Days 12-16: Corpus Christi

May 28 - June 1, 2018

I've been so busy these past two weeks that I haven't been able to post on here in a while. All of my days have started blurring together, so I've forgotten some of the details. During the week I have class from 11-1, then I taxi back to the house to eat lunch. After lunch, I return to USIL for class from 3-5. By the time class ends, it's already starting to get dark, so there's not too much I can do afterwards. In the morning, before class, I either stay at the house and do homework or I get up with the other girls (who have class at 7) and taxi to downtown and just walk around the city and then read Narnia (finally, after 10 years of trying to make time to read it) when I'm tired of walking. Here's some of the highlights of this week:

On Monday, my roommates and I visited the Pachacuteq monument. Pachacuteq was the first Sapa Inca of the Incan Empire and is a really big deal around here. Everywhere you go, there's a statue or monument of some kind dedicated to him. I guess he was a pretty cool dude. I ended up seeing this museum/monument twice this week because I had to back with my history of the Incas class. Yeah, we do a lot of field trips with that class but they're always kind of a surprise, so I didn't know.

Pachacuteq monument 

View of Cusco from the top of the monument

On Tuesday, we tried to finish up the museums on the tourist ticket since it was going to expire that day. The last place was some kind of art museum. However, when we tried to enter, the people there wouldn't let us into the exhibit because there was some kind of performance going on in the basement that they were requiring everyone to go watch. So, we went down and watched part of it, but it was a lot longer than expected so we ended up having to leave without seeing the museum :( oh well.

On Wednesday, I played soccer here with some of the other students and some locals. It was so much fun, but I think if I had played a minute longer I would have had a heart attack. Running at this altitude is the hardest thing I have ever done. Even more difficult and painful than the hardest day of soccer conditioning I can remember from high school. All of us who played could taste blood in our mouth, probably from our lungs. Also, I think I met my maximum heart rate for the first time in my life. Playing soccer here was something else, but I really hope I can do it again before I leave.

Corpus Christi was on Thursday, so Cusco was craaaaazy. In the Plaza de Armas, where the two main cathedrals are located, they had many of the saints set outside and there was music and food and a whole lot of celebration. Even after actually being at Corpus Christi, I still don't fully understand what it is, but I'm glad I was able to be there for it. Cusco is super Catholic, but a lot of the people here also worship the mountains and stuff like that along with maintaining their Catholic faith. It's a really unique place in that sense.

Cuy / guinea pig. Cusco is known for its Cuy. During Corpus Christi, it was part of the signature dish Chiriuchi, which is a big mixture of popular foods from different regions of Peru.

If you zoom in, you can see the saints on display in front of the cathedral. The crowd was so crazy, I didn't want to get too close.

Straight ahead, where the crowd is, is the Plaza de Armas.

On Friday, I had another field trip with my history class. Miguel is the instructor for the English version of the class. He is also the supervisor for the Qhapaq Ñan project in Perú. It's an important Incan road system that has recently been uncovered. Now the people with this project are uncovering parts of the road and putting it back together. My class was able to witness a ceremony at the Cusco gate on the Qhapaq Ñan. 

    

Cusco gate of the Qhapaq Ñan.

Workers uncovering some good 'ole Incan stuff. I don't remember what exactly it was.

My favorite part of this trip was the huatia. A group of students in the gastronomy class prepared the food and we got to eat it. "Huatia" is the preparation of food in the dirt. They cooked a few different types of potatoes and some beans. Never have I ever ate so much dirt in my life, but it was good. Also, I have hated sweet potatoes my whole life, but those sweet potatoes were incredible. (Perú is known for its potatoes)

Huatia! Here, we were digging up the potatoes and beans. Then we just put them on the table and ate them. It was good. Dirt and all.