Unusual Events in Cusco

So we had a very interesting week and we played the part of missionary & tour guides again with my sister, Cathy, and her husband, Charlie, here the entire week.

We started out the week attending a early sacrament meeting where the members and full-time missionaries were all amazed at how much Cathy and I looked alike.  There were some pretty interesting moments when members thought Cathy was "Sister Rhoades" and couldn't understand why she wasn't able to speak Spanish to them.  But the members thought it was a real treat to meet some of our family and poor Charlie didn't get much attention as they were all focused on the twin of Sister Rhoades.

As soon as sacrament meeting was over we headed to the airport to take a flight out to Juliaca and then head down to Puno.  Cathy and Charlie were going to visit Lake Titicaca and the islands on Monday.  We had a Pathway fireside with the members in Puno.  The leaders had heard of Cusco getting the program and shortly after contacted us to find out if we could help them get Pathway approved for Puno as well.

We were very pleased at the turn out to the information fireside we presented.  We had 130 people in attendance!  The chapel and the overflow room were filled to capacity.  We provided detailed information on all aspects of the program and then opened it up for questions at the end.

 Our Pathway fireside in Puno

Afterwards, we met with the stake leaders and bishoprics in attendance to go over what the leaders would need to do to get Pathway approved.

Sister Rhoades instructing the leaders

We were surprised to find out that they had already located a couple with English ability to be the service missionaries in charge of Pathway.  We visited with them and learned that he had studied at the U of U to earn a master's degree awhile back.  His English is not as good as Franz Guerra's, but it is probably sufficient.

The leaders had already done all the steps leading up to applying and so we left with them a copy of the Pathway application and told them to fill that out and get it sent in to BYU-Idaho ASAP so the approval process could get started.

Normally the approval process requires a number of levels of approval.  How Cusco got around that is a miracle because if we had had to go through all the rounds of approval normally required it would have taken months to get approved.

It was good to see the leaders so anxious and committed to do their part to bring this program to their members in Puno.  We will see what their prayers and actions can bring about down the road.

We were a bit sad because we realized this was probably our last visit out to Puno.  The leaders invited us to come out one more time at the end of November, but our schedule is already looking so full, we told them we couldn't commit to that.  We've loved working with the leaders in Puno!

The next day, Monday while Cathy and Charlie did the island & lake tour (something we had already done last December), we decided to be tourists as well and we headed out to Lampa, a small town outside of Juliaca.  It is amazing what one can find in a small town in the middle of the altiplano of Peru.  Lampa was full of surprises.

We visited because we had heard about the church, Templo de Santiago Apostol, which was great in and of itself, but we found out there was a lot more to Lampa than just the church.

First the walk to the church had us pass various statues of typical outfits

And the walkway was made of pictures created from different colored stones.

To see this amidst a small village of adobe houses, was surprising, but it was just the beginning of the surprises.

The church didn't disappoint either.

 Art work on the ground seemed to be common in Lampa.  Below is the walkway to the main entrance of the church.  Very decorative.  1675 is when they began construction.  It took 10 years to complete and they have 1685 in the walkway as well, but somehow I don't believe this stone walkway dates back that far.  I think that is a newer addition.

Other views of the outside of the church.  Below is the first view we had as we walked into the main plaza.

Side view complete with a small tower

It was amazing to see such a large church in such a small town.  Aguas Calientes doesn't even have this type of church.  But there seems to have been a rich benefactor who contributed to much of the development in Lampa.

Inside of the church can't compete with Cusco's main cathedral, but still it had a few impressive things.

 The main altar

 A side altar and the pulpit

Here is the statue of the namesake for the cathedral, the Apostle James.  I had read online that they used a real stuffed horse for the statue, but it didn't look like it to me.

But the big draw was the crypt added on much later by this rich benefactor and below you can see why.

Top of the crypt underneath a skylight.  A small replica of Micheangelo's Pieta at the base of the cross, but the head of Christ is missing.

The crypt has various arched openings where you could look in and see this...skeletons, skulls, cross bones adorned the walls from floor to ceiling.

 With a large cross at the  bottom, surrounded by stacks of skulls on the circular wall.

close up photos of the skeletons.   

