Aguas Calientes Pics

Ollyantetambo Ruins...yup I climbed to the top of that one!

Hello all you plebeians down below the house with the super slanted roof was my starting point 

Hello darkness my old friend...

Sorry water god, but if there's a cool space, apparently I will climb it. 

Pisco Sour- it's the national drink of Peru, and frequently served before meals

In the Jungle of Aguas Calientes!!

I found this hotel quite fitting for us motley crew if you ask me. And YES Gringo Bill is real and apparently retired in Montana 

Hike to Aguas Calientes...it was beautiful!!

Not so beautiful, the actual Aguas Calientes

Okay now here's the best part...food! I know, I know, it's kinda a rule not to eat street food and travel but I just couldn't help myself today...everything was so fresh and appetizing! 

Boiled corn with fresh cheese

Fried sweet bananas...they also taste nothing like plantain chips, Danilo said it was because of the type of banana they used which apparently we don't have in the US

All natural version of Corn Nuts...these weren't my favorite but I enjoyed trying them.

Peru's version of pancakes! They're a lot like crepes but a bit thicker and softer. Perks of being an adult? Eating dessert for dinner hehe. Aka the perfect way to end my day.

I love you all!!

Carolyn

Tombochai, this is a ritual bath from the Incas. Apparently there were multiple houses around the area (that didn't last), and this was like a hotel/resting spot for nobles and dignitaries of the Inca empire, who were making their way to Cusco. They would stop here, bathe, eat, and rest before finishing their last 8km journey by foot to their destination.

Saksaywaman, a citadel north of Cusco. This was where the Inti Raymi was hosted yesterday, and I got to walk around the paths were the performers entered from! This was basically a fortress and hosted many battles to protect the capital of the Inca empire, Cusco. The locals say that this place has a bad energy because thousands have died there, and apparently its haunted. You can bet that I made sure to get to the car before complete sunset after hearing the tour guide say that haha. I'm not about to mess with some warrior Inca ghosts.

The famous 12 point rock in Cusco

Apparently if I can climb it I will...sorry Water god, your temple had too many spaces to explore

So we meet again...Inca infinity stair master, and yes that 70 year old lady with a cane was totally whooping my butt up those steps hahaha

Lands below are all for cultivation of various foods, like oats or potatoes. Do you know that in Peru they have over a thousand different potato types? And the variation comes from thousands of years of experimenting with the altitude in which they are planted which allowed them to be evolved for that specific height.

This is the sacred valley built by the Incas...this was considered sacred because it had the most fertile land and access to mineral rich water from the river Urubamba

This is the area surrounding the picture of the sacred valley above, it's called Moray. And those are the Andes...I could not stop staring at them the entire trip and I'm a total city girl through and through lol

Salt mines of Maras, Peru. This is the most expensive and sought after salt in Peru because it comes from a naturally salty spring. Apparently all the best restaurants want to use this salt in their cooking because of its flavor.

 In the same place that had alpaca and cuy, there were also women working to make alpaca scarves and table mantles. The gave demonstrations of the entire process.

Washing the wool using a local root to get all the dirt out.

All the wool made in this place uses natural dye, like coca leaves and insects!! The colors were gorgeous and I wanted to take all of them to crochet...too bad they looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if they just sold the yarn

This is the mechanism they use to weave the wool strands together, each color string represents something different (i.e. black is Mother Earth, white is the mountains) and what's even more fascinating is that the shapes in the patterns combined with the colors can be interpreted to mean different things! (I.e. The purple strands woven next to the blue in a triangle pattern is meant to bring good luck for the next harvest)

This was the center! Isn't it gorgeous? I wanted to spend all day there.

 couldn't help but take a photo here,it was just too instagrammable #blockedthewholeentrance #sorrynotsorrywaitingtourists #nofilter heheh

Hola!!

So today was a super touristy run around literally every part of the mountains kind of day so I thought it would be best to just explain my day with pictures and captions :)

Our first stop was in Chinchero which was up the mountains from Cusco. This is a little pueblo that definitely doesn't look like much, and yet has all these neat spaces for tourists to learn about local businesses, such as alpaca products.

Cuy! Or in other words, guinea pig. These cuy are raised for consumption and it is a really popular dish in Cusco, especially among the lower socioeconomic classes. Haven't decided yet if I'm brave enough to eat one...they're just so cute!

I made a friend! These alpacas are raised for their wool, so luckily this guy here won't end up on my dinner plate.

Speaking of dinner plates, I actually tried alpaca (don't worry it was this guy's evil twin who was trying to take over the world, you're welcome for taking one for the team and saving all of humanity)...anyways as I was saying, the meat was actually really light and delicious, I'd almost venture to say better than beef, and most definitely not what I expected. Sorry buddy, I might be eating more alpaca before I leave hehe.

