. I make no representations about the career choice made by the young lady in the pink hot pants.

Let's keep walking.

These are the historic old doors to the Iglesia y Convento Del Carmen Bajo.

Up the street, in the distance, you can see the beautiful, ornate La Basílica del Voto Nacional.

Yes, that translates to "Basilica of the National Vote." We didn't go there, since there is an admission charge and this was a free tour. Something to do on one of my free days!

And, looking down Garcia Moreno in the other direction, faintly visible is the landmark Virgen de Panecillo.

On Garcia Moreno were buskers, busking with a harp.

Not every day you see someone busking with a harp. Apparently they were Venezolanos. I know. You see a harp on the streets of Latin America and you think what I thought. Admit it. You thought, "They must be Paraguayan." Traditional Paraguayan music, as we all know, is very harp intensive. But, no, not Paraguayos. Venezolanos.

This is inside the Palacio Arzobispal. The Archbishop's Palace. Only the Archbishop doesn't live here anymore. It's a shopping center. Upscale. For those tourist people you know who I'm talking about not me or you. Well, OK, me. I'm tourist people.

And from the Palacio Arzobispal is Plaza Independencia, the main central plaza in Centro.

By the way, the guanabana ice cream that I had in the Palacio Arzobispal? You know I love me some guanabana, especially when it is in ice cream form. (Very few flavors are not enhanced through ice-creamifaction.) It was OK. Would've been excellent if you had told me it was sherbet. But it was insufficiently creamy for world heritage site quality ice cream.

This is the statue in the center of Plaza Independencia.

It's got a condor, a symbol of Ecuador, and a lion, symbol of Spain. Notice which one is in the power position? It ain't the lion.

This is the Catedral Metropolitana:

Weirdly enough, even though it is the "Catedral Metropolitana," it may be the only church in all of Quito, Centro definitely, that is underwhelming.

A view of Panecillo from the roof, I believe, I wasn't taking very good notes apparently on my Free Walking Tour, of the Centro Cultural Metropolitano.

And looking down, again, on Garcia Moreno.

The white tower you see, looking the other direction, I believe, again, faulty note-taking here, is the Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepción, Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Because every town with more than a couple dozen Catholics needs a Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Artsy view of the dome of the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús:

This is the entrance of the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús.

Again, we didn't go in. They charge admission; free walking tour. Beautiful ornate gold interior but no pictures allowed (yet the internets are full of them). Saved for free day, etc. etc. etc.

But we did go in this one.

There was a mass going on, so I had to be surreptitious in snapping my no-flash-please photos of the church's beautiful interior.

It is the second oldest church in Quito, going back to the 1500's. The indigenous learned Bible stories working on the ornate designs for the church.

And it's not even one of the most beautiful churches in Quito. Those are saved for the free day.

And the rain stops and the old city starts to dry out just as the sun goes down and it's time to scurry back north to my upscale barrio La Floresta.