Kinda creepy to see this staring up at you as you look down.

I was amazed to see this quote across one of the arched openings.  Translation:  As you are, I was.  As I am now, you will be.

At first I thought that was a Spanish version of the quote by Lorenzo Snow, but later I realized it was just a statement of fact conveying the idea that we all live and we all die, turning into cadavers and bones.

We were told these were skeletons of soldiers who had died in battle for their country and this was a way to honor them.  Interesting method, don't you think?

We also got a tour of the catacombs below the church.

More creepiness, don't you think?

Then to add to the death theme, as we were exiting the church what should come up the walkway?

 Look close.  That is a coffin they are carrying.  A funeral procession with plenty of flower arrangements.  Must have been someone important and well off.

So on to more pleasant sights.

 Above is the center of the main plaza.  Again, intricate designs using small pebbles of different colors.  Below is a statue in an adjacent plaza of Francisco Bolognesi one of Peru's heroes.

This plaza is in front of the municipal building.  You can see it behind the statue to the right.  Here we found some more surprises.

A line of local women sitting in front of the municipal building.  Dave chatting with the little girl.  That is pretty typical as well.

 We found out that Lampa had a local artist who was quite well know.  They were creating a library in his honor inside the municipal building.  Here are some samples of his paintings showing the typical dance costumes of the area.

 Love the headdress, don't you?  Can you imagine dancing with that on your head?  Behind the statue is a portrait of the painter.  Can't remember his name right now.

But here was the real shocker that we found inside the museum.

The sign is saying this is an exact replica of Michelangelo's Pieta in Rome done by permission from the Pope.  How did little ol Lampa get that kind of honor and recognition?  Maybe the local artist had some influence in that??

They also raise chinchillas in Lampa.  We tried to visit there along with another museum.  But they don't seem to get a lot of tourists to Lampa so things were closed.  But what a great little side trip that only took half a day to do from Puno.

We had some time in the afternoon to do some gift shopping and then for dinner we hooked up with Cathy and Charlie upon their return from their island tour and the Johnsons who had come in from Cusco to work with the members on family history.

Tuesday we headed back to Cusco.  Rather than fly we took the tourist bus with Cathy and Charlie so they could stop at some interesting places.  We took the tour in December when we had some time off around the holidays and the office was closed.

The tour stops first at Pukara, one of the oldest known ruin sites in the mission area.

The church in Pukara.

 Last time we didn't have a chance to see the ruins.  This time they let us see them from afar.  They are at the base of this tall granite mountain.

We also learned that Pukara specializes in the production of the ceramic bulls that you see every where throughout the mission.  Here is a painting of one on the wall of a building.  These bulls they put on the top of the roof, particularly of a new home.  They believe it will bring prosperity and fertility to those who live there.

 The high altiplano is pretty dry at this time of year.  Below is the spot where they stop the bus for tourist to see the high point in the trip and the glacier on the mountain.  They make a big deal out of it I think since we are close to the equator to have a glacier year round shows how high an altitude we really are at.

 Of course vendors take advantage of the bus stopping and display their handicrafts hoping to get a sale.  Dave took this photo of these llama dolls stacked in such a way that it looks like a herd of llamas enjoying the day.

We had lunch at the tourist buffet just before getting to Sicuani and of course the photos with the llamas & little girls in typical dress needed to be taken.

 So cuuuuuteeee!

After lunch there were two more tourist site to visit, Raqchi was first.  We've been there before so I am only going to post a few photos showing a different part of the ruin site that we missed seeing the first time.

 Ok, so I'm not really that much taller than my sister.  I took the higher ground, that's all.

Then it was off to the Cathedral in Andahuaylilas, pretty close to Cusco.  They don't let you take photos inside the church and there isn't much to see outside the church so I'm not going to post any photos of that site.

We arrived back in Cusco just in time for our Book of Mormon class in English and our English classes.

We heard that Wednesday and Thursday was going to be a protest by the people and that transportation would be shut down completely.   We kept hearing that it was going to be "fuerte" or strong.  And that we should take it seriously and stay out of sight.  But these were the days we had planned for Cathy and Charlie to see the sights around Cusco, so we were determined to make the best of the situation.

