Back to Cusco, Peru

By Glen Bruels
This is part of a series called Galápagos Islands and Macchu Picchu 2022
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After Machu Picchu, we took a different route back to Cusco and ended up in the little town of Chinchero, the weaving center of Peru, at 12,500 feet!We stopped for a weaving demonstration at a textile co-op, where the local ladies showed us how they cleaned, spun, dyed, and weaved wool from baby alpacas. Of course, everything is natural. The star of the show, however, was the little baby who was swaddled and carried around during the ladies’ work.

A demonstration at a women’s co-op in Chinchera, showing how they clean, spin, dye, and weave the baby Alpaca wool that they work with here
Making it more complex is the fact that the pieces are reversible; i.e., there are two patterns that have to be dealt with!
No need for daycare for these ladies. The babies are along for the ride. This little guy was the star of the show.

From there we drove to Cusco, the sacred city of the Incas. Our first stop was to the archeological complex of Sacsayhuaman (pronounced and known as “Sexy Woman”), yet another example of amazing Incan engineering. Remember Incan emperor Pachacuti?  Well, this was another of his projects The work took over 50 years to accomplish with over 20,000 workers. As I understand it, it is a shrine to nature, but it was also a military fort. Sadly, when the Spanish conquest occurred, a lot of these boulders were removed to build the churches and government buildings in the center of the city, but you could still see the greatness there. By the way, this site provided the best panoramas of the main part of the city in the valley. We then went into the city to the Temple of the Qorikancha and Basilica Cathedral, both built on top of former Incan temples. In the former case, the Temple was actually incorporated into the Santa Domingo Church and Convent. It was probably the most important and sacred temple of the Incas and was adorned with gold, precious stones, etc., which were stripped and sent back to Spain. From there, we visited what is called the most beautiful church in Peru the Basilica Cathedral. This cathedral is massive and decorated in gold, silver and carved exotic woods. It took over 130 years to complete. What is most interesting, though, is the religious artwork throughout the cathedral. The Spanish were trying to “conquer” the minds of the local people and incorporated elements of their culture into otherwise standard Catholic symbols (e.g., the Black Jesus, a dark Virgin Mary dressed in local garb, and a version of the Last Supper where the main dish is a roasted guinea pig. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside the Cathedral.

Stopping to visit the “Sexy Woman”
This was a massive complex but, sadly, many of the boulders were removed to build a number of the structures in Cusco
Not only were these giant boulders fit into place, they actually rounded the corners.
Another “frame shot”
Panoramic views of the city from up here…
Including the city center where the cathedrals and our hotel were located.
Here is that square from ground level.
This is part of the Temple of the Qorikancha, one of the major Incan temples that was incorporated into the Santa Domingo Church and Convent. I guess I never fully understood why they did that, given that the Spanish tried to destroy everything that was Incan.
These adjoining chambers would have filtered the sunlight through these openings for one of the solstices. Of course, with the church built around it, that ended that.
a model of how the complex looked during Incan rule…
That was ultimately incorporated into this.
But even to this date, the gardens bear the symbols used by the Incas.
This entry was posted in Peru, South America, Travel
Glen Bruels

I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.

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