No time to waste when traveling. The day after I got back from Machu Picchu, I immediately jumped on the next tour to go to the Manu National Park, the Amazon jungle.
I wasn’t actually super excited for this Amazon trip.
From giant ant bites to the abundant amount of snakes, from malaria to the suffocating humidity. I have imagined three thousand ways that this could go terribly wrong. But the Amazon jungle at the beginning of the dry season was way more pleasant.
We started day 1 with a long drive to the National park from Cusco. Along the way, we stopped at Ninamarca Chullpas tombs and visited the museum in Paucartambo that housed a very complete collection of the Andean dance costumes.
The Ninamarca Chullpas tomb predates the Inca times. The unique aspect about this tomb is that there is usually a male dog buried alongside the deceased. Archeologists believe that this particular pre-Inca culture believe that male dogs can lead them from this life to the next. By sacrificing and burying a dog with them, they could ensure that they could find their way beyond this life. As I stroll through the tombs I wonder if the stay dogs nearby the tombs knew that their ancestors were an important part of an ancient culture.
A stray dog with Ninamarca Chullpas tombs in the background.
The costumes for the Andean dances were also intriguing. Each kind of the costumes represents a group of people in Peru. Along with the costumes, there are also dances uniquely performed using these full body clothing. Some of the dances show serious heritage while others can be contemporary and satirical. For example, the costumes with all sorts of disgusting yellow goos on the face masks represent the new workers to the Amazon jungles. Like many of us tourists, they too, are afraid of diseases such as malaria. Therefore, the costumes and the dance show the struggle of these new workers. Because the social structures and environment differ from one side of Peru to another, the same costume can represent different groups of people. And like many things, the intended subject of these costumes and the Andean dances change with the time too. You can learn many aspects of the socioeconomic environment by just studying these costumes and dances. The best place and time to view these dances is mid-July during the Virgen del Carmen Festival in the town of Paucartambo.
Andean dancer during Virgen del Carmen. PC to Wildland Adventures.
After a very pleasant picnic and catching some views of the Peru nation bird: cock of the rock, we rested in a comfortable jungle lodge.
Gorgeous picnic spot
Cock of the Rock!