Our hotel looked a bit unfinished when we arrived but was actually being improved and the inside was very welcoming. We all collapsed around small tables and were served coca tea –
not to everyone’s taste but I liked it; better than the leaves anyway!
We found our roommates and set off to inspect our rooms. They were lovely; spacious, light and clean with huge beds, large tv’s, and a modern, Scandinavian style bathroom. We soon found out that these stylish bathrooms did not always supply hot water and, of course, had the ubiquitous bucket for the used loo paper but these were minor inconveniences.
Lunch was at 13.30 although our body clocks were telling us otherwise. After this most people ventured out into Cusco for some sightseeing. The road up to the main square – the Plaza de Armas – was a gentle hill but had us puffing and moving much more slowly than usual. Cusco is
3360m (11,000ft) above sea level and the air is thin. We saw lots to amuse and amaze us. Paid a couple of soles to take a photo of a brightly dressed lady with her daughter and a lamb and fought off lots of eager young boys selling postcards and paintings. One of them told us he was the Pablo Picasso of Cusco!
We went into the cathedral and borrowed MP3 players for a guided tour. Learnt how the Spanish had managed to graft Catholicism onto the existing Inca beliefs to make it more acceptable (in the same way in which they built most of their churches on top of Inca temple foundations). The decorations were splendidly overblown and lavish with much use of mirrors, gold and silver. There was an amazing painting of an earthquake devastating the Plaza de Armes and another of the last supper with a cuy (guinea pig) as the central dish rather than bread, and avocadoes and mangos on the table. There were several different Madonnas in their elaborate side chapels all looking like toilet roll covers and we saw a statue of St. Anthony to whom women pray when they want a husband. There were lots of written appeals at his feet and apparently every Friday he is turned upside down in order to remind him of these requests!
We also saw the Black Jesus: an icon of huge significance to the people of Cusco. He is reputed to have stopped an earthquake by being paraded around. Back at the hotel we managed to stay awake for the evening meal at 19.00 and then collapsed into bed.
