Monday, July 22, 2019

Day 13 - Qorikancha and Leaving Peru

I ain't got nothing to prove
there's no lower I'd ever stoop to
Newsflash! - Niki

The song is from Niki, an Indonesian singer. I stumbled into her when I was watching a YouTube video of Rich Brian, the Indonesian rapper who's doing really well overseas. Both people are talented and I'm particularly jealous of Rich Brian's accent when he's speaking English. His music is not really my kind of music, but his latest song, Kids, is really good. In fact it's perhaps his only song so far that I like. The video clip is also very good too and make one feels proud and hopeful about Indonesia. I for one got nostalgic seeing shots of Mall Taman Anggrek being that I live in West Jakarta and can point out which area my house is in that shot. Okay since I think the song and clip are cool, I'm gonna put it here and then we'll continue talking about the trip.

Day 13 was the day we were leaving Peru. Nothing was planned for that day. In fact the plan was just to check out late and then take the free hotel shuttle to the airport, but then that morning I decided that I might as well use the time to go to Qorikancha. I asked Gioia if she wanted to go, but she didn't want to so I set off on my own. It's weird how certain things would make you feel something without you even realizing that you feel it. When I walked out of the hotel on my own, I suddenly realized this was what I feel when I traveled alone and set off on my own. It's the feeling of freedom, a sense of adventure that one gets when travelling alone. I don't normally notice that when I'm traveling alone, but right then after days spent with someone, it's all coming back to me and it felt good and I was thankful that God gave me that opportunity to feel what it's like to travel alone again.

Qorikancha is located halfway between the hotel I stayed in and Cusco old town center. There's a slight incline when walking there, not very steep especially when compared to the old town area. I arrived at what I thought was the entrance, but it wasn't, it was instead the entrance to the archaeological museum. I was given direction by the staff and off I went. I had to turn right and then walked up. The incline was steeper and I was gosh, darn it, but luckily before I was totally tired, I made it. I didn't know what to expect of Qorikancha and didn't have any knowledge of it at all. I did hear about it being the Sun Temple and now that I googled it, I learned that it was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. What I saw when I entered was this big cloister, which reminded me of Jerónimos Monastery that I visited last year but not as grand. The Spanish incorporated this and added a church. There's some section where you can still see part of the old temple and the stones.

It has a garden outside, but the ticket doesn't include access to this garden. I think it's included if you visit the archaeological museum. You do get a view of Cusco city, not of the old town but more of the houses on the hill.

Other things that you can see on the ground level are treasures belonging to the church which you cannot take picture of and also relic from the Inca time like this gold plate below, which I'm not sure if it's real or a replica. I forget what the plate is for, but it has imagery of man, stars, and so on.

The second floor was much quieter. Here there's an art exhibition with paintings, sculptures, and installation art. While Qorikancha itself wasn't particularly crowded, it was kinda nice to be alone on the second floor.

Before leaving, I walked around the cloister again a bit and went back to the temple section to take some pictures. For pictures from Qorikancha, you can go here.

I still had some time so instead of going straight back to the hotel, I went to the arts and craft market in front of the hotel. It was kinda quiet there. I hope the people can still make money. The items were of course colourful and interesting. As someone who wears dark colours in my day to day life, I actually really love colours a lot. Anyways, then I went back to the hotel. Met up with Gioia and before long we could board the free hotel shuttle to the airport. There's only another couple going with us. They're from Florida and since they're another Americans we met from Florida, I was thinking if people from Florida do travel a lot. The guy was Pakistani-American if I'm not mistaken. He's not a practicing Muslim anymore and didn't realize it was Ramadhan at that time which made me think that in this side / my of the world, it's not so easy to be an open non-practicing Muslim. People here be like, what do you mean?!?! And the word they use can be very hurtful. Many people like in Indonesia can be very militant in their refusal to extend even a little bit of understanding.

Anyway the flight from Cusco to Lima was uneventful. When we arrived in Lima to exit looked nicer than the international exit. The international and domestic area is actually connected, but one has to really exit the door from the domestic one and enter through another door. The queue to check in for our flight was crazy long. As we queued, a trio of 3 guys walked behind me and I kinda stared at them because they looked Indonesians and one of them was wearing blangkon, an Indonesian headgear. Eventually the guy with the blangkon said "Hi" first and we talked while waiting in the queue. They were on work assignment in Peru for the past 2 months and it was nice that their work finished just in time for them to celebrate the end of Ramadhan. We were on the same flight to Amsterdam and then their next flight to Jakarta was via Kuala Lumpur while I was going straight to Singapore. I wasn't that nice of me that I didn't make an effort to say good bye upon arriving in Amsterdam. I quickly got off the plane and didn't see them again.

Transit time in Amsterdam was actually enough to be spent in the city. However since I didn't have a visa (poor Indonesian passport!), I could only stay inside. Gioia decided that she didn't want to go out on her own either. So we just waited there. She was having a good time looking and buying things at the Rijksmuseum shop in the airport. Next to the shop they also exhibit some paintings which were nice, but also made me miss visiting an arts museum. For me, the priority was to get stroopwafel and I did get them. It was a dilemma of if I should just get 3 or 6 packs. Then I thought I should just have 3 because getting 6 and unwilling to share it with anybody is just obnoxious. That being said, I just finished my second pack yesterday and I feel sad that I didn't get 6. Darn it, I really like stroopwafel and I couldn't find it here especially the ones with the different filling :(

Arriving back in Singapore, as mentioned in the first post about this trip, my body was battered. That first week I was like out of it. Blood was still coming out when I blew my nose that I started to get worried. Luckily I did get better. However mentally I started to break down again. It's been more than 1 month now since the trip and I'm back to my depressed state, back to not being able to sleep. Anyway this is the last post about the trip *phew* I'm done :) Of course after 1 month, I don't remember things as vividly anymore and I guess impression changes? As always I'm thankful to God for His blessings. It's good to have someone to do this trip with. However having someone also meant there's someone who witnessed or on the receiving end of my temper tantrums and when I remember those I do feel embarrassed. I wonder when if ever I would mature or maybe at this age, I'm just set in my ways? Anyways thankful, I am thankful to God.

:) eKa @ 9:14:00 PM •