chicha tagged posts

In America, Peru 2001 On  28/06/2001  2 comments

Inti Rayme, the most popular Inca party, commemorates the winter solstice. It takes place on June 24^th but the party begins a few days before with parade, rehearsals, music and drinking. The city was crowded, people came from everywhere.

On Sunday, the 24th, the commemorations started in the morning, in Qorikancha (Sun’s Temple), downtown Cuzco. The Chaskis (Inca messengers) announce the party beginning. There is music, parade and by the end the Inca salutes the Sun and invite everybody to participate the ceremony. From there everybody go to Plaza de Armas, together with the Inca, the parade and the musicians.

The most important part of the ceremony takes place at Saqsaywaman in the afternoon. Many indigenous tribes are represented by their dances and costumes. Everybody come to Cuzco to praise the Sun. The ritual involves dance, music and sacrifice...

In America, Peru 2001 On  17/06/2001  No comments

This time I decided to do a tour to the archeological sites in the Sacred Valley. The distances were longer and there were no buses straight to the sights. We left Cuzco already late, about 9:30am. In the way to Pisaq we stopped in a handcraft market in a small village. It was a very touristy, the typical place made for the “gringos” spend their money.

In Pisaq, every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday there is a open market. It is divided in two parts; one of handcraft, to the tourists; and the other of food, more towards the local people. We walked a little in the market and went to the archeological site.

The site is a few kilometers up the hill. It is surrounded by agricultural terraces, theses were used specially to cultivate corn. It was also used to the production of Chicha (typical drink with hallucinogen power drank in rituals). The terraces have a good irrigation system to be able to cultivate corn at high altitudes and cold...

In America, Peru 2001 On  04/06/2001  One comment

Flying over Nazca Lines is a good excuse to come to Peru. These famous drawings, believed to be made by Nazca and Paracas cultures centuries ago, can only be see from the of air. The figures were only discovered in the beginning of the 20th century when airplanes flew over the area and pilots saw something on the ground. Up to today we don’t known who did the drawings, neither why they were done. There are some theories, one of the most accepted one is that they have been drawn to be as a calendar showing when to plant and the season of the year… Another theory is that the drawings were done by astronauts, or that the indigenous could make air balloons and would fly over to see the figures.

I arrived in town late in the evening; I came by bus from Lima and I had already reserved a flight to the next morning. I woke up a little anxious; therefore I can get motion sickness in bus, boat, car. I imagined in a small airplane for three people who turn 90 degrees sidewise...