June 5: Cusco

We arrived in Cusco to be taken to a beautiful hotel ensured to spoil us. In comparison to Lima, Cusco was quieter with pebble laid roads displaying the city´s heritage at every turn. Our first stop for the city´s walking tour was the main square--Plaza de Armas. Surrounded by cathedrals, what stood out was the abundance of "rainbow" colored flags. One, as some of us did, could assume that the people of Cusco are proud to be supportive of LGBTQ rights. However, we were later told that the flag had its origins in Incan beliefs where rainbow is considered a deity and hence used to represent the empire. The flag, therefore, is justly used for Cusco was the capital of the Incan empire.

The cathedrals mentioned before were built on Incan palaces or places of worship when the Spanish took over the region. The foundations of some of the structures still maintain its original Incan walls with stones carved to fit together. Beside the Jesuit church at the square was the city´s only public university. The square is significant for its history and is known as the “Square of the warrior”. Incans believed to have used the square for religious purposes as they covered it with sand thereby bringing the ocean to their empire. Sacrifices were made during the Winter Solstice to celebrate the Sun´s feast. Ironically, this is also where Cusco was won over by Francisco Pizarro.

Next came the climb to a hill to observe the city´s layout while we also observed the several influences on the city´s architecture. One can distinctly identify doors belonging to different eras; what made it more interesting was the history surrounding those variations. More doors represented the Spanish while a few had Incan influences owing to the Incan slaves used to build them.

Incans believed in three worlds or realms—the sky, where the Gods lived, the underworld, where the dead go, and the living world, the earth. The three were represented by condor, snake, and puma or jaguar respectively. Incan architecture and pottery shows influences drawn from the three animals. Cusco is set up in the shape of puma with its every part corresponding to an equally important structure. For example, the genitals of the puma was the location of Qooricancha or the temple of the Sun.

Our visit to the Sun temple revealed the brilliance of Incan empire. The temple is now occupied by Dominican nuns. Structures were usually of trapezoidal shape making them aseismic.  They also had canals for water in the temple. The way stones where placed over each other also reveals the time period the structure belongs to. Some of the stones at the temple displayed holes where metal was placed to hold stones together in certain structures. This is in accordance with the belief that Incans were not originally from the area for that technique belonged to a certain indigenous tribe. As we previously were informed about the ability of Incans to negotiate and make peace with multiple tribes that enabled their empire to be built in a short period, the visit cemented history while displaying smooth engulfment of multiple cultures.

Cusco takes you for a ride across time and cultures as you walk through it. One can see the influences the “outside” has had on it through us having pizza for dinner while listening to soulful indigenous music. Cusco tied together what the history we read with the history we saw. The square remains a place for irony as it has throughout history; while the city prepared for the Sun´s feast, some of us witnessed a strike at the same spot.