Cuzco

After this first week, the nature of my travels shifted slightly as I headed south. I came back to Lima for a few days to recoup after the week of northern adventures. I was still up in the air about whether or not I would take a second week of vacation. My friend Jamie, who I’d met initially in Lima and hung out with in Huanchaco, also happened to be heading South, so we decided to join forces for the next week. It was a perfect opportunity for me to travel with a buddy, which always makes things more fun. I knew that Jamie and I got along splendidly, and we did indeed throughout the week to come.

On a Sunday morning we flew (ah, what a nice treat after clocking dozens of bus hours!) into Cuzco, the second biggest city in Peru and most popular tourist destination (second only to Chiclayo, of course). An Andean city, Cuzco is located at 3326 meters (or nearly 10,000 feet) and serves as the base for most trips to Machu Picchu and the other ruins of the Sacred Valley. I’ve never heard a bad thing about Cuzco and it is not hard to see why. It is a lovely and charming city with a vibrant cultural pulse, blue skies (that was enough to sell me!), clean air, beautiful buildings, numerous ruins, and more.

Sky High

Thankfully I acclimated pretty well to this altitude, which not all visitors are able to do. While you can certainly feel the lack of oxygen as your heart pumps extra hard and your lungs work overtime to get you up the many hills in the area (or, really, even down the flat cobbled streets), it wasn’t much of a limiting factor for us, hoorah!

The key, they say, is to take it easy the first day, drink loads of coca tea (mmm…so good I am drinking some now), and not eat any big meals. We followed this plan pretty well and I think we owe it our success.

Incas and Quechua Culture

Cuzco was once the capital of the Incan Empire back in the day. The Inca tribes first emerged in the Sacred Valley in the 1100s (with first inca Manco Capac) but didn’t come fully into their own until the 1400s with the empire-lusting ninth inca (or king), Pachacutec. He basically bagged everything in sight (to put years of important history very casually).

Quechua is the language of the Incan Empire, and is still widely spoken in the Andes. In fact, an estimated three to five million Peruvians speak Quechua, with more native speakers in Bolivia and Ecuador. At the risk of sounding like a guidebook, I include such information because I find the Native Andean people intriguing, especially the women.

Quechua Mamas

In addition to distinct traditional dress, most of the women also have on their backs huge heaps of goods and/or children swaddled in colorful cloths. I hope their husbands are good masseuses. But, interestingly, the women are not often seen with men. It would seem (from my limited observation, at least) that most women move around solo or, perhaps more often, accompanied by one or two other women of the same age, with whom they seem close.

I am interested in learning more about these ladies and their culture. I have done a few quick searches (ever the learner) and what I have found so far is some information about forced sterilization of the Quechua women by the Peruvian government happening as recently as the late 1990s (boo). Less controversially, I have also learned that they call themselves Runa, or the people, their social system is based on reciprocity, and coca leaf chewing is an integral part of their spiritual and cultural identity (more about the coca plant later). And, yeah, so I don’t know very much yet. I hope to learn more.

And I digress.

So the first day of exploring Cuzco was a joy. It was so incredibly nice to be in the mountains and the sunshine, away from the bustle of big city life. A cleansing much needed!