The government here in Peru had passed a law that authorized them to basically sell the arqueological sites to private foreign entities to manage and run AND to profit from.  The people were pretty upset about this and had lodged their complaints with the government but the government wasn't listening, so the people decided to stage a protest and send a message the government would hear.

The biggest revenue maker for Peru is tourism, and Cusco is the very heart of the tourism business because of MachuPicchu.  MachuPicchu is the number one tourist site in the country.  The second most popular site, Colca Canyon is a distant second.  So closing down the transportation basically stops all commerce from tourism.  The trains got cancelled to MachuPicchu for those two days.  Roads were road blocked by the people so no buses or cars were able to enter or leave the city.  Marches were everywhere.

We tried to strategize and thought we might get lucky if we left early enough to slip out of town before the protests started.  We had planned to see ruins close to Cusco, but just outside of the city.  So we got up early and tried to be gone before 6:00 am.  We were not successful.  We got up to the top of the valley, just past Sacsayhuaman but the road was already blocked and there was a small crowd of people.

We decided to have our driver drop us off at Sacsayhuaman as it appeared we could still visit that site and that was the major draw for Wednesday and let him head back home before the streets were really impassible.

We ended up having a good time at Sacsayhuaman because there were no crowds!

 I like this view as you can see how the walls were built like a fortress or fortifications.

Whoa.  This one is small.  I tried to take a panoramic view.  Click on it to make it larger and hopefully you can view it better.

 Good view of the ruins behind Elder Rhoades (Go Cougars!)

 Cathy & Charlie take a rest

After spending some time seeing these ruins, we then headed up the road on foot to see Qen'ko.

 Here are a few new views that I've never noticed before when we have visited before.

We then headed even further up the road to see the ruins of the Temple of the Moon and the Temple of the Monkeys sites.

 Dave sits at the top of the Temple of the Moon site.  It was a gorgeous day to be sightseeing.  Plenty of sun and good weather.

Cathy tried to find the hole that lets in the light to the Temple of the Moon alter.  This was cool but it wasn't the right place.

Each time we visit these places, I notice and see more things.  So it has been good to have family come.  It has allowed us to have repeat visits to these places and really get to know what's there.

We took a lunch break and ate our packed lunch, sandwiches, etc.  Then we went over to the Cristo Blanco statute overlooking the city, took some pictures there and then started our trek down the hill back into town.

 Hey, that's the train station across from our apartment!  A zoom lens is great.  You can see the main avenue leading down to the Ovalo Pachacutec behind the train station.

 Cusco has Catholic Cathedrals everywhere.  Makes me think of Utah and Mormon chapels.  The one above is San Cristobal cathedral.  It is always lit up at night and you can look up from the Plaza de Armas and see it at night.

 This is looking down on the Plaza de Armas and you can make out the main cathedral on the left, the other plaza cathedral off to the side and slightly behind the other cathedral and also the spire of another cathedral off to the right from that.

 Then in this shot you can see the Cathedral San Francisco in the foreground with the cathedral San Pedro behind it.

 Above is a zoomed in photo of the Catholic cathedral that sits on Qoricancha and the Av. de Sol.

But this is the most amazing as it was the cathedral farthest away, San Belen Cathedral.  Zoom lens are amazing!

As we came down into the Plaza de Armas we took a break for hot fudge sundaes at McDonalds.  We had plenty of sun and we all ended sunburned due to how many hours we were out in the sun walking around.  We had not come prepared with sun block, but it turned out to be a fun day despite the protests.

We heard the second day of the protests was scheduled to have speakers addressing the protesters at the Plaza de Armas at noon.  So we decided we would try to take our chances at getting out of town to see some of the ruins east of Cusco.  Our thinking was the roadblocks would not be manned as they would all be in the center of town and we could escape.

So we taught our English classes in the morning and from the Tullumayo chapel we could hear the sounds of marches and protests.  We needed to wait a bit before heading out so we decided to see if we could get into one of the museums, Museum of popular art, located near the chapel.

As we walked up the Avenida de Sol we realized we were smack in the heart of the protest marches.

