52. Inti Raymi, Inca Tribute to the Sun in the streets of old Cuzco

By Filipe Morato Gomes	Where is Cuzco?
I arrived in Cuzco, Peru - the gateway to known Machu Picchu and the famous Inca trail - during the liveliest dates of local calendar. Cuzco was celebrating the Inti Raymi, a joyful Inca tribute to the sun. Meanwhile, I also visited the stunning ruins of Machu Picchu, a sacred place for Inca civilization and one of the last Inca known cities. It was a memorable week.

A whole week of non-stop parades until the day of the great show. One could see people were proud of their identity. The entire town of Cuzco was in the streets, in permanent joyfulness. To finish the celebrations, a monumental dramatic performance with hundreds of figurants wearing splendid clothes copied from the Inca period. These were the ingredients for the Inti Raymi, the most renowned popular celebration of the Peruvian city of Cuzco.

Plaza de Armas in the old city of Cuzco, gateway to Machu Picchu and the Inca trail

I arrived in Cuzco on the first days of the festivities. Joy could be breathed in the streets of the old city, as on a parade day by the time of a Portuguese Queima das Fitas (a university student's annual party). The main point of the parades was situated in Hauqaypata, the Cuzco beautiful central square which is now known as Plaza de Armas. It was there that the several delegations presented their choreographies for an audience of eminent personalities everybody greeted with respect. They danced at the sound of popular music. They sang and played. Or presented short theatre sketches. They used allegorical cars or simply walked along the streets of Cuzco. Some were visibly rehearsed. Others in high-spirited improvisations. Everything was very colourful, with a tremendous good taste. It was pleasant just to sit on the side-walk and appreciate.

One could see delegations of all sizes and social classes. Big groups coming from the different university courses, young people from colleges as well as children associations, Unicef representatives and schools of dance. Small ministerial delegations and workers of transport or telecommunication companies as well as others belonging to other activities. All sectors of Cuzco community paraded along the stone-paved streets of the city. It was quite impressive to see the collective mobilization of the cusqueña population (inhabitants of Cuzco).

Among the crowd, one could also see lots of foreign tourists but I guessed they weren't there because of the Inti Raymi celebrations. Cuzco is one of the most visited places of all South America and the fact has got a very easy explanation. Cuzco is the gateway to the famous Inca trail and the majestic “lost city” of the Inca civilization, Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu, the Inca “lost city”

To get to the holy ground of Machu Picchu, there are people who go on incredibly hard trekking trips through the trails left by the Inca Empire along the mountains. “I thought I was going to die”, a traveller commented with a certain dose of excessiveness about their three days journey along the Inca Trail till Machu Picchu. Other people choose to let them be taken by a train to Aguas Calientes and from there go up to Machu Picchu inside an expensive tourist coach.

I inquired about the different possibilities available. There was no place for the well-known Inca trail and anyhow I did not want to miss the climax of the Inti Raymi festival, which would take place in three days. “If you want to come back in time, we've only got first class tickets”, a friendly lady informed me at the overcrowded Cuzco railway station. Resigned, I paid a luxury ticket fare. I would go to Machu Picchu using a not so thrilling method, but I would come back to Cuzco in time to assist to the end of the celebrations.

Inti Raymi celebrations in central Cuzco

The pictures of the ruins of an Inca town surrounded by lanky pinnacles, in a mixture of green and grey, vegetation and stone, are too much known by everybody. Because everything is so familiar, I was prepared for a big disappointment. But I was wrong. You were allowed to enter the complex by passing through a place and, after going up a certain amount of staircases, one could see Machu Picchu from a superior viewpoint. I found myself completely overwhelmed by the sumptuousness my eyes could set on. Machu Picchu is a ravishing, magic, impressive place. However, there was something not so positive in Machu Picchu: the average number of visitors is frightening. It is said that the hill where Machu Picchu was set up runs the risk of collapsing. And I don't think the massive presence of tourists may help avoiding what seems unavoidable. Maybe soon people won't be allowed to visit that unforgettable place anymore.

I came back to Cuzco - the city the Incas built up with the shape of a puma - just in time for the final celebration of the Inti Raymi. I was photographing the parade in the central square of Cuzco next to Tadeu, a Brazilian professional photographer, when he informed me: “I have already been here once. We have to go to Saqsaywaman as soon as possible. In a short time it will be impossible to get there”. And so we did. Saqsaywaman are huge ruins from the Inca period representing the head of the puma Cuzco represents. It was the place where the climax of the whole week would take place in a couple of hours. An overpriced taxi took us there.

Inti Raymi final cerimony in Saqsaywaman ruins, Cuzco

A rectangular enclosed space waited for the actors involved in the final ceremony. There were groups of benches around, whose places were sold to Europeans and Americans at sky-high prices. As for the Peruvian people, they had already moved, long before, to the hill opposite the arena. You could not see the grounds of the hill, only bodies, heads, a crowd of anonymous people who looked for a place to assist to the ceremony free of charge. Nearby, while they waited, whole families cooked roasted potatoes directly on ovens built on the ground. That was what all they ate while others played football, sold handcrafts or just talked. It looked like a mixture of a street market and a music summer festival. Something very social, popular, unpretentious. It would be an authentic popular party, from the people to the people, if not for the prices.

(originally written in Portuguese)

» See Photos - Peru

» Back to top of the page