#cuscofest

Inti Raymi, Cusco - 2023!

Ceremony of Inti Raymi on Saqsayhuaman Fortress.

Inti Raymi Last Spaces

Inti Raymi, 2023, LAST SPACES!

Ceremony of Inti Raymi on Saqsayhuaman Fortress, main square of Cusco and the archeological site Qoricancha.

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Upon arriving to Cusco, the first night that I went to walk around town with my host mom, I noticed some posters under a bridge, announcing upcoming shows in the city. My eyes were immediately drawn in... Gondwana! 

I was so excited! There was no way that I was going to miss seeing Gondwana, and in Peru?! Of course not!

After our excursions earlier this day, we met up in the evening to eat at a pizza place with our home stay organizers. They invited the whole group to eat, and gave us the low down on things we should know and be aware of about the city. They also gave us these really cute framed pictures with our host parents on the first day they picked us up.

I started that evening wearing a dress and two pairs of leggings, and I'm so glad that I decided to change before heading to the show that night. Being our first weekend in Cusco, and at the dead center of Winter, trying to wear a dress was not the best idea. Even with jeans and a big coat, I was still freezing, but I was hoping that it wouldn't be that bad.

Upon arrival at the show, I was in awe because the show was in a big open field, it wasn't super crowded but there were plenty of people there. Also, we were dead center with all of the city lights surrounding us. 

At first I assumed this was going to be a reggae show, and by the looks of the dreaded youth around us, I thought I was correct. Having missed the first two bands that played, we waited for what seemed like an eternity for sound check to finish so that the next band could play on.

The first band we saw was Rio, which is a Peruvian band, equivalent to the Rolling Stones I would say in South America. They were older men who had been playing for several years, and everyone in the crowd knew every song and sang along. After a dozen encores because the crowd couldn't get enough, and thinking that they were never going to finish performing, they were finally done.

Immediately after, the crowd dispersed and I felt naked. The warmth of the crowd was gone, and it was then that we could feel exactly how cold it really was. The good thing is that there were many vendors inside, selling chocolate, coffee, and anticuchos (meat on a stick, street food). We tried to warm up with some hot chocolate, but trying to keep my hands warm with my gloves and scorching hot chocolate, I ended up spilling it all over myself. Then there was the issue that I didn't want to drink too much, because I didn't want to have to go in a porter potty. As much as we tried to hold in, it was no use, we had to go. So we made the pilgrimage to the porter potty's and waited in short lines that took an eternity. I'm assuming people took their time because of the cold, but in my opinion shouldn't everyone be getting their business done faster so as not to have their butts exposed in the cold for so long. 

We kept seeing all of these young men go out in a corner of the field, and because the line was taking so long and I couldn't hold it anymore, I was so tempted to squat in front, but I wasn't sure that just having Sonya cover me would be enough, so we decided to wait. Finally, just as we were almost to the porter potty Gondwana came out! As soon as it was my turn to go in, I peed as quickly as I could and used the little bit of tissue that I had in my pocket (always make sure to take toilet paper/tissue with you in public). After I relieved my bladder, I felt 100 times better, and I even felt warmer. 

It was already about 1am at this point, and not wanting to stay out too much longer, we stayed for several songs in order to catch a cab and beat the traffic of the crowd. Needless to say, despite the fact that we froze our butts off, Cusco Fest 2013, and seeing Gondwana in Peru, was absolutely worth it!