Cusco and surroundings...
Trip Start
Jan 17, 2008
1
8
Trip End
Feb 01, 2008
Cusco,
Peru
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The flights went well, a new friend acquired :) - Emilio, from Ciudad de Mexico, that had been in Sao Paulo and Brasil for about 2 weeks and shared my high opinion about the town and the country that had been my home for the last 2 years... and he understood my tears of sadness when the lights of Sao Paulo were dissapearing in the night, as the plane was heading to the country that started the second part of my Latin American Adventure: Peru.
I was lucky enough to have a Romanian friend living in Cusco (Cristina) that could help me with accomodation... but unlucky enough to not be able to see her, as she was leaving in vacation to Mexico, in the same day of my arrival... and we missed each other by less than 2 minutes, as her friend and flat mate (Javier) told me. He had accompanyied her and then waited for me.
Javier, that had woken up around 4 am (here, at the 'sleepless' category we were 2, as I had barely sleep about 3 h in the Lima airport), took me to the flat he was sharing with Cristina, got me a Coca plant mate (tee) and a very energetic breakfast, waited for me as I showered and... took me in town to show me what Cusco had to offer :).
We visited the San Blas neighbourhood, Iglesia del Triunfo, la Catedral, Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia, Iglesia de la Compañia, and the central square: Plaza de Armas.
Cusco
As he did not have a very busy day at work we decided to do together the Valle Sagrado tour (Sacred Valley) by ourselves... we thus visited the archeologic places of Pisac, Urubamba and Ollantaytambo... in the last one, we went to a restaurant called 'El Huacatay', about which one he had read and heard only good things... and... in was indeed one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten in... and thank God, in Sao Paulo I had the chance to eat in quite a few very good restaurants...
The couple that had the restaurant (she - German, him - Peruvian) were young and amiable, they had a very nice young son... and the Chef, a Peruvian also, very friendly, that laughed a lot when we said we will kiss him because he had cooked so good!! :)
Many people said that they coud easily make a lot of money if they were to open a restaurant in Lima, but it seems like they prefere their little paradise in there - trees, nice house, 2 dogs... etc etc :).
Well... now... coming back to Cusco... this is a very nice and cousy city (taking aside the freezing weather that it makes these days)... the streets are full of people selling everything...
Prices, even if lower compared with Sao Paulo (but then again, everyplace in Latin America has the chance to be cheaper than Sao Paulo... ), I understood that they are quite a lot higher than in other towns in Peru, given that Cusco is a very touristic town.
The streets are paved with stones and the central market place - Plaza de Armas - is a beautiful space, with a lot of flowers and very nice buildings around it, including the Cathedral and two other churches...
Walking up and down the city I took the chance and took the photo (classical for tourists) with the huge stone carved in 12 angles, heritage of the Inca times...
Cusco - City Tour
also with the walls that are constructed by the Spaniards to continue the Inca ones, and as one can see the difference between the perfect technique of the Incas (with their huge stones cut and put together without any other material to keep them together, and even like this, not living space for a pin to be inserted between its stones) and the 'still need to improve' technique of theSpaniards, one can see why the walls are called 'el muro de los inca... y de los incapaces' (the Inca wall and the Incapables wall :o) ).
After doing the Inca Trail (which I will describe in a different entry) I spent 2 more days in Cusco, going together with the group from the Trail to Mama Africa, a very popular disco in Plaza de Armas in one night, and going a little bit outside the town together with Cristina's friends and co-workers (Javier, Andrea and Juli) to eat grilled 'Cuy'... hehe... hold tight... cuy is someting very similar to the guinea pig... so... yes... I ate smth very similar to a... rat!!! :o)... and actually enjoyed it :)).
Well... now I am at the end of my stay in Cusco, writing as fast as I can about this beautiful experience, so I will not have all the memories mix in my head before I can put them on the 'paper'...
Tonight, 24th of January, I will leave for Puno than Arequipa... Nazca...Lima... and... who knows where else :)
On the streets of Cusco
