Wednesday

Today was the second day at Machu Picchu. Half of the group went on a mystic tour suggested by Ron and arranged through Ric and InkaNatura. We asked the guide what the route was and asked if we could scale down the difficulty of the stairs for some of the folks. We had about an hour lecture on the beliefs of the Incas and when they performed ceremonies. I was sitting in my folding chair that had a back - I could have rented it out several times. Even though it was expensive it was well worth it. While in the room with the lecture the guide prepared us for an offering ceremony by pouring some Agua Florista in his hands and then having us breath deeply three times. He then ran his hands lightly along our temples, side of the face and shoulders.

We then went to see the different stonework at the Temple of the Sun and then out to the grass plaza to find a place to prepare the offering. Herbert brought a poncho to use as a sort of table cloth and then he placed two small squares with tassles on the ends and asked us to choose one. We all chose the blue one which turned out to be the male square. He then straightened it out and then sprinkled some of the Agua Florista around the edge of the mat. He then opened a package of coca leaves and started to sort them into good and bad piles - good ones were whole, single and various sizes. The bad ones were broken, stuck together or just plain ugly. He then picked out 4 groups of three leaves to offer to the 4 compass points. He took each one individually, said an incantation, kissed the leaves and then placed them in the corners. Then we got up one by one to select 3 leaves and then hold them toour foreheads to think about what we would want. Herbert came around to each person, took the leaves, said another incantation, instructed us to kiss the leaves and then placed them carefully on the square.

The next object to go into the offering was a stone - white for female and black for male. If you were married you could put one in for yourself and one for your spouse. Everyone in the group was single. The next item was the red and black bean that we picked out individually and put on the square. Herbert then folded two edges in and tied the other two together, placing one final coca leaf under the knot. He asked us to take a handful of leaves to leave in the niche as well. We then went to the Temple of the Condor and Herbert placed the offering inside the belly of the condor and we put the leaves in the niche outside. By then it was 1 pm and we had to be back at the hotel at 2 pm to go to the train station.

We got back to the hotel at 1:40 and I had time to go up to the spiritual store I found yesterday to try and find some agua florista and I scored. It has a nice floral scent and not too overpowering. I also grabbed a bag of M&M peanuts for lunch and went back to the hotel. A normal train ride and then a long bumpy bus ride in a 15 passenger van (three in the front row). The trip back to Cusco was over 2 hours and we had to then get transportation from the train station to our hotel. We arrived at the hotel at 8:35 pm. We decided to dump our things in the room and then come down for dinner at 8:50. Some elected to stay in the hotel and grab snacks from across the street. 4 went to explore exciting menus, and the rest of us went to a grill place with great food. I am very tired and we have to get up at 5 am to leave at 5:45 for the airport to fly back to Lima. The trip is almost over. Two people, Lise and Vicky, are staying 2 more days in Cusco and some of us wish we could do that as well. Ron is taking an earlier flight to Lima to catch his connecting flight home, some are leaving for home at 11:30 or so and the rest of us leave on the 18th. Time to repack and sleep.....