One of the rival churches in the plaza

Greeting the Sun god, Inti

The Queen's arrival, she knew how to travel in style. I decided that from this point forward I'm not going to walk anywhere, I'll just have 40 men carry me.

Beyoncé of 1458...

So many performers! They're bowing for the arrival of The Inca

The Inca himself

The Queen...

Dancers from the West that reminded me of Gujarati dancers

Inti Raymi

Hi everybody,

HAPPY NEW YEAR! No, I'm not going crazy, and yes I know what day it is. Today marks the New Year for the Inca and Quechua people, and they celebrate it with multiple parades and ceremonies honoring the Sun god "Inti." I woke up early in the morning to spend the next few hours waiting in the Plaza de Armas for the morning parade to begin, I should have known better, these people run on mountain time...which means they're only a hair better than Bengali time. Being in a Plaza filled with thousands of people all squished together was pretty crazy, I was in the front but the constant pushing, arguments over spots, and general chaos makes me think that the festival life might not be for me...at one point they had police with those clear barricades and special forces come in just to enforce crowd control when two people started arguing and literally the whole block of people (probably at least 300 people) decided to get involved!! Besides that hiccup the parade ran smoothly, we saw old dances from the region, men came to sweep the streets with huge eucalyptus branches while the women followed throwing flower petals before the Inca (Pachacuti) arrived standing on a dais carried by at least 50 men. The Inca gave a speech to the people of Cusco (all in Quechua, the local indigenous language, of course), and the first ceremony ended. I would also like to point out the irony of hosting a parade for the Sun god in the Plaza de Armas. Why? Because the Plaza was built by the Spaniards when they conquered the area, and with the Spaniards came Catholicism. Now, over time the different sects of the religion built their own churches and cathedrals all within the plaza and each one trying to outdo the other with bigger and better things. So, now you have three churches all within a block of each other, and two of those buildings are towering to assert the dominance of Catholicism, and yet all of Cusco (and I literally mean all) was gathered in the Plaza for a pagan festival. Those Spaniards are probably rolling in their graves right now hahaha. 

Anyways moving on, there was a break between the two ceremonies so we went to get "paltas," which essentially is avocado toast and guess what? It only costs A DOLLAR. In LA people pay $15 for the exact same thing...having cheap access to avocado toast anytime I want just might sway me to live in these mountains forever. 

The second ceremony was the offering ceremony to the Sun god. There whole production had more than 500 people! It was held inside actual Incan Ruins which definitely helped to set the stage and make you feel as though you really were in the 1400's. There were dances from the West, North, South, and Jungle regions of Peru which was very interesting to compare. The West dances reminded me a lot of the Gujarati folk dances, from the basic structure of the costumes to the way they used the scarves and twirled. The Inca offered, chicha morada, fire, and a llama to Inti. Oh yeah, you heard me right, I think the llama was my karma for joking about offering myself as a sacrifice. They had all these life llamas off to the side to choose from for the sacrifice. Shout out to my Uncle Dolan for traumatizing me with that goat he told me choose at the farm, only to have it served for dinner rather than brought home as a pet. Well Uncle Ron definitely capitalized on this story and between him and Danilo I was convinced they really were going to kill a llama in front of all these people! Now, they say that it was all fake and they had a fake dead llama hiding behind the live ones but I had my ears and eyes closed for a good 20 minutes so I can't really vouch one way or another....let's just say we can add llama to the list of meats I refuse to touch. Especially because when I did look up to see if the coast was clear they held this bloody heart (which Danilo later said was just a prop but I don't believe anything he says anymore) up to throw into the fire for the oracle guy to read the flames and smoke to interpret the message from Inti about the coming year. Yup...this part of the ceremony is going to be compartmentalized in one of those let's never think about it again corners of my brain...hope you had a good laugh Uncle Ron! Remember, I know where you sleep...

I'm happy to report that the rest of the ceremony was much more lively and the finale was spectacular. It was a football field sized stage and the dancers did an incredible job of filling the space and moving about the field, they made it feel as if a football field was too small a stage! That's no small feat for a dancer. Overall the festival was a total cultural immersion and I almost loved every second of it. I noticed some foreigners in the morning parade, and apparently they do allow tourists who come early and practice with everyone to participate, so who knows, maybe I'll come back and actually be in the production next time! How cool would that be?!

Okay, off to bed for the sacred valley tomorrow! I also will fill you in on the night parade (that is still going on as I write this at 11:30pm) tomorrow. 

Love you lots,

Aisha