November 14, 2010

We got up early to catch our plane to Cusco. I had spent quite some time getting the bag back yesterday and did a long blogging session afterwards. It was hard to get up. The kids were also a bit grumpy and difficult to get into action. We all managed to get to the airport in time however, after a good common effort.

Here you can see us at the airport. You can even see Hélène taking the picture and our hotel for the night in the reflection in the airport window.

It seems that flight schedules in South America are not as inflexible as in Europe or North America. Four of our original flights had already been canceled or rescheduled. At the airport we discovered that our flight would leave 35 minutes later than the original time. We were happy it was in that direction.

Our plane to Cusco was a nice Airbus A319:

The airport in Cusco is quite special. Since the area is covered by mountains (this is the Andes, after all), the only logical place to put the airport is at the bottom of the valley. The airport is more or less in the center of Cusco, with the city around it:

I have organized the bookings for us for the entire trip except for the Peru part. Here we are using a travel agency. We are going to do the three classical destinations here but I still found out that it was difficult and time consuming to get the necessary information online. There are restrictions on how to get to Machu Picchu for example. For the Amazon it was difficult to navigate in the vast amount of partly contradictory information I dug up. I looked for recommendations on Tripadvisor and picked an agency.

It was great to be met by someone at the airport in Cusco, knowing that someone else was responsible for organization.

Since we arrived later than planned we just dropped our luggage at the hotel. The woman from the agency handled check-in after we had signed some forms. Luxury. We were then hasted to the cathedral in Cusco to start our evening tour of the city and its surroundings.

The cathedral tour was very interesting. Our guide was a Metis (mixed origin) and very proud of his Inca ancestry. Unfortunately photography was not allowed in the cathedral at all, so I have no eye candy for you. The cathedral is huge and a sharp contrast to the many worn down houses we could see when landing. What mustn´t this have cost the local society in lost resources and manpower at the time of construction. Our guide was great and pointed out all the different ways the Incas had managed to sneak in their religious beliefs in all the catholic statues, paintings, ornaments etc. The 3 symbolic animals of the Inca´s (condor, puma, snake) were in many places, The three worlds of the Incas (God world, Our world, World of the dead) were also symbolized in many works.

He also explained that Quechuan (or Inca) artists did most of the artistic work for the cathedral. He explained how Marcos Zapata was forced to paint himself as Judas in his Last Supper painting. A very interesting part of that painting is that the dish on the table is fried guinea pig, the festive dish of the Incas.

Once again we did an activity that was not well suited for Iseline, but which the boys liked. It was hard to keep her spirits up as the guide babbled on in English about things that were very difficult to explain properly to her. She got through it though, and the other parts of the tour suited her better.

The tour continued to the old Inca temple of the sun, which of course had been completely ruined and then transformed by the Spanish. Original Inca stone work down to the right.

The building technique of the Incas, visible now only in the foundations that are left,  are very impressive. The guide told us that the Incas considered use of mortar primitive. Real men cut blocks that fit perfectly together.

Afterwards we were taken to the outskirts of Cusco to see Inca ruins. We were at Sacsayhuaman, the political, military and religious center of the Incas. This had been a vast complex of buildings and squares. This complex form the head of a Puma, with the rest of Cuso forming the body, as shown by this map the guide showed us.

The stone work is breathtaking. Some of the blocks weigh over 100 tonnes, and these guys had not invented the wheel:

There are lots of animal shapes to be found in the stones of the walls. Here is a Puma claw:

And here you can make out a Lama.

The Inca civilization was complex and very advanced. It also had no long-range weapons, making it easy for the barbarians from Europe to kill and destroy. The conquistadors who brought down the mighty empire consisted of only three ships, 180 men, 27 horses and one cannon. They were greatly helped by the smallpox epidemic that was brought over from Europe and the ongoing Inca civil war. Once they had kidnaped the Incan emperor, Atahualpa, they demanded a room full of gold and two rooms full of silver. The largest ransom in human history. Once they got their ransom they executed Atahualpa. Nice guys.

At the end of this blog entry are the last words of one of the conquistadors, Mansio Serra de Leguizamon. A sad recognition of the destruction of an entire culture.

Iseline enjoyed the last part of the tour and the boys enjoyed it all. Quite tired we had dinner at a local restaurant.

I´m sorry Sharon, but I actually had alpaca meat, and it was delicious.

We got the kids to bed and Hélène also tucked in. I stayed awake for about an hour, trying to blog. In the end I realized that I had no more energy and was getting nowhere, I crashed into bed and fell asleep immediately.

Eirik

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Here are the last words of Mansio Serra de Leguizamon on September 18, 1589 in Cusco.They speak for themselves:

For the peace of my soul and before I start this will, I declare that for many years now I have desired to speak to the Catholic majesty of King Philip our lord, knowing how Catholic and most Christian he is, because I took part in the name of the Crown in the discovery, conquest and settlement of these kingdoms when we deprived those who were the lords, the Incas, who had ruled them as their own. And it should be known to His Most Catholic Majesty that we found those realms in such good order that there was not a thief or a vicious man, nor an adulteress, nor were there fallen women admitted among them, nor were they an immoral people, being content and honest in their labor. All things from the smallest to the greatest had their place and order. And that the Incas were feared obeyed and respected by their subjects as being very capable and skillful in their rule, as were their governors.

I wish your majesty to understand the motive that moves me to make this statement is the peace of my conscience and because of the guilt I share. For we have destroyed by our evil behaviour such a government as was enjoyed by these natives. They were so free of crime and greed, both men and women, that they could leave gold or silver worth a hundred thousand pesos in their open house. So that when they discovered that we were thieves and men who sought to force their wives and daughters to commit sin with them, they despised us. But now things have come to such a pass in offence of God, owing to the bad example we have set them in all things, that these natives from doing no evil have turned into people who can do no good, something which must touch your Majesty¯s conscience as it does mine, as one of the first conquistadors and discoverers, and something that demands to be remedied.

I inform your Majesty that there is no more I can do to alleviate these injustices other than by my words, in which I beg God to pardon me, for I am moved to say this, seeing that I am the last to die of the conquistadors.