Mesmerized by the Quechua

Keen to meet my new travel companions, I waited ernestly in the hotel bar, sipping sinfully delicious cappuccino, triggering  memories of first tasting liquid love in Italy. I savored each sip until at long last, frothy milk dashed with cinnamon mustached my upper lip and the last warm swig traveled downward to my eager belly.

It was time to meet the others. Me and six other well-travelled Americans from cities across the country--Anchorage, Madison, Miami, San Diego, and Seattle--gathered in the hotel lobby. After introductions and a briefing from Danny, our local REI guide, about the ins and outs of our itenerary and signs and symptoms of altitude sickness, we made way to the Convent of Santa Domingo, not more than 100 meters walk from our hotel, Casa Andina Private Collection.

Danny is a Cusco native who studied tourism--the primary industry in Cusco--and history. He speaks English well, and though he denies being a storyteller, from the moment he began talking, he conveyed easily digestible, strategically planned information, building first a foundational knowledge about the Incas (Quechua) that he incrementally expounded upon using visuals to enhance our experience and embed the information in our minds. As we walked, listened, and gazed at the architectural engineering and scientific and mathematical feats of the Quechua people, I was dumbfounded by their ingenuity, brilliance, and unparalleled commitment to honor Mother Earth. 

Equally matched, my disdain for the Spanish conquerors who in 1533, destroyed much of what is now known to be the third oldest civilization in the world, dating back 5,000 years. But all has not been lost. Such a magnificent culture as the Quechua, could never be completely eliminated. A resilient people who conquered many tribes before fate turned against them, became resistors themselves under Spanish rule. 

Art was used as a means to "educate" and proselytize; many artists were forced to create anonymous religious works at the instruction of European artists. But within paintings paying homage to Christianity, evidence of covert resistance can be seen. Snakes, a Quechua symbol of wisdom and knowledge carefully placed; Madonnas depicted with a triangular bodies, paying tribute to the mountains; guinepig, a Quechua staple, front and center during the last supper; and the face of Judas painted as Pizarro, the conquerer himself. 

Significant archeological discoveries were made in the 1900's, but it was Mother Earth who destroyed much of the Spaniard's inferior architecture and unearthed Quechuan built, earthquake-resistant temples during the great earthquake of 1950. Since then, archeologists have learn even more about one of the greatest civilizations on Earth and the Peruvian government has started preservation efforts.