Tuesday in Cusco

I had a pretty laid-back day exploring Cusco yesterday.  I visited two art museums; the first didn't do anything for me, but the second was outstanding. It was the Museum of Popular Art and it had a wonderful collection of dioramas and figures made from various materials, including wood, plaster of paris, corn husks, old silver ware, pounded tin, terra cotta, ceramics, copper, bread dough and burlap. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed.  Apparently, there is an annual competition and many of the items displayed are the winners from these annual contests. The figures ranged in size from about an inch tall to over a foot tall and were of everything from religious scenes of the nativity, adorations, the last supper, etc., to local people and events including compositos (people from the countryside/mountains), workshops, musicians, vendors, etc.  One diorama was made froma  dresser drawer turned on it's end (the inside end), with a religious scene made out of plaster of paris in it.  The front of the drawer was only connected at the back, and was lifted upright, with a heaven scene painted and sculpted on the inside of it, above the rest of the drawer.  (Can you follow that?)  Anyway, obviously, I really enjoyed it.

Another museum I stopped at was the Inca museum in the old Admiral's Mansion.  I ended up  not going into the exhibits, as it was additional money beyond the expensive "all-in-one-card" that I bought, and I spoke to a woman who just came out who said it was ok, but not labeled very well, so a bit difficult to follow. But in the courtyard in the center were a number of women weaving and knitting with their handwork for sale. Expensive, but direct to them---but I decided to hold off -- I have bought so much lately.

I made arrangements for my trip back from Machu Picchu to Cusco and then had a fantastic salad at a place in the San Blas district.  (First veggies I've had insome time.) From there I headed up hill even higher to the plaza de San Blas and the church there.  I paid the extra to go into this church, as I had read about the alter and the pulpit.  The pulpit is an exquisitely carved work of art, beyond any of the balconies I have seen here, and the alter back piece is gold leaf from floor to ceiling - beautiful.  What was so different about this church is that it is a simple, small adobe sturcture, very unimposing from the outside.  Inside, besides these two well-known pieces, the other art was in poorer shape, but it gave the whole church a very welcoming, local feeling.  One of the crucifixes was an old piece of wood and had Jesus painted on it. One of the cross pieces of wood looked like it had broken off at some point and was reconnected, but it was on an angle.  There was another crucifix that was hung by a rope and pully system - probably to allow it to be taken down to be used for processions. 

I sat in the plaza for awhile, watching a man and a very young boy kicking around a soccer ball, and a girl with a dog (a Bodie kind) that would run and jump over a low fence. It was just a real peaceful part of town. Also in the plaza I found the workshop/museum of one of the artists who had a number of pieces of work displayed at the museum!  Cool place and I enjoyed walking through it.  Just found photos online of some of his work: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=1T4ACAW_enUS340US340&resnum=0&q=hilario+mendivil&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=ZY28S6-IJYjy9QTNgeXsBw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQsAQwAA

That will give you an idea of all the works on display in the museum as well...

As I headed back downhill to the main plaza, walking through the alley with the famous 12-sided Inca stone used in the wall, I ran into two of the gals from GVI who are on their travel weeks between the Peru and Ecuador project.  I joined them while they had lunch and we compared our stories: they had just come back from Machu Picchu and a 4 day hike that included many obstacles, but not quite as dramatic as the other gals who tried to do it in two days.

We met up for dinner later at a cool restaurant just off the main square where I had Thai Chicken with noodles: oh, sooo good!  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, talking about the projects and their anticipation of the Ecuador project. (Sure would like to see my kids there again!)