More photos from day 1

Los Incas y los incapazez

Jobs that are more effort than gain, cities that are expensive and full of traffic? People that are in a hurry. Climbing of the social latter. Fuck it, this isn't genweenno (genuine)

1 week later, 1 1/2 hours in the clouds and 11,000 ft later and boom there we were. Where a few hundred years ago the center of one of the most successful civilizations to ever exist was governed. Cusco!

Immediately people were nicer, the prices were lower, our surroundings were greener, the air was thinner, the statues were of Incans, people had more Andean features, my eyes and brain were wide open and I was with the only thing that has remained constant in my 20's,  a backpack.

Having lived in Perú for 5 months and not having been to Cusco/Macchu Picchu is considered a sin to most and I myself was a little ashamed. Although I felt ready after exploring other parts of Perú and especially after reading the book Turn Right at Macchu Picchu. 300 pages later and I felt like an expert getting off the plane, or more than those looking to take a picture and put it on their facebook page.

Today, our first full day was spectacular. If Cusco without Macchu Picchu would be worth the visit. Cusco is scattered with pre-Incan, Incan and Spanish marks. One building or wall could hold signs of all three and they are all very distant. The pre-incan constructions are more made out of smaller stones and adobe mud. Strong structures that still exist today. The Incan structures are the structures that are perfectly meshed together without and material between the stones. Stone to stone again for you stoners. Perfectly constructed without modern day tools, using other hard rocks shape the stones and Lego like genius to hold the rocks together (see photo below). It was described to me as a man and a women.  Where the man stone has a phallic like part of the stone in the middle and the female stone with a hole to hold the rocks together tightly without cement or other materials. Sorry for the imagery. These rocks have withstood earthquakes and as it is said in the book that during earthquakes the rocks "dance". Then their is the Spanish style where there are rocks with spaces in between full of a cement like material. In the photo below you can see the Incans creation and the Spanish. Aka the Incans and the incapazez (incapable). A great joke here that I fully appreciate. Unfortunately the Spanish weren't incapable of colonizing, very harshly colonizing the Incans. Intelligence in engineering, astrology, and agriculture among other things was not enough to beat horses, fire weapons and pure brutality.

I romanticize the Incans as I feel most people do. But I know they were not inncoent. They were warriors also and killed many other civilizations in order to establish their own. However, they are the losers in the history books and for this reason one can always ponder what if? Something else interesting about the Incans is that their history wasn't recorded so one can never really say if something was true or false. It all wraps into this mysticism of the Incans and the Andes as they believed in the sun, the moon the condors as the higher world the puma as the material or grounded world and the snake as the under world. That life was a circle and you would go from one to the next. They lived by 3 simple rules: don't steal, don't lie and don't be lazy. Everyone should live by these rules today.

Today we got lucky and found that it was the last day of carnival here. The plaza was packed with people doing traditional dances of all ages men and women. In amazing clothing as well as Andean folk music. Surrounding them was the whole city of Cusco with smiles on their faces water balloons in one hand and a bottle of foam spray in the other. Everyone for hours was dancing throwing water balloon at each other and spraying everyone with foam. It was amazing. We were right in the thick of things.  It never got aggressive and everyone was smiling the whole time.

In the afternoon we visited the Korikapac (The sun temple). The old center of the Incan civilization. Where they woukd worship the sun, stars, rainbows (the road to the g-ds). In this temple the Incans showed off their amazing masonry as the stones seemed to be from a different species they were so perfect. If you need a remodeling or are constructing a new house hire an Incan. As all good things come to an end this was later converted into the first church in south america. The Spanish looted all the gold and silver, ruined 85% of the original temple and painted religious pictures. During an earthquake in 1950 all the Spanish constructions fell and the incans remaining 15% remained standing.

We then went to Sacsaywaman where the last battle between the incans and Spanish took place before Manco Inca ran off into the jungle with the remaining Incans. The rocks at this site were enormous and incomprehensible. How could they construct this. And we were only looking at the remaining 20% that wasn't ruined by the Spanish. In the near distance was a statue of Jesus.

We then visited 2 more watchtower sites and aquaducks. The Incans didnt use fortresses they used watchtowers and had messengers.

Amazing day. Can't wait for more tomorrow.

Love you all! So excited to be home with everyone for the celebration of a lifetime. In the meantime ill be exploring this rich history.