Corpus Christi

I have waited my whole life to take part in a festival like the one which we stumbled upon yesterday -- But wait, Ill get there.

So Lony and I slept on Shabbat; I had a fever and a runny nose which you might think is an exotic disease but really it was the common cold. Plus the altitude I was out for the count. But come Sunday, I was 100% better. Acclimated, kicked the cold, ready to roll. Our plan for Sunday was to see the artisans in the Plaza de San Blas, make some plans for the week, maybe see the Museo Inka and just explore Cusco. I made a list of the festivals in June to see if they had past, or which were coming. Inti Raymi -- the largest festival in Peru is June 24 and Im blocking the whole day and night to photograph that. Others are on less clear dates such as Corpus Christi which takes place nine Sundays after Easter (go figure that out). So I meant to ask.

Just walking around Cusco is an experience. The sights and smells, people leading llamas and all manner of cooked meats, teas, and fruits; everything is cobblestoned and set into steep hills. There are many many beggars and peddlers who are rather pushy too, which makes everything a little sadder and requires more caution that Id have wished. We shopped in open air markets and I photographed many faces (as you will see if you click the photos on the side of the screen); Lony meanwhile kissed every child we came across; it was adorable.

Come 1pm we stopped in a cafe for a cup of tea, and when we came out into the center square, we could hear deep, pagan drumbeats from the hillsides and suddenly as if a dam broke, a wave of colors and sounds in the form of swirling masked dancers came chanting and rolling through the streets. They were followed by more and more outrageous colors and costumes; drummers and flutists and violinists and at the center, a large decorated casket carried on the shoulders of suited, serious men and led by small children with halos and ribbons. This was a wild synthesis of ancient Incan dances and rites with the Catholicism of the Conquistadors. It used to be a day that the Incans honored their dead by parading mummies through the streets and bowing to them, praying to them, and then dancing them back to their graves. With the influence of Catholicism, the mummies became Jesus and the Saints, but the rest of the ceremony remained Incan. Everything about it was so pagan -- so ancient with such a deep spiritual and superstitious energy -- it was as if no time had gone by since the Incans were dancing through the streets with their mummies, celebrating the moon and above all the sun. We were entirely transported to another culture and time. Incredible. And I hear the best is to come. This was just the welcoming ceremony for Corpus Christi which takes place on Thursday (we have a school field trip to the main square where we will learn about the Peruvian festival; en espanol, claro). And then Inti Raymi later in June. Wow.

Thats all for now. Today we started in the Cusco ECELA Spanish program, and it is even more excellent than Lima. Our teacher is relaxed but professional. We learn in a classroom and large open stone courtyard, and Im getting ever better, Lony is as well. The same teacher will work with me one-one-one for medical Spanish, as she is a nurse. So Im quite excited about that. As always, everyone is so warm and friendly; this seems to be true of all Peruanas, and we feel always surrounded by family here. We also have made many friends, nearly all Israeli, as there are so many, Hebrew is like a second language here; more common than English in parts of Cusco.

Im uploading pictures now, but Ive gotten 1/2 way through and have to go -- all the parade pictures are at the end too, so youre missing the best ones! But Ill try to get them up tonight. Sorry, enjoy what there is!