14 de Junio, 2011 (12:16 p.m. CT)

I’m sitting atop a quaint fountain bridge a la Plaza de San Blas, and I’ve decided that this is my favorite place to hang out during my rare moments of free time.

I just met some new acquaintances: a friendly dreadhead named Coyote and his comrade, a fellow jewelry maker with loose curls named Itala. Down below, men are lined in two parallel rows practicing a dance march for the upcoming Inti Raymi, the “Festival of the Sun.” The music seems simple but it remains beautiful. A band of 9 or so stand in the back with accordions and flutes, guitars, violins, drums and their voices. The sound is resonating off the buildings surrounding us.

And then I look up. To my right stands a church facade with a bell tower. In front of me… Cusco city crawling up the side of the Andes mountains and then a beautiful blue cottonball sky.

The dance below starts to take a more festive turn. The music is speeding up and the two rows of men face each other. Every other person walks to the center and with long braided ropes beat the opposite person at their legs while holding on to each other’s opposing hand. After the short beating they all fall into a pile of people on the ground or depending on the verse come together in a full embrace.

Itala explains in Spanish, back in the old days in smaller towns it was common to start fights with people you were angry with. After the rope beating they would hug and become friends again. It was a way of both trucing and releasing frustration.