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.

The Road to Machu Picchu

Train's on time.

The road is long. With many a winding turn. An overwrought pop song? Or the story of the trek from Cusco to Machu Picchu?

The first leg was by bus.

Not that bus. This bus.

The "many a winding turn" line clearly refers to all the switchbacks getting out of Cusco and then up the hill to Machu Picchu.

Then there was a train.

Not that train.  This train.

A blue PeruRail VistaDome, with glass roofs to see upward into the sky.

Which really isn't necessary because all the scenery you want to see you can see from looking out the windows to your side. You don't need the "up" view.

What, you may be asking, am I doing on the Road to Machu Picchu? You may remember me once saying that Machu Picchu wasn't really on my list. And it wasn't. Until I changed my mind. Which I did. So I went.

The train is the most common, most tourist-friendly way to go. Of course, you could hike the four-day hike along the Inca Trail that runs roughly alongside the train tracks which run roughly alongside the Urubamba River for the journey from Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley to the tourist town of Aguascaliente, the terminus of the rail line to Machu Picchu.

The Urubamba River looked very angry today.

I'm not sure if it is like this all year long or just the rainy season. This is, by the way, the rainy season.

The forecast was for a thunderstorms at Machu Picchu all afternoon.

These last few pics, by the way, were shot looking outside the window of the train car. That's usually not ideal, but it worked because of the amazing scenery, going from the desert-like environment around Ollantaytambo (you can see trackside prickly pear cactus growing a few pictures up) to the jungle area of Aguascalientes.

The travel from Cusco to Aguascalientes was a fairly major decent, going from the 11,150 feet elevation of Cusco, to 9,160 feet above sea level at Ollantaytambo, to a mere 6,790 feet for Agauascalientes. (We will re-ascend to 7,972 feet for Machu Picchu.) Essentially, we go from where altitude sickness is a major problem (Cusco) to maybe a little shortness of breath but no headaches or nausea (Ollantaytambo) to a problem-free elevation at the end of the line (Aguascalientes), with Aguascalientes being the elevation of Flagstaff, Arizona. And no one ever got altitude sickness in Flagstaff.

This is the tourist town of Aguascalientes.

 

Lots of bars and restauraunts, souvenir shops (usually selling stuffed llamas), and some hotels for people who have not scheduled a killer 16-hour one-day round trip to Machu Picchu from Cusco.

The final mode of transit will be another bus.

I love Andean flute music. Who doesn't. It is appropriately atmospheric for the journey from Cusco to Machu Picchu. But after listening to a steady supply of the atmospheric Andean flute on the bus and then the train, a change of pace was nice. This is what was playing on the bus when we started the drive to Machu Picchu.

Next post: Actually being at and seeing Machu Picchu. This post was just about the journey. And isn't that what's it really about it? Well, maybe not when you're talking about one of the world's major tourist destinations.

A Sunny Day in Cusco

A sunny day at the Plaza Mayor in Cusco
(Templo de la Compañía de Jesús in the background)

It's the rainy season in the Andean highlands. The forecast was for a 60 percent of rain. Instead, it was a sunny day, perfect for exploring the city at a slow pace. (A slow pace because my adjustment to the altitude is, as they say, a work in progress.)

The hotel is about a half-mile from the Plaza Mayor, the tourism epicenter of the City of Cusco.

It is located on Calle Union, which gets a lot of traffic for a one-lane, one-way street.

This is the Iglesia de San Pedro.

It is across from the Mercado de San Pedro:

The area around it is packed, probably more locals than tourists. The Mercado de San Pedro is supposed to be a good place to by souvenirs (at a lower mark-up than the souvenir shops around the Plaza Mayor) and is supposedly a great place to try local food in that middleground between street food and a sit-down restaurant. It's only open until late afternoon, so it's not a dinner option.

This is the Arco de Santa Clara, on Calle Santa Clara.

Passing through this Arch means you've left the Cusco of the locals and now are in the pure tourism town.

This is the Basilica Menor de la Merced:

Strolling along:

This is the Cusco Cathedral, on the eastern perimeter of the Plaza Mayor:

The Cathedral is incredibly beautiful and ornate inside. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside, even "sin flash" as they say in español. There are a lot of photos online of the interior. Not sure if they are official church photography, or if they were taken surreptitiously contrary to church law, or if the rules changed at some point. 

Which means we skip right to the exit door from touring the cathedral.

The Cathdedral was built on the site of the primary Incan temple in the City because, of course. Lots of cathedrals in major Latin American cities were built on such locales, primarily to destroy the indigenous religion in a manner that demonstrates the dominance of Roman Catholicism over the pre-hispanic religions. And before you tut-tut-tut about this, the Catholic church was not unique to this. See, e.g., Hagia Sophia in Constantinople/Istanbul being repurposed into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire.

And this is the Plaza Mayor, a.k.a, the Plaza de Armas, as seen upon exit of the Cusco Cathedral.

There is no "no photography" rule in effect outside the Cathedral proper. The statute of Incan Emperor Pachacuti is in the middle of the plaza, on a pedestal atop the fountain int he middle of the plaza.