 Above some protesters had constructed a coffin showing the death of the wife of one of the leaders.  Apparently from what we could gather, she had had some influence on the passing of this law they were protesting.  There was a cross on top of the coffin and from that they hung dead rats to show that they considered her a rat and traitor to her country.

Below are some additional protesters marching in native dress and you can see a bit of the Quechua flag (inca nation) in the background.

The museum was blocked off so we headed back and waited for our ride to arrive.  There had been so many people marching down Avenida de Sol and we knew they were heading to the Plaza de Armas for the speeches, that we were feeling pretty good about our chances of getting to the ruins for the afternoon.

Here is what we drove past as we tried to get out of Cusco and get to Tipon, our first ruin site we wanted to visit.

Time after time we would have to take side roads to avoid a blocked road or simply drive on the shoulder of the road to get around the rocks left in the street.  Some roadblocks were more effective than others, but most were unmanned and just slowed us down.

We had managed to pass the Cusco city limits and get through a couple of smaller towns on the outskirts so we were feeling hopeful we had passed the worst of it and would make it to our destination until.....

we made it within 40 yards to our turn off in Tipon to head up into the canyon to arrive at the ruins.  We could see the city sign of Tipon and we were stuck.  There was a roadblock that was still being manned by a large group of protesters.  And they were still very determined to hold out until the end of the day.  We waited for awhile, hoping they would allow passage.  Our driver spoke to them to see if he could get permission to pass.  But as time ticked away we were running out of time.  It had already taken us longer to get out there than usual and then the waiting had used up precious minutes.

We had to be back into town for our Pathway commitment.  They did let a car go by that had a dead body in it, but other than that, no dice for anyone else.  They said they wouldn't open up the road until 6:00 pm and that is when our Pathway meeting started.  So we had to give up and turn around.

Interestingly, we met a couple members of the church that were stranded there as well.  They had come from Sicuani (the other side of the roadblock) and were trying to get through to the airport as they had tickets for a flight that was leaving that afternoon.  We offered them a ride as we had room in our van.  We made it back to the airport at the very hour they were supposed to check in.

It made us feel like our trip out was not a total waste.  We were able to provide a good samaritan service to our fellowmen in need.  They told us we were angels (I think they meant life-savers).

We held our Pathway meeting that evening.  We expected a low turnout due to the protests and transportation issues, but surprisingly almost all students made it for the gathering.  Now that is dedication.

Friday the protests were over and Cathy and Charlie's flight didn't leave until noon, so we figured we had time to see the ruins we had missed on Wednesday when we had to travel on foot.  There are two sites close to the city, but just a bit too far to walk.  So we had Franz Guerra take us out to see those, while Elder Rhoades kept our English class commitments.

These are ruins we have never had the chance to see until now.  The first one we visited was Tambomachay.  It is a small site, so not too impressive after seeing the other places.

The second site is just down the road.  In fact, the photo above is looking from the other ruin site back at Tambomachay.  This other site was called Pukapukara.  It was another small site.

 but it had a great view of the valley (see photo below)

These sites were just close enough for us to take them in and then get Charlie and Cathy to the airport in time to check in to their flight.  We said good bye to them and figured it would be another two months before we would see them again.

We set to work doing some housekeeping as we had been so busy sightseeing with them we had had no time to take care of cleaning and shopping, etc.  To our surprise when we took some time out around 4 pm to go into Facebook to see if there was any interesting news from family, we found a number of messages from Cathy & Charlie's kids.  They told us their flight had been delayed 4 hours.  And then we heard it had been cancelled due to an accident on the runway.  This was totally unexpected.  In the 15 months we've lived here, we have never heard of any flight cancellations.

We decided we needed to get down to the airport to help them out.  Cathy and Charlie had no way to make local calls.  We got down there and the airport was a mess.  Lines and lines of people all trying to re-book their flights.  No flights were coming in or going out for the rest of the day, nor had been since about the time we had dropped them off at 11:00 am.

