Carla Harren

Saturday, June 10 – Flight Lima – Cusco

Ancient Inca City – overnight in Cusco

 Personal notes:

The from Lima to Cusco in the morning was cancelled by the Peruvian Airline that was the first news we heard at the airport. Later on the news was that with the 6 of us we were able to fly to Cusco. So the group was separated. The others were offered meals and a hotel for the night and an early flight in the morning to arrive in Cusco on June 11 breakfast time.

We were lucky to have 1 member of the group that flew to Cusco with us who spoke basic Spanish. She was handed over the Hotel vouchers and a tourist ticket voucher for each of us. Along with this there was a local guide and bus plus chauffeur to pick us up at the Airport.

Cusco Boleto Turistico

Admission to many of the most popular places of interest in Cusco can only be made using a ‘Tourist Ticket’ (Boleto Turistico). This ticket allows you entrance to many sites in and around Cusco and costs 130 Peruvian Soles (approx US$48) and 70 Peruvian Soles for students with an ISIC card (approx US$26). The ticket is valid for 10 days and can be bought at the COSITUC office at Avenida Sol 103 office 102 (Mon-Fri 8am-6.30pm , Sat 8am-2pm) or at any of the sites included on the ticket above. (just in case you were wondering COSITUC stands for Comite de Servicios Integrados Turistico Culturales Cusco) www.cosituc.gob.pe

In the early evening we arrived at Cusco. There was a festival going on which lasted many days for the upcoming Solstice on June 20. The Hotel Royal Inka 1, in colonial style is amazing. See also www.royalinkahotel.pe  a good place to stay but very confusing to find your room. Once I figured out the easiest route to find the room everything was okay. I was a bit dizzy from the high altitude here but after a nice cup of tea it settled down a bit. In the evening you can still hear the festival activities going on.

In the evening we went to have dinner in The Greens Restaurant, Santa Catalina Angosta, 135, Cusco, Peru. Fantastic vegetarian food and I had a special Asperger dish. When we returned we all went to have a good night sleep seeing we were up very early in the morning to catch a plane in Lima plus all the waiting at the Airport.

The festival and music continued in the plaza in front of us plus in the street. Although after 15 minutes and a meditation I no longer heard them. In the second week of June – Cusquena International Beer and Music Festival. Lively, with big Latin pop and jazz names.

KIN 18 – White Overtone Mirror of the Crystal Rabbit Moon of Cooperation, light code 18:5:12 to gather inner and outer resources to empower yourself and others. To call upon the empowerment of radiance within the Cosmic Order of Reflection and Divine Truth.

Chant: Imix, Cimi, Lamat, Akbal, ETZNAB

Planets: Neptune, Mars, Venus, Saturn

Tone 5 is to call upon, empower, radiance

City walk Cusco

Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (Spanish: Cuzco, Quechua Qusqu or Qosqo, is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cusco Province. In 2013, the city had a population of 435,114. Located on the eastern end of the Knot of Cuzco, its elevation is around 3,400 m (11,200 ft).

The site was the historic capital of the Inca Empire. from the 13th until the 16th century Spanish conquest. In 1983 Cusco was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It has become a major tourist destination, hosting nearly 2 million visitors a year. The Constitution of Peru designates it as the Historical Capital of Peru.

Killke culture

The Killke people occupied the region from 900 to 1200, prior to the arrival of the Inca in the 13th century. Carbon-14 dating of Saksaywaman, the walled complex outside Cusco, established that Killke constructed the fortress about 1100. The Inca later expanded and occupied the complex in the 13th century. On 13 March 2008, archaeologists discovered the ruins of an ancient temple, roadway and aqueduct system at Saksaywaman. The temple covers some 2,700 square feet (250 square meters) and contains 11 rooms thought to have held idols and mummies, establishing its religious purpose. Together with the results of excavations in 2007, when another temple was found at the edge of the fortress, this indicates a longtime religious as well as military use of the facility.

Inca history

Cusco was long an important center of indigenous peoples. It was the capital of the Inca Empire (13th century-1532). Many believe that the city was planned as an effigy in the shape of a puma, a sacred animal. How Cusco was specifically built, or how its large stones were quarried and transported to the site remain undetermined. Under the Inca, the city had two sectors: the urin and hanan. Each was divided to encompass two of the four provinces, Chinchasuyu (NW), Antisuyu (NE), Kuntisuyu (SW) and Qullasuyu (SE). A road led from each of quarter to the corresponding quarter of the empire.

Each local leader was required to build a house in the city and live part of the year in Cusco, restricted to the quarter that corresponded to the quarter in which he held territory. After the rule of Pachacuti, when an Inca died, his title went to one son and his property was given to a corporation controlled by his other relatives (split inheritance). Each title holder had to build a new house and add new lands to the empire, in order to own land for his family to keep after his death.

According to Inca legend, the city was rebuilt by Sapa Inca Pachacuti, the man who transformed the Kingdom of Cuzco from a sleepy city-state into the vast empire of Tawantinsuyu. Archaeological evidence, however, points to a slower, more organic growth of the city beginning before Pachacuti. The city was constructed according to a definite plan in which two rivers were channeled around the city. Archaeologists have suggested that this city plan was replicated at other sites.

The city fell to the sphere of Huascar during the Inca Civil War after the death of Huayna Capac in 1527. It was captured by the generals of Atahualpa in April 1532 in the Battle of Quipaipan. Nineteen months later, Spanish explorers invaded the city and gained control because of their arms and horses, employing superior military technology.

Present

A major earthquake on 21 May 1950 caused the destruction of more than one third of the city’s structures. The Dominican Priory and Church of Santo Domingo, which were built on top of the impressive Qurikancha (Temple of the Sun), were among the affected colonial era buildings. Inca architecture withstood the earthquake. Many of the old Inca walls were at first thought to have been lost after the earthquake, but the granite retaining walls of the Qurikancha were exposed, as well as those of other ancient structures throughout the city.

Restoration work at the Santo Domingo complex exposed the Inca masonry formerly obscured by the superstructure without compromising the integrity of the colonial heritage. Many of the buildings damaged in 1950 had been impacted by an earthquake only nine years previously.

Since the 1990s, tourism has increased. Currently, Cusco is the most important tourist destination in Peru. Under the administration of mayor Daniel Estrada Pérez, a staunch supporter of the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua, between 1983 and 1995 the Quecha name Qosqo was officially adopted for the city.