Day 12: Inti Raymi Cusco
Today is Inti Raymi! The traditional religious ceremony of the Inca Empire held in honor of the god Inti (Quechua for “sun”). Historians say the OG Inti Raymi ceremonies took place from 1412 to 1535, at which point the Spanish put the kibosh on it (too subversive!). But since 1944, indigenous actors have been putting on a theatrical re-creation of the ceremony each year in Cusco on June 24th.
And whaddayaknow… we’re IN CUSCO on June 24th. Not because of Inti Raymi, as our trip dates were dictated entirely by the Explora expedition. However, once we conducted a fortuitous Google search and learned the biggest festival of the year was going down at the same time we’d be in Cusco, we were IN! Even more fortuitously, we stumbled on that information hours BEFORE the Teleticket — aka. Peru Ticketmaster — onsale for 2025 Inti Raymi tickets. So at 8AM on Monday, April 7th, Matt refreshed his browser a couple times and scored us tickets to the hottest celestial deity bash in town.
Cusco’s Inti Raymi Festival is a three-part affair — the first part starts at 9AM at the Coricancha, the second part moves to the Plaza de Armas at 11AM, and the third (and main) part takes place at the Sacsayhuaman Ruins at ~2PM.
All the advice we read about the first part at the Coricancha said you better wake up and claim your viewing spot on the street by 5AM or earlier. But thankfully, we’re be rolling in with our Coricancha bleacher tickets, which allowed us to wake up at a normal time and enjoy our standard Belmond breakfast.
Yeah, thank goodness for those bleacher seats
Even though we had tickets, we still wanted to arrive early and enjoy the festivities. Apparently, we were a little bit too early because the bleachers hadn’t opened yet. With tons of people already milling about on the street, it was hard to determine if there was a specific line for the ticketed folk. One obnoxious lady was certain she was in the correct line and was losing her mind yelling at us. Yikes! When they finally opened the bleachers, it all worked out. We got great seats near the top and there was absolutely no rush. We ended up sitting next to a friendly couple originally from Mexico, but who now live in Nebraska. Go Cornhuskers!
At 9AM, the ceremony was underway. Hundreds of musicians, dancers, and actors in traditional clothes march onto the Coricancha grounds, representing the four different regions of the Tawantinsuyu. Pachacútec, the Inca king (aka. Sapa Inca), eventually appears to thank Inti (the Sun god) for the day and his good fortune, while also asking permission to continue the Inti Raymi Ceremony at the secondary locations.
Opening Act of Inti Raymi at the Coricancha
Next up, the show moves up the street to the Plaza de Armas. Some people skip the morning show at the Coricancha and camp out to secure their spot. There are no seats or tickets for this second part, so you have do brave the crowds. And holy crap, are there crowds!
Chill Cusco dog says, “you sure you want to go the Plaza?”
Extremely accurate sign at the SW corner of Plaza de Armas
We navigated clockwise around the Plaza thru the mass of humanity. We weren’t really trying to get a prime spot, as much as we wanted to be on the NE side of the Plaza when the second part of the show was over. It took about 45 minutes to walk three blocks. And then another 45 minutes to make it halfway around the Plaza. The entire place was basically a mosh pit. We followed a woman selling food out of a basket who did an excellent job of keeping the crowd moving.
Finally, it got so crowded, we couldn’t move anymore — guess this is where we’ll be watching the show! Our immediate neighbors were a group of Spanish-immersion high school students from Cincinnati. They were cool and brought some much-needed “concert crowd” street-smarts to the table, which seemed to be in short supply among many other pushy people who thought they were actually going get somewhere attempting to pass us in this crowd. We tried our best… “Yo, turn around! Cerrado! Cerrado! Cerrado!” But they’d try anyways, and fail.
Our final Plaza de Armas spot
WKRP in Plaza de Armas
In this second part of the Inti Raymi ceremony, the four different regions are once again represented. The Sapa Inca and the current mayor of Cusco meet up in the center of the Plaza. An Incan shaman steps forward and uses some coca leaves to determine if today is a good day for the ceremony (Spoiler alert: It’s gonna be YES!). Then some other dignitaries haul in their khipus (knotted-string Inca recording devices) and the main characters have a riveting accounting discussion in Quechua before they proceed out of the Plaza.
Second Act of Inti Raymi in the Plaza de Armas
Sapa Inca exiting Plaza de Armas
Following the procession’s exit from Plaza de Armas, the show now moves to the third and final location at the Sacsayhuaman ruins located on the hill north of the Plaza. Assuming traffic was going to be bonkers and the fact that Sacsayhuaman was only a 20 minute walk, we opted for the hike. This portion of the festival is ticketed with assigned seats, so we were in no rush. We followed the crowd and meandered our way up to the entrance.
Bienvenidos Saqsaywaman
Second intermission break for the performers
Our seats were in the orange section, which directly faces the stage. We also happened to be directly in the middle of the orange section (thanks Teleticket onsale!). As such, we were sitting RIGHT NEXT to the announcers and camera crew. (Ok, technically there was one seat between us, but the guy in that seat slept for most of the first half, then woke up and left, lol)
Performers start to make their entrance at Sacsayhuaman
The show was impressive. It included another two-plus hours of dancing, music, and rituals. The actors read their lines in Quechua, while the broadcast team narrated what was going on in Spanish, and then in English. In preparation for the show, Matt also found a script (and translated it into English) which was really helpful.
Playing Where’s Waldo with the Vicuña actor
Inti Raymi Broadcast booth
It was sunny and warm all day, but during the final 45 minutes of the third act, the sun went behind some clouds and the temperatures dropped. People starting filing out of the stands like the Clouds were up 4-1 over the Incas in the bottom of the 8th. To be fair, there were about 3,000 people in the seats (and many thousands more sitting on the hill behind us), so they were probably just getting ahead of the post-game traffic.
We observed the announcers sitting next to us starting to wave and gesture to the actors on stage. The english-speaking announcer said that the new actor playing the Sapa Inca was taking forever and really milking the part. Lol. Britt told us later that the actor who previously held the role for nine years tripled his price, so they went with a new guy. Maybe this new guy was just method acting and wanted to look a bit lost when the sun went away. What’s a sun god without the sun?
Sapa Inca exiting Sacsayhuaman
Despite the chill in the air, we definitely opted to stay until the very end. Sure, the Clouds held on for the win, but that didn’t stop people from running onto the field and joining the band on the main platform as they played themselves out with a rocking beat. So we jumped in as well, taking the opportunity to snap some photos on stage and warm ourselves by the remnants of the sacred fire ritual. After security gently nudged us off the stage and out the exit, we made the hike down the hill back to our hotel. Took about 15 minutes — significantly shorter than the hour or so it would’ve taken in a vehicle.
Inti Raymi stage rush
This guy does NOT break character
You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here
Tomorrow, we have an early flight out of Cusco to Arequipa. So upon our return to the Monasterio, we spent some time packing and getting ready to go. We also opted for a snack and minibar-palooza for dinner (plus leftover pizza!). We are fancy, for sure. By the time we finished packing, Nan and Britt returned from dinner and we met up with them at the bar for a goodbye drink. We all decided that Inti Raymi was an amazing experience that everybody should do once, and that once is plenty enough. Quite a day. Farewell Cusco and farewell Nan and Britt!
