Inti Raymi, numb bums & gripe

June 28th, 2008 by Natalie Davis

So, Inti Raymi, the week-long celebration of the sun when Cusco goes into overdrive and tourists come in droves, seems to have finally ended…

Last week there were daily parades down Avenida del Sol (the main street in Cusco) and in Plaza de Armas. It was a fantastic time to be here to see everyone from teeny tiny school kids to fully grown adults dressed up in traditional costumes and dancing in the streets all day and night. Even some of our own teachers, volunteers and staff from Maximo Nivel paraded on Monday (I chose not to, I figure I did my fair share of street parades as a marching girl all those years ago!).

The downside was that taxi fares jumped up with the influx of so many tourists (yeah I know I´m quite the pot calling the kettle black but I feel like I live/belong here these days) and the street sellers were out with even more aggression than usual.

To be honest I´ve kinda missed them the last couple of days… I walked into a market 2 days ago and not one person tried to sell me anything! Surely I´m not looking that at home here yet. The only alpaca thing I own so far is a scarf. Oh yeah, and some socks (which are honestly the ugliest socks I´ve ever seen – Kel as soon as I got them home I realised it had been a true crocheted bikini moment!!).

Anyway Inti Raymi celebrates both the anniversary of Cusco and carries on ancient Inca traditions to commemorate the winter solstice (the Sun’s New Year). The aforementioned week-long build up cultimates in a massive ceremony on 24th June. The ceremony and parading starts in the morning at Qorikancha (Sun temple on Avenida del Sol), makes its way to Plaza de Armas then eventually up to the Inca ruins at Sacsayhuamán (pronounciation sounds something like “sexy woman”).

So, on Tuesday morning along with the girls from my house (Beth, Katie and Heidi), I met the girls from the Jungle trip (Hannah, Danni and Carla) and we made our way up to Sacsayhuamán early to reserve ourselves a spot. You can pay to go, arond US$90 I think, which was crazy, especially since for free you can do what we did and sit (very uncomfortably) on the hillside a bit further away and watch the ceremony from there.

Unfortunately I was starting to feel a bit rubbish following the extreme cold from the selva (jungle) trip so not the best for a day in the sun kinda picnic-ing (Cusco style: accepting or not the icecreams, empanadas, pastries or whatever else the street sellers were walking around offering. I’m sure I saw Spiderman bouncy balls on offer at one stage!). Although I felt like rubbish it had a very music festival feel and the Sun obviously liked its attention because stayed out most of the itme. And having a chance to watch this ancient ceremony was awesome!

We were a little worried when the “sacrifice of the llama” scene started – from where we sat we couldn’t tell if it was a real llama or not. We decided that since we couldnt see a real struggle and didnt smell any hideous smells when they burned it in preparation for the great feast the llama was probably ok. The supporting soundtrack through the speakers that included llama squeals for effect was an interesting touch!

The ceremony was finished in about 2 1/2 hours and was worth the numb bums and early start for. The whole experience was a great one to be here for. Unfortunately by the end I was truly feeling rubbish and have spent the last couple of days struggling through my 1 hour tandem programme with a local girl from Cusco (conversation practice 1/2 an hour in English and 1/2 an hour in Spanish although my Spanish still sucks so its mostly in English) and heading home again. I now know how to explain to people that I’m ill with a cold (not stomach) and have gone through ridiculous amounts of tissues.

As a result Ive only had 1 day with the kids this week (Mon & Tues were public holidays, Wed & Thurs struck down with “gripe”). I only have 2 more weeks left here so fingers crossed will be better to have more energy and help them out more next week.

Am off to Machu Picchu for the weekend tomorrow. Its another 4.30am start but I can’t wait, its THE thing to do here and am determined that I’ll be able to climb Huayna Picchu and enjoy this majestic place that Ive heard so much about.

Really hope you are all well
xoxo