Inti Raymi

Today is the second big festival of Cuzco, Inti Raymi. This festival is an ancient Incan tradition to honor the sun. They make offerings, and the procession goes from Qoricancha, an Incan remain in the city, to the Plaza de Armas, and finally to Sacsayhuaman. Here the main ritual is held, and it goes on for about two hours.

We left our house around 8:00am to secure a good spot for the festival. We were planning to go first to the Qoricancha, and then to Sacsayhuaman. However, we ended up going straight to the Plaza de Armas. The procession was supposed to start around 9:30am in the plaza, but it was running really late, so we decided to hedge our bets and go straight to Sacsayhuaman. This turned out to be a great idea. Sacsayhuaman got packed really quickly, but since we came a bit earlier, we got great seats. I ended up being right in the front, and was able to see the entire ritual without problem. The best part of the ritual was the arrival of the Inca king, which was accompanied by traditional music and many dance groups. The overall festival reminded me of the other festivals I have been to during my time in Peru, but on a much grander scale. The fact that the majority of the festival took place in an ancient Incan ruin was amazing, and I will never forget it.

In the evening, I went back to the travel agency to work out the final details of my reservation. There turned out to be a couple problems, so it was good that I went back to check. However, after all was said and done, I was ready to go. I’ll be heading out tomorrow morning at 5:30am, and will be out for the next four days. We were supposed to come back on Monday night, but it turned out that all of the trains were full. Instead, I will now be coming back on Tuesday morning.

Until Tuesday, see ya! I’ll be blogging while I am on the trip, but probably will not be able to post them until after the trip due to internet availability.