It's a popular portrait-photo spot. Pachacuti is the Incan ruler who is believed to have transformed the Inca from a regional presence into the dominant military and cultural force in western South America.

He is the first true "emperor" among the Inca.

That is the Templo de la Compañía de Jesús, on the southern perimeter of the Plaza Mayor.

Let's juxtapose Pachacuti and the Dome of the Basilica Menor de la Merced.

Let's zoom in on the juxtaposition:

The two cultures of Cusco, together forever. Whether they want to be or not.

This is Qorikancha. It is the ruins of an old Inca temple where the walls were covered in pure gold.

As you can see, the Spanish built the Iglesia y Convento de Santo Domingo de Guzmán literally atop Qorikancha.

Next up: the search for the Twelve Angled Stone.

It is a building stone with 12 angles, perfectly fit into the stone wall along what is now Calle Hatunrumiyoc. It's somewhere among the stones in this wall.

This wall was built by the Inca, who perfectly fit the stones together without mortar and without any visible space between the stones. The twelve angled stone is the most prominent of the large stones used in this wall construction.

Selfie at what might have been the Twelve Angled Stone:

I've got the eyes of a man ready for his afternoon nap.

This is now part of the exterior wall of the Palacio Arzobispal del Cuzco, now a religious art museum. The Palacio Arzobispal del Cuzco (no photography allowed inside) was built atop ... what? ... built atop what? That's right. An Incan temple.

Next top, the Museo de Arte Pre-Colombino:

Photography allowed! So let's click away!

This is a collection of Chimu Silver Spoons:

I didn't know the Chimu used spoons. Or had good silver cutlery for special occasions.

Above is a fine example of Chimu silversmithing. I like the Chimu. I visited their main hub, Chan Chan, outside Trujillo, Peru, on the northern coast, back in 2018. I soon realized the main purpose of this museum. Most of the tourists visiting Cusco and Machu Picchu will not go to the Chimu sites in Trujillo or the Sican and Sipan sites in Chiclayo. This museum, a Cusco outpost of the awesome Museo Larco in Lima, serves as an appetizer course for the pre-Incan cultures of Peru for those whose only visit to Peru might be to Cusco and Machu Picchu.

And there's nothing wrong with that. None of us can go everywhere. And, even if you did, could go through everything at a deliberate enough pace to remember anything?

Woodworking.

Bird staffs.

An owl to the left. Parrot to the right. I can't recall which bird species is stuck in the middle.

The explanatory language says this guy is in a religious pose.

He looks like he is having a particular difficult B.M.

I always find these sort of masks a bit on the creepy side.

And here are ceramic bowls from a pre-Incan culture, I believe the Paracas from the southern coast of Peru (near Nasca) (but not the Nasca, famous for their desert lines that will always remain inexplicable). The bowls are decorated with chili peppers.

Many thoughts. First, I did not know that South American tribes had chili peppers pre-Columbus and the globalization of the food trade. I associated chili peppers with Mexico and the four corners region of the USA. But they had them in Peru over a thousand years ago. And they decorated their bowls with them. Which left me with this thought: I too have some ceramic bowls with a chili pepper motif. Should I save them for the collection at the future Spretnak museum?

Dog and fox ceramics.

Unlike a lot of "anthropomorphic" imagery on ceramics, especially ceramics from more than a thousand years ago, these two -- especially the fox -- are very realistic.

Same with these llama head ceramics.

But I think the fox gets the gold ribbon for "most realistic" looking.

That's it for the museum. That's it for the day's sunshine-filled tourism. I'm tiring out easily here due to the combination of altitude and old age. But, in this instance, I think altitude is legitimately the primary culprit.

Time to pass through the Arch of Santa Clara and leave the tourism part of town.

Coda:

Supper blogging.

I decided to eat at a restaurant close to my hotel, primarily because I didn't feel like walking much. I chose the Restaurante y pizzería URPI, which was just down the hill from my hotel.

This was a local's joint. I was definitely the only tourist in here.

This is an Italian restaurant serving a lot of Peruvian dishes. I was going to order the lomo saltado because it is the classic Peruvian dish. But I realized that I really had a craving for pizza. So I opted for an "Italiana," with ham, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

I had a pitcher of maracuya juice -- passionfruit juice -- because I was thirsty. And they served up a big plate of ooey-gooey garlic cheese bread that would have been worth it at any price and definitely was worth what they charged for it: nada. Gratis.

The pizza arrived looking beautiful.

I ate so much of the ooey-gooey garlic cheese bread that I could only finish four of the six slices of my personal sized pizza. The price was 20 soles, or about six or seven bucks U.S. Yes, the mushrooms were probably canned. Tough to get fresh-everything up on a mountainside in a third-world country. Yes, the ham was processed and not artisanal. Did I mention it was six or seven bucks? I would have gladly paid that for the ooey-gooey garlic cheesebread by itself. Essentially, given that reality, the ham and mushroom pizza came free.