29th September: 3rd day in Cuzco

We had an early start as we had quite a busy agenda for the day: a few visits and getting ready for the Inca trail.  First things first, we started with a nice breakfast at the hotel.  We then visited the San Blas church, where our attention focused on the wood-sculpted pulpit, allegedly one of the nicest in South America.  Unfortunately, as in most churches and museums in Cuzco, pictures were not allowed so here is a link and another with a closer view.

We then had our briefing with the Inca trail team.  Our guides were in Machu Picchu so they could not be present unfortunately, but we will meet them early tomorrow morning: we will be picked up from the hotel at 6:30 am. We should start walking two hours later.  The second day will be the most difficult with steep stairs, we will ascend about 1200m in a day.  The challenge will be to keep up with the porters and cooks or simply to finish before the night.  After the briefing, we rented sleeping bags, a walking stick and waterproof trousers.  There has been quite a lot of rain lately as we are approaching rainy season.  We may be lucky though.

We then visited the Basilica Catedral, which was very impressive not only for its size but also for the richness of the paintings, the gold (made with 22-carat gold leaves) altars and wooden-sculpted choir.  We were given audio guides, which made the visit very enjoyable and we learnt a lot about synchretism between the Catholic religion and Andean traditions, and on the Cuzco school (altars and paintings).  Paintings and sculptures were used by Catholic priests for evangelisation purposes.  They brought paintings from Europe, which were then copied by local artists.  Some of them included elements of their culture (e.g., the sun and the moon, Andean deities).  Catholic priests tolerated some interpretations in the paintings in order for them to be closer to local population: the Trinity is represented by three identical depictions of Christ (traditionally, such representation was not allowed).  One of the most worshiped is the Christ of the Earthquakes (or Senor de los Tremores), as the legend says that it prevented earthquakes in Cuzco.  An amusing worship was that of San Antoine de Padoue for its abilities in finding a good husband.  Unfortunately, you have to know the address of the person...Another interesting detail was the presence of bare-breast women sculpted on the arm rests of the choir.

We then headed to the Museo de Arte Religioso, where we saw a great collection of paintings from the Cuzco school (recognisable by the gold ornaments on clothes, made with gold leaves, and by their singular perspective).  After lunch we had a quick visit of the Templo de la Compania de Jesus, and enjoyed the view over the city from the bell-tower.

View of Plaza de Armas, main square of Cuzco

We then headed to Qorikancha, quechua for Temple of Gold.  Unfortunately, the Spanish have destroyed a great part of the temple and built a church on top of it.  Nevertheless, impressive walls are still standing, and the impact of the last earthquake of 1950 is barely visible.  The temple was an important place of worship (Cuzco being the capital of the Inca empire).  The method used for its construction testifies to its importance: stones are joined together like lego, without the use of mortar.  The strength of the construction is also due to the inclination of the walls and their thickness.  We saw the same construction technique the day before in the sacred valley.  It was reserved to important buildings, such as temples.  Apparently, this technique was not used for Machu Picchu, which was only a provincial town compared to Cuzco.  We'll get to see for ourselves in a few days...

View of Qorikancha with the Inca wall and the colonial Church above

Perfectly aligned Inca windows at the Temple of Gold

Church courtyard (ruins of one of the units of the Inca temple behind the arches on the right)

Arch of the colonial Church built on the Inca wall

View on Avenida del Sol from Qorikancha

We then headed back to the hotel to pack our bags for our 4-day trek to Machu Picchu, on the Inca trail.  We will have our backpacks half full and hopefully not too heavy.  We only need to carry clothes, a few medicines, sleeping bags, notebooks and 2 liters of water each (thankfully, the agency organises the tents and food)  but it already takes up quite a lot of space.  Now a few hours sleep before our early start.