Cusco (or Qosqo), the centre of world according to the Incas. It was the capital of the Inca empire, and was originally laid out in the shape of a puma. It was also an important colonial city, and this varied history can be seen in many buildings – Spanish-style colonial buildings sitting on top of Inca foundations.
It’s a beautiful city to walk around, as well as having an absurdly high density of outdoor equipment shops, and massages being offered to you every 15 seconds as you walk along (presumably for tired trekkers).
We enjoyed a whole week here, making sure we were fully acclimatized to the altitude in anticipation of our trek to Machu Picchu on the Salkantay trail.
Weather:
Alternating days of sun and bits of rain – which made us a bit nervous for the weather on the trek. Mostly a good temperature though, being just a little cold in the evenings.
Best thing we ate:
We single-handedly propped up a small restaurant chain during our time in Cusco. Organika cafe was our mainstay, providing brunch, lunch, and afternoon sweet treats several times over. Its restaurant counterpart with the same name was also great after one of our long day trips, but the Rucola restaurant was extra nice with trout ceviche, 72-hour pork chicharron and good celebratory (post-trek) cocktails.
An honorable mention goes to Kusykay where Chris finally tried the infamous guinea pig – a popular Andean dish. We’ve seen many adorable (live) guinea pigs, but the cooked version is quite frightening, especially for a veggie/pesci. They cook the thing whole – teeth and all – and proudly present it to you for photos. This one came dressed in hat and blanket, just in case the oven hadn’t been warm enough. The waiter then kindly takes the plate away (brief relief) so they can chop it up into something more palatable. The teeth were still there, however. The meat was nothing unusual but quite bony and tricky to navigate, so maybe a one-off.
Ruins near Cusco:
Our Boleto Turistico included entrance to four Inca and pre-Inca sites north of Cusco: Saqsayhuaman, Q’enqo, Tambomachay, and Puka Pukara.
At Saqsayhuaman, famously pronounced close to ‘sexy woman’, we discovered an imposing and impressive Inca complex built on pre-Inca foundations. This important religious site overlooks Cusco, and large parts are built out of perfectly interlocking stones weighing up to 200 tonnes!
Among the other three sites we saw military constructions, more religious areas (including an altar used for human sacrifices), and impressive hydrological engineering at Tambomachay – ‘the Baths of the Inca”.
After stopping off for a snack (choclo con queso), we went to a couple of ‘bonus’ sites I’d read about online. The Templo de la Luna was another religious site on a small hill, which we did enjoy but it was raining a bit by then….
We also visited the mysteriously named ‘Zona X’. This took a bit of trial and error to find, but it was worth it to see the cool caves and walk through some little passages. We also stumbled upon some university students filming an ancient Inca ritual. They were keen to show us more caves and help them out with bloopers – we didn’t knowingly do anything funny, but maybe being gringos is enough!
The Sacred Valley:
As if we’d not seen enough Inca (and pre-Inca) ruins, we set off on a day trip to the Sacred Valley which is home to many interesting sites (not least Machu Picchu itself!). Our tour consisted of five main stops: Chinchero, Maras, Moray, Ollantaytambo and Pisac.
In Chinchero we saw some classic agricultural terraces, learned about dehydrated potatoes that can keep for 20 years, and were shown the traditional weaving process of alpaca wool, because Chinchero is also known for its weaving and textiles.
We then went on to Maras where we could see the incredible salt pools. A collection of 800 local families own the salt pools in partnership with the Peruvian government. The pools are all manually managed and function only in the dry season, when the salty springs fill the pools and then dry out leaving the salt. After seeing the pools, we went to a nearby shop where we could taste the salt in all its various flavours (smokey, chilli, pink). We may or may not now be carrying round lots of little bags of salt with us…
Moray was another display of agricultural terraces where we could see the larger, restored version and next to it a smaller, entirely original version. Lots of these ruins have similar vibes but I really liked this one for its concentric circles!
A quick stop for a buffet lunch in Urubamba was followed by Ollantaytambo, a really impressive terrace with a big sun temple. Then we had our final stop in Pisac, which was a huge Inca site that we only had time to explore part of. This was definitely the creepiest, given that the holes in the side of the mountain were the remnants of people’s tombs.
Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley:
Another day trip – this time with a 3.55am pick up… However this was well worth it to find ourselves, after a quick breakfast stop, hiking up above 5000m to see the stunning rainbow mountain – or Montaña de Siete Colores. We felt good hiking up at a decent pace, which was a nice confidence boost a few days before starting our 5-day trek. Nonetheless, the final steep stretch was a challenge, but with a fantastic view waiting at the top: not only of rainbow mountain, but also Apu Ausangate, the highest mountain in the Cusco region, and very sacred to the Incas.
After taking in the colours for a while, we descended the valley just to reascend on the other side to see the ‘Red Valley’ – which we can confirm is appropriately named! This was perhaps even more impressive than rainbow mountain by its vastness and contrast with the greenery.
Bonus:
Also included in our Boleto Turistico was a music and dance performance at the Qosqo Native Arts Centre. It was a fun hour of various dances and musical pieces, we were big fans of the (unexpected) whipping, the one where the men pretended the be drunk and the rain dance. We’ll let the video speak for itself!
Next up, our trek to Machu Picchu!
Besos,
Chris y Florence
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