City tour

My home here in Cusco is very nice. I have a nice room all to myself and apparently there is hot water in the downstairs bathroom. I am going to check out the hot water situation tomorrow morning, first thing. This is a picture of my room. The bed has 4 blankets on it and it nice and warm but very heavy. I only have a feather duvet at home. Attached is a picture of my room.

I went on a city tour today and we went to the Cathedral, the Temple of the Sun, which was an Inca temple damaged and redecorated by the conquering Spanish in the 16th century, as well as some Inca Ruins.

The Cathedral was built upon the foundation of an Inca Palace which was destroyed by the Spaniards. It took 100 years to complete the Cathedral and just one month after completion it was heavily damaged by a major earthquake. Here is a picture of the outside of the Cathedral.

This bottom photo belongs on the other side of the above photo. It is the left wing of the Cathedral.



The Inca people were master stone workers. They carved the stone blocks to fit together without mortar and they are so tight a fit that a single blade of grass would not fit between them. Here are some photos of the stone work that was done by the Inca people.

These stones are cut to fit so closely together that not even a single blade of grass can fit between them. The Inca's lived between 1200 and 1530 AD and were basically destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors. It is only their stonework that remains in some places, having withstood major earthquakes.

It is actually quite amazing to see not only the precision in the work but the sheer size of some of the stones. The larger stones that were used to build some of their temples are 70 to 80 tonnes. Remember there was no machines, only hand tools and man power. Incredible the wisdom and knowledge that God gave people when He created them. Wow!!

When it came to the end of this life for an Inca they were taken to a special place in the countryside and mummified. Not only the royalty and nobility, but the peasant people as well. We went inside a cave that was used for this purpose and saw a stone workstation where it was said that the person's entrails and vital organs (except for the heart) were removed and then burnt. The brain was removed through the nose and burnt as well. The ashes were then mixed with spices, plants and salt and then stuffed back into the person's abdominal cavity. The person was then places in a basket, almost in a fetal position with their head at the top of the basket and then taken to the glacier to be frozen. They would be left in the frozen glacier for years before being brought back down, adorned with gold and silver before being wrapped in cloth and placed in their tomb. Crazy!!! Sometimes their pets were mummified as well and placed with them.

Here is a picture of the stone on which their body was prepared before being taken to the glacier.

The Inca people worshiped many gods. They worshiped the sun, moon, water, earth, rainbows, earthquakes, stars and I forget what else. How sad to worship parts of creation and not the Creator Himself. I can't imagine being so misguided in my beliefs as that. How sad for all those people.  

My guide from the City tour told us that his mother still does animal sacrifices at times. He said that when it has been raining for 3 or 4 days straight his mother would wring the necks of a couple of guinea pigs and place them face up on a table as an offering to stop the rain. He said that she believes that she is Catholic 100%, but still goes back to the old ways of her ancestors for other things. Unbelievable.

It was a very interesting and informative day.

Please pray for the people of Peru who have not yet met Jesus. Pray that God would remove the scales from their eyes and allow them to see Him through his son Jesus.

Pray also that God uses me for His glory in this place. That I become his instrument, his hands and feet and that He speaks truth to people through me. Amen.