Inca and Espanola (12/9)

The Incan influence is apparent everywhere you look. Most Peruvians are very indigenous looking. They were bright colors and patterns that are typically associated with indians of the area. And old indigenous stone structures are peeking out all over. In fact, a lot of the Spaniards beautiful, colonial buildings were built with or on other structures made by the Incans.

But we were given a real taste of the Incan prowess in stonework when we went to the Sacsayhuaman ruins. We started the tour on our own, and we were enjoying taking pictures and wondering about the ruins. But, a gentleman approached and began explaining things that we saw and he became our guide for whatever tip we gave him. He was very informative, telling all about the levels of life in Incan belief. The snake represented knowledge and the underworld, the puma life and all that surrounds us, and the condor is the afterlife and mediator between man and the gods. He explained practices and pointed out objects we didn't see or understand. He also explained more how the Incans managed to get the big stones in their places, place them without mortar and make them resistant to earthquakes.

One of Cusco's cathedrals was an Incan temple that Spaniards destroyed and turned into a church. Apparently, the Spaniards were particularly impressed with this temple because of all the gold and silver. They promptly melted all this and turned it into coins and sacred pieces for their use. It was indeed a shame to lose all this precious history, but really the Incans were just as bad as the Spaniards. They sacked the Quechua people that lived there before Incans conquered the area. All is fair in love and expanding the kingdom, I suppose.

Another intreaging detail, Spaniards wanted the comforts of home, including art. So they developed the Cusqueno School of Art. These Peruvian people were taught to copy the European style. They made fancy Borroque portraits, but included little details that were entirely indigenous to the area. One rather well know case is a picture of the last supper that displayed food native to Peru -- guinea pig. (Yeah, they eat guinea pigs.) Anyway, Spaniards took over, but indigenous culture remained as well.