Qosqo

You might know it better as Cuzco  but Qosqo is the Quechua spelling and finding your way around is made all the more complicated by the spellings varying between differing brochures, guidebooks, names on buildings and street signs. Cusco is a very nice city at least the old town or tourist district, enough so that we kept coming back between trips to Manu and Machu Pichu.  We got to experience some different moods of the city, once we got used to the fire works that are used for any large gathering or just to startle the pigeons we relaxed a lot more in our rooms particularly when trying to go to sleep, or when woken up by a particularly loud firecracker.

Cusco we saw as a sleepy town on a Sunday where many of the shops were closed and there wasn’t much movement around.  We saw the city bustling about it’s normal business of trying to sell the tourists, tours, massages, a quick shoe shine and enough paintings to fill the art galleries of Europe. 

But two events stick in our minds most, the first being a protest on the first day we were in the city, there were no taxis, but the police were present with large numbers from the traffic, the municipal police, the tourist police, and even the riot squad, all dressed very formally but with their gun holsters empty (Batons were still equipped however)  The rioters were seemingly without end as they stretched down the main road, businesses that were open firmly shut their doors before the mob reached them, the one store that failed to do so in time had fists of dirt and small stones thrown at them and protesters forcing their way in until the police stopped them.  But once the protest was over all the extra security disappeared quickly, except for the riot squad who had engine trouble, so after posing for a few photos while the engine was tinkered with ended up pushing their vehicle. 

The other event was the celebration of Cusco, of which we saw the first two days, the elderly dancers, and the under fives.  It appears that the majority of the inhabitants are required to learn their traditional dances as children many of which show themes that we guessed the meanings of, some we suspected demonstrated how they saw the Spanish when they arrived, others the relationship between men and women –men thinking they have control then ending up on their backside.