June 23rd, 2011

June 23^rd, 2011

           

            Today at we got to Cusco at 9am after a thirteen-hour bus ride, 2 hours longer than anticipated. There was a lot of commotion on the bus last night and it was a little frightening when we were flying over the rough, rocky, bumpy road in the dead of night and our belongings were flying everywhere, but hey, that’s bus transportation in Peru! Today is Corpus Christi in Peru, so after dropping our suitcases off at the Prisma Hotel, we got ready to go out and explore the action in the streets of Cusco, where the events of Corpus Christi are the most vibrant. About 15 small towns outside of Cusco transport a life-size replica of a patron saint to the Plaza de Armas. The arrival of the replicas to the catedral symbolizes the redemption of Christ and the festival is very cheerful with music and dancing. On our way to the Plaza de Armas, we saw an entire street lined with traditional women selling traditional foods including buckets of cuye and mounds of corn breads. 

            We made our way to a bagel shop with some killer food, and it soon became one of our top favorite places in Cusco, however Indigo still takes the cake, don’t get me wrong. The giant mugs of coffee hit the spot. We split up after eating. I explored a bit, while some of the crew went to try to get a tour of the Cusquena factory, which they weren’t able to do because it was closed for tours because of Corpus Christi and Inti Raymi. We hung out later at the hotel for a bit before venturing back out into the streets and stopping at a Chinese food restaurant, and later made our way back to Indigo for a relaxing evening. Tomorrow is Inti Raymi!