Excursion Around Cusco

By Tina Lin – Guest blogger traveling in Peru.
We have a short excursion this morning to Qoricancha. I have passed by this site many times because it is located on Avenida Del Sol. It is where the bank and house of change are. Qoricancha was built in 1440 by a great Inka King, Tupac Yapunqui, also known as Pachacutec. It made me so sad that much of this magnificent site was destroyed by the Spaniards and the San Dominican church was built on top of its foundation.
Some parts of temples still remained. We saw Temple of Rainbows, thunder, and open ceremonial room. Let me write a few words about each of these three rooms. The Temple of Rainbow was used to establish connection with gods above. It was believed that rainbow is one of the ways humans can connect with gods. The window from this room lined up perfectly with the windows in the other two rooms. They used bamboo like plants and basins filled with water to detect whether the rocks were lined up or not. The open ceremonial room was used to sacrifice llamas. The animal's heart was taken out. If the llama had a good colored heart, it predicted good future. Black llamas were used because the color black symbolized invincibleness. In Western culture, white symbolized holiness. However, white could be contaminated whereas black remains black even if you add other colors into it. The third temple was for thunder. It was believed that thunder represented life. With thunder comes rain, with rain plants and animals will flourish. Across the courtyard, we also visited temple of the stars. This is a temple used to observe the star positioning in the sky. People believe that the Inka knew that earth rotates because they knew about the solstices, equinox and the planets. However, they did not have a system to record their findings in tapestry or writing. Most of what people knew was passed down generations after another through word of mouth.
In the middle of the courtyard sat a fountain that had been to many places. It was stolen many times but now returned to its original place. This fountain served in rain ceremonies. Inka believed when there was a lack of rain, it was because the sun was thirsty. Thus, they would fill up the fountain with sacred drink, Chicha. Then they would wait until it rains (which signified that the sun was satisfied and decided to go to bathroom).
We walked out of the courtyard onto the wings of the building. There were a shelf where a Tambor Solar (disc of sun made in gold) used to be. It was believed that before the Spaniards had a chance to destroy Qoricancha, a Cusqueno hid this disk in the cave in Sacsayhuaman. This lead to many expeditions that ended in many deaths of students and explorers. The caves in Sacsayhuaman connects to Qoricancha, Ollantaytambo, Pisac and other ruins. Many years ago, 4 students went into the large cave in Sacsayhuaman and never came out alive. Only one student was found one day at the exit at Qoricancha. The government decided to close down the large cave in Sacsayhuaman and the entrance here in Qoricancha. I wonder if one day more daring souls would venture into these caves and tunnels.
After my visit to Qoricancha, I walked around and ran into Convento de Merced (where my host family's daughter got married). I spent half hour taking a tour of this beautiful church of Merced order. The guide was very helpful because he spoke English. Even after this month of intensive Spanish lessons, I still preferred a guided tour in English. I love the Septor adorned with pearls, beautiful gems and diamonds displayed in one of these rooms. Too bad I could not take any pictures here.
At lunch time, I went to the market to buy vegetables and meat for lunch tomorrow. I promised my host family I would cook them some Chinese food. I am very nervous about how my cooking will turn out. I have to admit that I am not familiar with their oven and their cookware. I just want to give thanks to my favorite person in the house, Delia, the cook and mother of 2 beautiful children (Anita and Sebastian). Everyday she cooked for me and talked to me for a long time. I also love the children very much.