Inti Raymi

It has been quite a week...I've felt slightly ill, but I believe I'm on the mend now, so no worries. I did some work in the hospital this week, but as mentioned, I think my time will be better spent concentrating on learning and practicing Spanish with an emphasis on medical terminology. The hospitals are odd, all large and drafty with no manner of temperature control. They had taken me to general surgery to begin with, but a fellow wearing jeans with hair sticking up every way, who was presumably the chief of the department, declared it to be 'far too complicated', and off I went to the ED. In the emergency department, rooms are organized in specialty, so I was in the internal medicine room. 'Room' perhaps is not the best word, as they were just areas separated by curtains that patients and staff would just bust into while another patient was being seen. I think 90% of what I saw ended up being classified as acute gastritis. Nothing too exciting.

Elsewhere in Cusco, it has been a nonstop party this entire week. On Monday night, there was a big public concert in the Plaza de Armas. It was packed full, and served as a preview for the rest of the week's difficulty in navigating through the city. The party-goers were interspersed with an absurd amount of people selling everything to beer and cigarettes to blinky knick-knacks. Yep, the streets have had a distinctly urine-y smell the last few days. Thursday's Corpus Christi only increased the cerveza intake, with a huge party surrounding the parade of various Catholic images around the Plaza. The hospedaje (hostel sort of thing) where Veronica and Heidi have their Spanish lessons have a really good view of the Plaza, and I spent a good while watching Corpus Christi from there, as well as the rest of the city. The valley of Cusco is a little bowl of civilization stuck in the middle of semi-green Andean hills. One wonders how anyone can get up some of the steep roads that are nearer to the edges of this bowl. The sky varies from cloudy to complete sun, but it never rains since its the dry season. Far in the distance, there is the snow-capped peak of Salkantay, where I imagine the Dark Lord lives in his secret fortress, plotting all manner of plots. Luckily, Friday was Inti Raymi, the biggest Cusco festival that is a reenactment of the Inca asking the Sun to reheat the Earth. Sacsayhuaman, the Incan ruins that lie behind the Cristo Blanco statue on the Northwest edge of town, serve as the venue. It is quite a walk, and there a ridiculous amount of people that crowd up there. It is quite a sight to see, and not necessarily because of the ritual, which can be better seen on DVD or youtube I'm sure. There are all manner of folk picnicing, hanging out, selling stuff, etc. etc. Though there is a constantly huge crowd up in the park, there is a constant crowd moving in and out. And they are all throwing trash everywhere. I do not envy whoever has to clean that up.