From Puno to Cusco

I expected to travel along mountains high and dry and sparsely populated, however, much to my surprise, the road from Puno to Cusco is surrounded by green mountains and valleys, heavily cultivated and with a string of little towns all along the road.

Once we entered Cusco I realized my second mistake. Instead of a little colonial town we found a big city built around the old colonial town.

The same as in all Spanish colonial towns, there is the “Plaza de Armas” surrounded by cathedrals and administrative buildings. Let’s remember that Cusco was the capital city of the Inca empire, therefore the Spanish town was built on top of the old Inca's constructions.

Cusco has many museums that document the Inca's period as well as the Spanish conquest, the colonial period, the independence from Spain, and the new republic. We really enjoyed the degree of craftsmanship and the quality of the art artifacts left by incas and pre-incas’ cultures. A few examples:

El descabezado

Cuencos en forma de búho y escalonados al estilo Inca

Bastones de mando hechos de madera con figuras talladas de animales

Mi favorito: con pocas lineas lograron una figura abstracta estilizada 

With the Peruvian people, we, Argentinians, have not only a common history but also a common present. We share the same corrupted political system, an equally corrupt ruling class, equivalent popular struggles for the dignity of the people, the same need for work, liberty and equality. On the day of our arrival we saw a demonstration in front of the City Hall by unemployed construction workers. There were about 30 workers and 30 heavily armed police agents, men and women with tear gas, automatic weapons and dogs to contain a peaceful protest. The workers only asked for work but the police was ready for the worst.

Driving through Latin America we see the number of good and bad things that we have in common with our latinamerican brothers.