The other day we went to the Cathedral of Cusco that's in the center of the city. I'm sad to say that I left feeling very uncomfortable and turned off. To start, tourists have to pay to enter, and once inside all you see is GOLD. The amount of gold in this place is ridiculous, to the point of being very gaudy and extremely idolatrous. Though I'm not Catholic, it's very apparent that Catholicism here is extremely different than it is at home in that there is a HEAVY emphasis on idols (physical figures of saints and various deviations of the Virgen Mary). Needless to say, the visit to the cathedral was very eye-opening and really made me grateful for my church back home.
In class on Friday we had a debate, which was very heated and therefore extremely fun and interesting. Debates in Spanish are usually pretty intimidating, but once we start everyone gets really into it. A few days before we had to give 1+ hour presentations in groups, which was definitely a challenge but very enlightening. You can definitely learn a lot of Spanish when put in these academic situations!
Yesterday we went to Pisac again to see the parade and celebrations of La Virgen del Carmen, a different variant of the Virgen Mary. Apparently this saint receives as much emphasis (if not more) than Christ, which is disheartening. I'm learning a lot about my own faith from seeing how things are here. A lot of the reason for the stark differences between here and the States is a result of the syncretism of ancient Incan beliefs with those that were taught by the Spanish in the 16th century during the conquest. One big possibility for the emphasis on saint figures is the fact that the Incas worshiped huacas, or anything that they saw as sacred (mountains, people, pretty views, waterfalls, etc.). It's likely that these huacas were replaced by physical figures of saints by the Spanish to convert them to Christianity.
Aside from experiencing these differences, we also got to walk around the TINY town for a while and do some extensive shopping. I finally feel like I got some nice gifts for my family, and I'm very excited about that. :)
I leave 2 weeks from today! How crazy is that? It's strange that it feels like time has trickled and flown by at the same time. I like it here, but I'm also super excited to be home again. Dualidad? Sí.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through ME." - John 14:6
