Cajamarca, Day 1

The men’s hospital was interesting in how the beds were set up.  Each sick person had a cell in the wall instead of a bed in a common room.  At the end of the hall there was an altar and more cells in the walls on each side of the altar.  A painting exhibition of 2 Peruvian painters was being held when I visited.  The women’s hospital had the same cells but theirs had wooden beds and a fur mat to lie on.  Furthermore, there were frescos outside of each cell with a number.  It was here that pregnant women gave birth and there were 2 ropes above the head of the woman that she could hold on to when she was in pain.  Now the women’s hospital is home to the small archeology museum and ethnography museum.

After our tour of Belen, my guide took me to the Cuarto de Rescate, the room where Atahualpa was held before his execution.   Then, in the afternoon I visited the Banos del Inca, just a few miles from Cajamarca.  Here in the hot springs Atahualpa was camped with his troops and enjoying the thermal curative waters.  Today there is a complex of private baths, swimming pool, and public baths.  I didn’t have time to go in because it was getting towards late afternoon and I wanted to hike to Otuzco to see the holes cut in the rock called “ventanillas” where the ancient Caxamarcans buried their dead.  I had a great hike following a small river up to Otuzco and a local boy there gave me his spiel on what they meant before demanding a tip.  He wasn’t happy with my tip but I told him that his 30 second disinterested explanation wasn’t worth more.   It was getting dark so I got a combi back to Cajamarca.

In the evening I went to a place called Usha Usha that was recommended in the Lonely Planet guide.  It is owned by a locally famous musician called Jaime and he has impromptu evenings of song in his hole-in-the-wall bar.  Only wine and hard stuff is available there and I met a group of some miners working for the American Gulf corporation who invited me to share their bottle of Pisco liquor.  One of the miners had worked in the U.S. and he told me he had traveled through Cleveland too.  He insisted on speaking English even though the others didn’t follow and so I gamely went along.  We had some good laughs.  Jaime was joined by a German violinist and singer to practice for an upcoming weekend concert and the miner whispered to the German girl that I played violin.  She insisted that I play something so I obliged with a few tunes before Jaime reminded them that they needed to get the practice session underway.  What followed was a few hours of wonderful music, at first with the girls, and then when they left, just Jaime and his son on “cajon” the drum box that is sat upon while the player hits it with his hands.  The small bar was all involved in the music and song and it was an unexpected and lovely evening.