Welcome Everybody to the CUZ

I woke up on Thursday around 615 due to my room being next to an intersection. Oddly enough I wasn’t very tired from staying up late and hardly resting on the acclimation day. At breakfast I became aware that Dr. Brown wasn’t feeling up to par, so we would be starting after lunch. The complimentary breakfast consisted of bread, jam, eggs, juice, and the notorious coca tea. The jam in Peru truly tastes better and the eggs weren’t bad either. Due to the irregular schedule, my fellow students and I decided to check out our surroundings. We went to the Plaza de Armas and to our surprise, there were lots of festivities. The plaza was filled with tourists, majority European, as well as Peruvians. The streets were littered with children performing native dances. It felt as if for every five tourists, there was at least one person attempting to sell you something or panhandle for money. We decided to return to the vegetarian restaurant for lunch where I had some sort of veggie burger. It was new and somewhat enjoyable, but definitely not my favorite dish I have tried thus far in Peru.

Children performing traditional dances

On the walk back to the hotel, we decided to check out the San Pedro Market across from our hotel. It was overflowing with clothing, food, and people. There was every fruit, animal, drink, sweater, and blanket imaginable. The venders weren't nearly as aggressive as the people on the streets. I overheard multiple experiences from members of our group of panhandlers not being satisfied with the amount of money given. My own experience includes a woman pinning a ribbon on my jacket, asking for a donation, and clearly not being thankful for the amount that was given. Due to the abundance of people wanting money on the streets of Cusco, the line is blurred between who deserves a handout and who doesn't.

The San Pedro Market

We gathered around one and ventured to our first museum in Cusco, the textile museum. We saw the various ancient techniques used to create elaborate textiles. The two major processes include spinning and plying. The spinning technique comes first and creates thread by spinning fibers on what looks to be a big top. Plying is very complicated and involves anchoring the straploom to a post in order to provide tension to the warp.  After the thread is taught, the thread is interwoven in a grid pattern to create designs. There also are wood planks used to separate and stretch the threads in various ways. The traditional textiles were typically made from four different animals: llamas, alpacas, sheep and vicuñas. Llamas are pack animals and typically made heavier clothing along with ropes. The alpacas are similar to llamas, but are smaller and have softer fur. Sheep are known for their warm, thick wool. Vicuñas are similar to alpacas, but a little smaller and a whole lot rarer. Vicuña fiber is extremely hard to come across and is saved for the most expensive and elaborate clothing and textiles. Other weaving techniques such as watay, tiqlla, ley pallay, and hakira are used, but all involve some sort of spinning or plying. Weaving starts at an extremely young age for Peruvians. They start out at only a few years old creating small belts and straps known as chumpis and slowly progress to bigger and more sumptuous creations. Weavers draw from their experience and understanding of the natural world, history, memory and physical state to create Pallay. The most elegant textiles include wedding outfits, gifts to gods, and larger textiles. Wedding clothes are made by the matrimonial families and typically takes a couple months of weaving. Symmetry naturally occurs in these textiles for a number of reasons. One is that the alternating patterns and colors form in repetitive fashions. Another is that the weavers are so calm and relaxed that the work is almost second nature. The motions are so repetitive, that symmetry naturally occurs. Something I learned at the museum is that textiles are only made so wide before they have to be seamed together. A poncho, worn by men, and a manta, worn by women exemplify this technique by seaming together two textiles. Mantas, which are Peruvian shawls, have infinite uses from carrying heavy loads to carrying a child on ones back. At the end of the walk through, I entered the gift shop and was given the great opportunity to watch master weavers creating some masterpieces. The worked silently and diligently all the while aware of their surroundings (Americans with cameras.)

Master Weavers Spinning and Plying

Before heading to the next museum, I navigated the streets of Cusco on my own in pursuit to get my student identification card. Although I made a few questionable turns, I successfully made back to the hotel. At the Museum of Regional History of Cusco, we learned more about the Incan capital. The Museum was built around a courtyard of an old house; a reoccurring theme of museums here in Peru. The museum contained paintings and artifacts that gave an insight to what happened in the city of Cusco. Some paintings depicted the city being concurred in the form of Spanish conquerors on their horses crushing the Incan people. Dr. Brown pointed out a very interesting trait of Cusco paintings. Almost everyone within the art had rosy red cheeks. He also discussed the idea of the Quechua people and their language. Quechuans used a spoken language and used textiles and ceramics to record history. They did not have a written language until the Spanish came in and created one. It is outstanding that the Quechua society survived on oral history, paintings and drawings alone for so many decades. After the museums, we departed back to the hotel to grab some much needed layers. The vast temperature drop can really disable someone used to Georgia heat!

A Majestic Painting

It was a beautiful day!

Viva Peru!

~JH