Anyways, yesterday we went to Corpus Christi. This event was pretty much insane. We got there around 9am. This holiday includes a mass that lasts about 2 hours (depending on the speed of the speakers) then a parade that goes probably until 8pm. The original history behind Corpus Christi was that the Inka people combined their religion with the Catholic religion that the Spaniards brought. So I wish I would've known this for my Anthro class last semeseter- would've gotten that question right on the test. Ha! I digress. So during the insane fesitity men from ages 6 to 70 partake in moving the extremly heavy saints out of their home in the Cathedral and around la Plaza de Armas. This entire process takes about 10 hours. During the moving of the saints then men are mostly drunk. As for the little guys they move the tables that hold the multiple ton saints while they are making the procession around La plaza. The whole experience of being right up on all the men carrying the saints was unnerving. Everyone is pushing and shoving and it just gets really old really fast. I did not enjoy this very much. And now- looking back at my pictures it was a 7 hour day for about 5 good pictures. Photogrpahy is work.
Cute little Chica
Other new info- I got my face painted the other night at Mama Africa- it looked awesome but didn't get a picture of it. About half of our group is going to Puno tonight on a night bus which is the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. I would've gone but I'm going with my parents at the very begining of July :) My other "parents," homestay parents are in Arequipa this weekend for a concerto. Tonight I'm having mi amigas over for a movie night. We're planning on going to "Cola de Mono" tomorrow which means the tail of the monkey. It is the tallest zipline in South America. But I'm not sure if we are actually able to go because the travel agency had weird hours today. Anyways I really hope we can. I'm planning on going with my photography professor to a market about 2 hours outside the city on Sunday which I'm really excited about because its supposed to be very traditional. It takes so much to know the "real" Cusco.
Last weekend we went to the most beautiful place on the planet! The Sacred Valley. We ate lunch like kings (literally). My favorite part was Ollaytantambo. This is the place where three valleys converge- the valley leading to the rainforest, the valley leading to Cusco and to Macchu Picchu. This was a very important trading ground for the Inka. We also went to 3 other places- Urybamba, Calca, Moray and Pisac. All of these words are Quechua along with the name of my "neighborhood" Quispicanchis. Yeah- that was pretty rough in the taxi the first few times. But now I almost have it. Annnnd we're moving up the street next week- haha. Gonna try and add some pictures! PS- Booked my second trip to Macchu Picchu within 1 week of eachother. Looks like I'll be an expert!
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