Inti Raymi

I arrived in Cusco yesterday in time for the biggest celebration of the year:  Inti Raymi.  Inti Raymi means Sun God in Quechua and this festival is held for ten days around the winter solstice, culminating on June 24, which I don't understand since the solstice is today.  In the afternoon yesterday there was parade of floats.  They seem to be made of paper mache and were ... weird.  Oh, well, I liked it better than all those Catholic parades of full of Jesus and Mary.  Apparently the theme was about protecting the environment, but a lot gets lost in translation.  I don't think I understand the Peruvian sense of humor.

The sign says:  Baby Einstein.  My mother ate iron (heavy metal?) when she was pregnant.
I don't get it.

A Monopoly board with the names of foreign companies that are doing business (and ruining the environment?) in Peru

  

After the parade, they set up a huge stage in front of the cathedral in the main square and had a sound and light show:  a big concert followed by fireworks.  I think everyone in Cusco was in the main square.

When I got to the square this morning, there was another big parade but it was already too packed to sit in the front section near the VIP seats.  There were bleachers set up on the side of the square.  I figured the marchers had to go somewhere - they couldn't be like the band in Animal House - so I sat down on the highest bleacher.  Perfect seat.  Men in suits were marching together and ended right in front of me where they took group pictures on their iphones.  Turns out they were alumni classes from various high schools.  I guess this is their homecoming week.

Then it turns out I was wrong:  it was like Animal House.  Bands and groups of dancers started coming from the other direction toward a marching army platoon.  I was curious to see who would win.  Well, I guess if the Incas can change the direction of a river, which like the Chicagoans they have done, changing the direction of a parade is easy.  There were dozens and dozens of dance groups in colorful costumes accompanied by drums and recorders.  It went on for hours.  I left to take a two and a half hour walking tour and when I came back, they were still going.  And they didn't just march.  They stopped and danced on each side of the square, so again, my seat was perfect.  I was facing the sun, so my pictures aren't great.

The musicians resting after the parade

The walking tour I took was interesting mostly for the make-up of the group:  eleven Westerners and I was the only American.  Three young couples from Switzerland, Germany, and Lithuania, and solos from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Denmark.  We walked around the central area that I had already explored yesterday, but the guide was able to answer a lot of my questions.  Although even he could not make sense of the Baby Einstein float for me.  They have really different street food here, so I needed someone to tell me what it was.

Back to the Costco connection ... It's not perfect because there is no "t" in Cusco, but it is pronounced like coscoh and ... it means navel or center of the universe in Quechua.  The Inca symbol is a three tiered cross, so of course the Spaniards thought they were already Christian.


The cross does not, however, represent an ancient method of execution.  It represents the four corners of the Inca empire - north, east, south, and west, with Cusco in the middle as the navel of the world.  We all knew that Costco was the center of the universe.