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National Geographic : 1950 Oct
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The National Geographic Magazine Early the next morning, with Lunati and Oscar, we took the road to Pisac, north out of Cusco, past the cyclopean fortress of Sacsahuaman. On the ancient Inca parade ground before the megalithic main wall we saw modern descendants of the Incas playing football. "Basketball, baseball, and tennis, all those games, were introduced here by your country man, Dr. Giesecke," said Oscar (page 421). "In addition, he was one of the first to recog nize the importance of the archeology of this region, and through his efforts many important discoveries have been made. All phases of our Peruvian culture have been enriched by this remarkable Yanqui." The road to Pisac is narrow and winding. It was unpaved. Available rock had been used in places to form a stone retaining wall against the side of the mountain rather than for road surface. We commented on this. "Upa-anca," said our monosyllabic driver. "That explains everything," I commented. "It does," said Oscar. "That one Quechua word means the silent swoop of an eagle upon its prey, and refers to a peculiar form of land slide we have in this region. Without warn ing, and without a sound, the land suddenly lets go and envelops everything in its path. It is not a pleasant death." But there was gaiety upon the highway, too. Rounding a sharp corner, we came upon an early fiesta. Masked dancers in fantastic costumes per formed a kind of double shuffle in the middle of the road (page 433). Only men were dancing. Smiling women watched, dogs barked excitedly, and the or chestra did some solid "sending" on a few monotonous notes. Then the band stopped to wet its whistle. Literally, the whistle was the leader, for the "orchestra" consisted of a flute, a snare and a bass drum, all homemade. During the inter mission I exchanged a few cigarettes for good will and made a few pictures (page 453). "Sacred Valley" Gem of Incaland Another turn in the road and before us spread the Valley of the Vilcanota, sometimes called the Vilcamayu (Sacred River), because its waters and the Vale of Vilcanota were sacred to the Incas (page 460). Below and to our right lay the village of Pisac, with ancient agricultural terraces on the mountainside above it. Lunati pointed to the river running past the town. "The river flows between stone walls so fields may be built right out to the river banks without danger of erosion," he said. "There is an example of the reclamation agriculture of the Incas." A winding road led us down the mountain and across a modern suspension bridge into the center of town (page 432). Pisac is one of the oldest centers in the valley. An attraction is the colorful Sunday market and the strange Mass said in the primi tive church of the Indians. Varayocs, or lead ers of the surrounding clans, come to town to form an official escort for the priest. They accompany him from his residence to the church for the services and afterwards con duct him home again. They and their sons also take part in the Mass (pp. 455, 459). As we entered the gloomy interior of the church, devoted Indians in strange attire sur rounded us, their faces rapt with feeling as parts of the ritual were intoned in Latin. Spanish, and Quechua. Weird notes wheezed from an antique homemade pipe organ. A lusty, barrel-chested Indian worked frantically at the bellows. At one point in the ceremony the sons of the clan leaders startled us by blowing mournful tones on conch shells. On an altar near us rested a human skull with a faded red flower stuck into an eye socket. It had formerly belonged to a man of the neighborhood who had done much good for the church. This was a sincere tribute from these simple Cleanup Week in Pisac Following the Mass, an Indian in modern dress mounted the steps to the foot of the cross in the plaza and shouted for attention. Soon a crowd of citizens stood beneath him. From a paper he translated into Quechua as he read: "Citizens of Pisac, our city is becoming more and more a center of trade and tourism. We have become famous! From all over the world people come to Pisac. But we do not take enough pride in our city. Streets must be cleaned up, gutters cleared, cobbles re placed, and walls whitewashed. This must be done immediately. Anyone who has not cleaned up his house and the street in front of it within 10 days from this date will be fined. This is an order!" Farther down the valley we passed a young Indian carrying a toy wooden gun and fol lowed by a black pup. At my request he posed for a picture beneath a chicha (native beer) sign. As a member of the Rural Guard he wore his toy gun proudly as a symbol of his im portance, but gay flowers in his hat struck a strangely festive note (page 437). "Why the flowers?" I asked. 446
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