Cusco & the Sacred Valley

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  Cusco, Peru
Thursday, November 8, 2007

Hello from Cusco.  Cusco's a really nice town, especially if you can deal with the minor annoyances that come with it (due to its being such a tourist center).  For example, lots of restaurants have someone standing outside trying to get you to eat at his or her restaurant.  Lots of people also standing on the street yelling "massages."  Just generally, lots of people (including kids) trying to sell you stuff (paintings, postcards, etc.).  One thing interesting, which I think is more for locals, is a ton of people on the street with cell phones shouting "llamadas" and seeing if any customers want to make a phone call.

I rode the bus from Puno to Cusco with Guy, an Aussie who was on my tour of the Titicaca islands.  It managed to get to Cusco in the expected 8 hours, even though it made many stops in other towns, including one that must have been at least an hour (seriously).  It's so funny how at every stop people come on the bus trying to sell you food and drinks

01 - Bull Heads on Floor of Mercado Central

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It was Halloween when we arrived in Cusco, and it's apparently celebrated here.  Kids wear masks and walk around to different stores and restaurants asking for candy (I found it funny though that instead of saying "trick or treat" they just yell "Halloween!").  My hostel even had a Halloween party and some people actually had really elaborate costumes.  After one night though in a dorm room at Loki hostel, I ended up switching to Hostal Los Niños, where I got my own room (shared bathroom but only once was someone in there when I needed it).  It's a much nicer place and I figured it would be worth it to upgrade since the price difference is just $10 v. $18.  I was going to be in Cusco for a while so I didn't feel like dealing with living in a dorm, which wasn't that nice anyway.

I ended up befriending a group of locals and even went to one of their birthday parties.  It was at his apartment with family and friends and was interesting to see an actual Cusco birthday celebration.  Not too different from what you would find in most places actually -- "Happy Birthday" in English was even sung when the cake was brought out (followed by "Feliz Cumpleaños").

Just about 2km outside of the town center (uphill of course) is a site called Saqsaywamán, where I went one day

02 - Plaza de Armas & Iglesia Compañia de Jesús

.  The Inca ruins there are from a fort which was the site of a big battle between the Spanish and Incas in 1536.  There are still a ton of walls, etc. but most of the rocks were apparently carried away by the Spanish to build homes in Cusco after they conquered it.  It's really amazing how big some of the rocks are and how well they fit together.  Since it's on a hill above the city, you get some nice views of Cusco too.

Another place I went was within the city, called Qorikancha.  The Spanish built a church (Iglesia de Santo Domingo) right on top of an Inca structure and you can still see some of the Inca walls, which have withstood the test of time (and Cusco's earthquakes). 

The city itself is great to walk around in, with nice colonial architecture, often built right on top of Inca foundations.  There are some really nice plazas, especially Plaza de Armas (around which most of the tourist stuff is centered).  Great place to just sit around for a bit.

On Sunday I decided to treat myself to a day of watching football.  What figured to be the best game of the season (the undefeated Pats against the undefeated Colts) was at 4:15 and the Eagles game was at 8:15

03 - Size of Rocks at Saqsaywamán

.  I read on the internet about a place in Cusco that shows NFL games but of course when I got there it was closed.  After checking out a couple of pubs that didn't have the 4:15 game, I eventually found a place that did.  Along with all of the other NFL watchers in Cusco, it seemed like.  It was fun, then went to a different place to catch the next game (it was on ESPN, so more places had it) and watched with a couple of girls from Philly who were huge Eagles fans (the Eagles game itself was disappointing, another loss).

I'd already tried llama and alpaca before getting to Cusco, but I figured Cusco would be a good place to try another Peruvian specialty -- guinea pig.  I went to a pretty nice restaurant to try it and paid quite a bit ($15, most expensive thing on the menu I think, and the most expensive meal I've had in a long time) but I thought that would be worth it for my first guinea pig eating experience.  It was served whole (check out the picture), with head, feet, etc.  It was pretty good (tasted kind of like chicken, of course) but it was a bit tough to get at the meat, lots of skin and bones.

One day I did a tour to the Sacred Valley, just north of Cusco.  It ended up being with a big busload of people, but the guide was good (he spoke in Spanish and then repeated himself in English) and made it feel like not too large of a group

04 - View of Cusco and Plaza de Armas

.  Our first stop was a small market that wasn't too exciting, just a bunch of souvenirs.  Then we went to Pisac and visited the Inca ruins there.  That was really cool, the ruins are high above the current village of Pisac (founded by the Spanish, not the Incas).  Our guide said Pisac is actually bigger than Machu Picchu.  We saw some different examples of Inca architecture -- older buildings from around 1250 that used smaller stones and mortar, and newer buildings from around 1450 where huge rocks were carved so that they fit perfectly, without mortar.  The rocks are huge and have no space in between them!

After stopping for lunch, we continued on to Ollantaytambo, which is the best surviving example of Inca urban planning.  It has been continuously inhabited for over 700 years, since before the Spanish arrived in South America.  The buildings in town are all built on the old Inca foundations and the perfectly straight streets and same-size blocks from Inca times are still there.  There is also a fortress and temple above, with steep terraces in between.  This is one of the few places where the Spanish lost a big battle to the Incas.  We were shown the mountain across the valley from where the huge stones were dragged and it's really amazing to think how the Incas were able to do this so long ago.  I actually even saw/heard a Russian tour group here!  I think my first one in South America

05 - Guinea Pig for Lunch

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We then went to a village called Chinchero, nearly 3,800 meters above sea level, surrounded by some snow-covered peaks which reach above 6,000 meters (about 20,000 feet).  Again, all the buildings in town are built on Inca foundations.  Up the hill, there was a Spanish church from the first half of the 16th century that we went into (built on top of an Inca temple).  We saw a great sunset from there before heading back to Cusco.  Overall, the Sacred Valley is really beautiful, a true valley, with fertile fields surrounded on either side by mountains.

Today I went whitewater rafting on the Rio Urubamba.  It was good fun, definitely not the toughest set of rapids, but we did go through one Class 3.5 and a few more moderately big ones.  But the scenery was great and we also just floated along for a while, relaxing.  Towards the end of the trip, I jumped in the water and swam the last 100 meters or so (we were wearing wetsuits, so that helped with the fairly cold water).  The site was fairly far away though, we probably spent at least as much time in the bus as we did on the river.  About half of the people in the group were much older, but when we were split into two rafts (4 and 5 people), the older crew all ended up in the other raft.

06 - Part of the Sacred Valley

Tomorrow I am going to take it easy and get ready for the Inca Trail.  I'm getting picked up at my hotel at 5:20 Friday morning!  I'm really looking forward to it, I should be back in Cusco on Monday night, after reaching Machu Picchu that morning.

By the way, to get the link to the WMDR photos from the previous blog to work, you might need to just copy the link and paste it in your browser as opposed to clicking on it.  Here it is again (password "photos"):
http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf41c b75a515

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

07 - Pisac Ruins	08 - Snow-capped Peaks near Chinchero	09 - Church at Chinchero	10 - Sunset over Chinchero Market
11 - Whitewater Rafting	12 - Whitewater Rafting

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