CUSCO

FRIDAY 24th JUNE

  Up at 8.00am for breakfast and cab there waiting for me at 9.00am.  Got to the airport two hours ahead of flight - just as well as there were massive queues at check-in.  All Taca flights go to the same 5/6 check-in desks.  First problem:  the weight restriction on omestic flights is less than international and I was over!  The girl said I could carry my bag on board providing I transferred all liquids into my suitcase.  Of course after shave, hair spray, antiseptic, toothpaste were all in the ruddy bag.  Anyway I got all the stuff moved to the case and staggered off under the weight of two bags that must have had a combined weight of some 16Kg.  No dramas at security and I went straight to Gate 3 where the flight to Cusco was leaving.  I got out my computer and worked on it for about an hour, and then packed up 20 minutes before flight departure time.  I needn't have bothered, the flight was about an hour late in leaving.  It was a walk from the aircraft to the terminal and winding upward slopes all the way in.  About half way my lungs felt as though they were seizing up and I had to stop for a rest!  There was a porter with a trolley so I grabbed him but the bags on the trolley and slowly followed him to the baggage re-claim.  He got my case onto the trolley when it arrived and wheeled the lot outside.  Be just my luck for the Tucan rep to have gone off because of the flight delay, but no she was there with a cab just for me having despatched in mini-bus load earlier.  She gave me the lowdown on Cusco, gave me a whole lot of paperwork on Cusco and tomorrows trip and told me to have a little rest and then maybe have a stroll round town.  Santiago, my guide would come and brief me at 7.00pm.


  I duly strolled down to the centre of a town that is steeped in history.  When Columbus arrived in South America, Cusco was the thriving powerful capital of the Inca Empire.  Legend has it that the city was founded by the first Inca, Manco Capac in the 12th century.  Whilst he certainly had a part in establishing the seat of the Inca Empire in Cusco, archeological records demonstrate that previous cultures occuppied the area several centuries earlier, albeit little is known about them.  Because the Incas had no written language, no written history exists and their history has all been passed down orally.

  The Spanish reached Cusco in 1533 led by Francisco Pizarro, and written accounts were kept from that moment on, not that all of them are entirely accurate, they do contain the testimony of Inca in 1539 by the son of an Inca Princess and a Spanish Conquistador.  He lived in the area until the age of 21 before moving to Spain where he died in 1616.

  The 7 reigns of Inca after Manco Capac were spent from between 12th - 15th centuries living quietly in the Andean Highlands.  Inca Pachacuti started the dominant expansion of the Incas.  They defeated neighbouring tribes, and the victorious Pachacutac (Pachacuti's eldest son), conquered most of the central Andes during the next 25 years.  Pachacutac in turn had a son who became another great Inca leader Tupac Yuppanqui.  In 1471 he became the 10th Inca and the Empire continued to expand dramatically.  However the arrival of the Spanish unstoppable cavalry and European diseases spelt the end for the Inca Empire.

  There have been two major earthquakes in Cusco in 1650 and 1850 which resulted in most modern buildings crumbling, but the Inca walls were completely unaffected!  Tupac Amaru II led a revolt in 1760 but he too was defeated by the Spanish. It was in fact Hispanic descendants of the Conquistardors who achieved independence for Peru, something the Inca Armies had failed to do.  Cusco carried on in its quiet colonial way - Lima was made capital as the Spaniards required access to the sea.  What changed Cusco's status in Per was the discovery of Mach Pichu in  1911.

  But enough of Inca history, my first port of call was the square which has two churches on it.  And guess what the square is called Plaza de Armas.  On one side is the Cathedral which was started  in 1559 and took a 100 years to build.  There is also El Trifuno Church next to it, which is the oldest in Cuzco dating back to 1536. On another side of the Plaz is La Compania Jesus Church, built by the Jesuits who had designs to make it the most magnificent church in Cusco.  The Bishop complained that it must rival the splendour of the Cathedral, and Pope Paul III was called in to arbitrate, but by the time he gave his ruling in favour of the Cthedral, La Compania was virtually complete.  It has an incredible baroque facade and is one of the most ornate churches in Cusco, and its foundations contain stones from the palace of Huayana Capac, the last Inca to rule an undivided, unconquered Empire.

 Over the top of the roofs one can see the VIVA EL PERU engraved on the mountain side.

 Today is "Cusco Day" a big Inca feast hence the Inca flags are flying everywhere.  Most of the Inca had gone to some celebration out of the town centre but they came flooding back in in their hordes by early evening. and there was all sorts of street entertainment going on.

                                     
 In the middle of the square is a statue to King Pachacuteq a famous Inca warrior and leader.
 It was Corpus Christi recently and there were large displays outside the cathedral commemorating this event.

I did some shopping getting things on the list I was given that I didn't have; a torch, spare batteries for the camera, bottle of water, energy bars, chocolate, and of my own volition a cannister of Oxygen spray in case the worst comes to the worst.  I then went back to the hotel and deposited my purchases and went out again. You would hardly know it was a hotel from the outside but inside it is quite large.

 Above is the entrance from the inside. My bedroom is on the first floor end room on the right.

  I walked around some more and heard my first Polish voices in South America, two blokes and a bird.  I then opted for some lunch in one of the restaurants on the first floor overlooking the square.  Medallions of lamb in garlic sauce was my choice aided and abetted by a local beer.  There was an Inca musician playing the guitar and pan pipes and I purchased a CD of his playing for 20 sol (about £4.50).

I managed to get a window side table overlooking the square and it was indeed a great view.

I got back in time for the briefing from Santiago.  It didn't fill me with confidence, the man spoke of 5 hour hikes uphill on the second day, getting up at 6.00am except on the last day when we get up at 4.30am, and we leave at 6.00am in the morning.  I've asked for a 5.00am call, because I need to bring all my luggage down to be deposited here before we depart.  My own shoulder bag is loaded with all essentials and the porter's bag (max weight 5Kg) is loaded with Scott's sleeping bag, socks, towel, fleece, North Face jacket and top.  Well there'll be no more posts until I get back from this excursion!