Tipon and beyond

Ricardo, one of the teachers at the Spanish school, had offered to take a group of us on an alternative sight seeing tour to some places of interest to the south of Cusco. One was the remains of an Incan country home/farm, then a pre Incan town, then a Incan and pre Incan remain and finally a colonial church.
Eleven of us set off early from the main plaza in Cusco in a mini bus hired specially. We had a 2 hour, slightly hair raising drive out of Cusco to the first place, Tipon.
It was, again, a site with extensive terracing but also an impressive and still working irrigation system. Ricardo spoke in Spanish as he explained all the history and science behind the terracing and I was suprised and pleased to find I could understand alot of it!



Irrigation at Tipon

 Next we went to Piquillacta (place of the flea????) It is the only pre Incan ruin in the area and built around 1100AD by the wari culture. It was interesting to see the difference in building methods between the Wari and the Incas. The waris were fond of chalk rendering, so many of the internal walls of what was left of the houses were white.

Piquillacta (avenue in the town)

Then we went to Rumicola. This is a huge Incan gate way built on Wari foundations. There we saw how the Incas were prepared to merge their culture with those of their ancestors. The pyramid and the 2 structures on either side formed a gateway between the southern lowlands and the Cuscan valley. Travellers wishing to pass through the gate had to remove their shoes and make an offering to the gods first.

 

Rumicola pyramid, Im standing on the top.

  Then we went to the most beautiful little colonial town square, where there is a church called San Perdro de Andahuayillas. It was really stunning inside, very ornate wood carvings and brightly coloured frescoes painted onto the chalk walls. No photos were permitted and the outside of the church was covered in scaffolding as it is being restored.  Inside the statues of the saints were like everywhere here, clothed in  garments that gave their bodies a rectangular shape, representing the mountains. The garments were in turn decorated with images of the sun and the moon and animals that had important significance such as the condor and the puma. Again we see how the local people have fused old beliefs into the Christian church. Ricardo reminded us that in the Catherderal in Cusco there is a copy of the famous painting "the last supper", depicting Jesus and his deciples sitting round a table eating. In the center of the table, very obviously is a roasted guinea pig.

Speaking of which, our next stop was the local cuyeria. Cuy, or guinea pig is often eaten in Peru for speacial occasions. Tipon village is apparently famous for it. The Eatery Ricardo took us to was a wooden structure with plastic tables and rather atmospheric latin music blareing. Thankfully I didnt see any live guinea pigs running about. I{d decided to share one. There are relatively expensive. There are 4.4sl to the pound, my accomodation had ranged from 28-50sl per night. The guinea pig lunch was 35sl.

One mouthfull was enough for me to know I wasnt going to like it. Infact I knew just by smelling it I wasnt going to like it. It had a very strong smell and flavour, and I dont really like beging served things that still have their heads....and lungs, heart etc.

My final week in Cusco was spent having more Spanish, trying cerviche, which is a lime marinated fish speciality. Made fresh and well is fabulous! I went to a film night at the school, made some friends and generally had a nice relaxing time. I felt a little sad to leave, but also was getting itchy feet to get moving and back into the mountains. Firstly, however I{m off to the land of the canyons and volcanoes.

My impression of Sounth America so far. Its noisy, passionate and full of expression, whether its locals watching football or dancing in the street! Music, car horns, shouting, laughing...they are just a noisy bunch. Its also dusty but people are clean and take pride in their surroundings. Mostly.

Random view from my balcony