Here's where it gets bizarre.  A flight had come in for a landing and in the process one of the set of landing wheels had fallen off, causing the plane to skid on the runway and basically create a divet in the landing airstrip.  (wish I could have gotten a photo of that for this blog!)  They had managed to evacuate the passengers with no injuries but the plane was stranded in the middle of the runway with no way to get off.  There is only one landing strip in Cusco so it was making it impossible for any other flights to land or take off.  The airport officials were not sure how to get that airplane moved and were trying to figure out how to resolve the problem.

This was to be the very plane Cathy & Charlie would have boarded and taken to Lima!

We managed to locate Cathy & Charlie and they got their flight rescheduled.  By the time it was their turn to re-book, all the flights out Saturday were booked so the earliest they could get out was Sunday.

We decided this was a blessing in disguise as that Friday the Mexican coast was being hit by a category 5 hurricane with close to 200 mph winds.  Their flight from Lima was scheduled to fly over Mexican air space the exact same hours it was crossing over Mexico.  We are pretty sure their flight from Lima most likely would have been cancelled and they would have been stranded there at the airport in Lima.  Much better to be stranded in Cusco.

So we made the most of it.  Saturday was a full day of sightseeing.  We finally were able to get them out to the ruins we were blocked from during the protests.  We went out to Tipon first.  We have always been rushed when we have visited in the past so it was nice to be able to take plenty of time.  I got to explore parts of the site that I didn't know were there before.

Tipon is the ruins that show off the hydraulic intelligence of the Incas.  So it is mostly terraces with channels of water running down the side of the mountain.

(click to enlarge this panoramic view of the site)

This is a very pretty site and not a lot of visitors so it is peaceful and quiet.

I decided to take the high road this time and was rewarded with a number of surprises.

 First - a great view of the valley below.  And a good bird's eye view of a section of ruins I didn't know existed.

 At the top of the climb were more ruins, not a lot but they were interesting as they seemed to be a place for either bathing or temple worship as they seem to build their holy places at the high points of their settlements.

At the top of the terraces is a beautiful peaceful spring where the water comes from to water the terraces, which were used for growing crops back in the Inca days.

This photo above shows how they divided the flow off into multiple channels as it went down to slow down the speed of the water.  Below, we all pose for a photo in front of the fountain.

Below, Dave and Edgar (our driver and friend) walk past one of the water channels 

Tipon behind us.  It was a pretty windy day as you can see from my hair style.

Then it was on to Pikillacta and the aquaduct.  We stopped to see the aquaduct first.

This is the first time we climbed to the top and got a good view of the water channel on top of the ruins.

Then it was on to the actual ruin site.  This was probably our fourth time visiting but it still amazes us the vastness and size of this pre-Inca city built by the Wari tribe.

  Dave poses for a photo with ruins behind him.  Below Dave and Edgar walk along the amazingly wide passage way between the walls around the perimeter of the ruin site.

 This was a walled city.  You can vaguely make out the outside wall on the left back of the photo below.

 Dave and Edgar again pose with the ruins behind them.  Below is a panoramic.  You will probably have to click to make it larger to make anything out.

Saturday evening upon our return to Cusco, Cathy & Charlie wanted to see the Plaza de Armas at night, so we headed up there and were treated with a firework show.  Not sure what the occasion was but it was fun to watch.  They construct these bamboo structures that has fireworks attached and they light them and the show begins.

It was another full day of sightseeing and a full week of hosting family.  As much as we enjoy family visits, it does take a toll on missionary work.  We hope the Lord is understanding as he also encourages us to build forever family relationships and these visits with family are such a treasure to share time together and have them experience some of the things we are seeing and doing here in Peru as we serve the members and the Lord.  Besides, our leaders also encourage us to invite our families to visit as well.

Spiritual Thought for the Week: Dieter  F. Uchtdorf  "A Summer with Great-Aunt Rose"

There is enough that doesn't go right in life, so anyone can work themselves into a puddle of pessimism and a mess of melancholy.  But I know people who, even when things don't work out, focus on the wonders and miracles of life.  These folks are the happiest people I know...God didn't design us to be sad.  he created us to have joy!  So if we trust Him, He will help us to notice the good, bright, hopeful things of life.  And sure enough, the world will become brighter...it doesn't happen instantly, but honestly, how many good things do?  Seems to me that the best things,...take patience and work."