Peru: Cusco City Tour

This is my ninth blog post about our trip to Peru.

After our first morning in Cuzco wandering around on our own, we were picked up at our hotel in a van with some other tourist to be taken on a Cuzco City Tour for the afternoon. Below is a photo out of the van window of one of the typical streets in Cuzco--although some are actually narrower.

Notice the pair of clay bulls, jars of chicha (corn beer), cross and flags on the rooftop for good luck for the household

When the Spanish conquered the Incas, they destroyed much of the inner city of Cuzco using the Inca stone blocks again to rebuild the city Spanish style. However, the ruins around the perimeter of the city were sometimes spared the destruction. Many ruins have cut stones weighing many tons which could not be moved. A typical Cuzco city tour will take you on the rim road of the city to see the Inca ruins. Our first stop was the "fortress" of Saqsayhuaman (guides will tell you it sounds almost like "sexy woman"). It is now believed this was not a fortress, but a ceremonial/religous site. It has massive cut stones at the base and walls that are formed in a lightning bolt pattern. We wish we had more time here to actually explore the ruins--maybe next trip.

Caleb at Saqsayhuaman

Saqsayhuaman

Saqsayhuaman

From Saqsayhuaman we continued along the road to the mysterious temple of Quenqo. Quenqo has a massive natural boulder that was minimally carved to look like a sacred puma, but was defaced by the Spanish. The Incas often looked for forms in the natural rock and sometimes carved them a little to help make the form more recognizable. Below you see the foundation of one temple wall where niches were formed for life size statues.


Quenqo also has a throne carved from the rock for the Inca (king) and a natural cave with a stone table carved out. It is believed the table was used to perform mummification rituals. You can see it in the photo below.


From Quenqo we went to the Inca tambo (waystation) called Tambomachay where there are irrigation channels and baths carved out of the rock.

weavings for sale along the path to Tambomachay

Tambomachay

Fountains at Tambomachay

After leaving Tambomachay we returned to the Cuzco city center and toured the cathedral with our guide. Photos are not allowed in the cathedral. Then we went a short way through the city center to the church of Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo was built on the ruins of an Inca temple complex called Qoricancha (Koricancha). Many of the Inca ruins are still there. They proved to be too much for the Spanish to knock down. The ruins share the courtyard of the church and parts are in impeccable condition. They look crisp and new.

Interior courtyard of Santo Domingo

Qoricancha ruins

Qoricancha ruins

Dan and Caleb having dinner in a tiny little, family run restaurant in Cuzco and leaning on an Inca wall.

NOTE: If you are planning a trip to Cuzco, you will end up having to purchase a "Boleto Turistico Del Cuzco," or Cuzco tourist ticket, in order to enter most of the best known sites in the area. It's expensive and annoying, but buying individual passes is worse. The ticket is good for 10 days.

Next blog post: "The road to Machu Picchu"

Sue

Copyright 2009 photos and text. All rights reserved.

Peru: Cuzco

This is my eighth Peru blog post.

After we settled into our hotel in Cuzco, we ventured out to have a look around after dark. It was truly spectacular as all the churches were lit up around the city center. Unfortunately, Dan left the good camera in the room so we didn't get any photos of Cuzco after dark. We would continue to forget to take the good camera out with us at night.

We had a lovely room that night and all of us slept soundly until 4 AM when Dan got up to discover our room had flooded! Apparently there was a fresh water cistern under the floor in our room which had a valve failure. The night staff at the Casa Andina Koricancha hotel moved us immediately to anther room. The next morning they sent our wet laundry out to the cleaners and gave us a big fruit basket, chocolates and other goodies as well as apologized profusely. They were really wonderful.

All the photos in this post are from our first morning in Cuzco. Except for the last few, they were taken in the main square.

Being an Inca city turned Spanish colonial city, Cuzco's streets are mostly very narrow and one-way and often steep. Some of the sidewalks are literally only 6-12 inches wide if they exist at all. Many of the foundations of the buildings are original Inca foundations. It is fascinating to walk around and try to discern which stonework is original Inca, which is Spanish colonial using Inca stones and which is modern fake.

Cuzco is also where the hopeful artists congregate with their portfolios in the streets and beg you to look a their paintings. In the city center you will run into someone wanting to show you their paintings about every 3 minutes. It's maddening.

Cathedral doors and Caleb

Side chapel of the Cathedral

View over the city. The rainbow flag is the city flag of Cuzco

Main Street Cuzco--right in the main plaza

Caleb and me in the main plaza being approached by a lady selling birdseed for the pigeons

Caleb at the fountain

at Santo Domingo/Qorikancha (more about that in another post)

The lady in the above photo thrust the poor lamb into Caleb's hands so he had to hold it whether he wanted to or not. In Peru you generally offer 1 sol (approximately $.33) to someone if you want to take their photo. This lady was making sure she'd get her sol!

Cuzco is an amazing city with much for the tourist to do and see. Unfortunately, it's also quite expensive. Every tourist that comes to Peru comes to Cuzco and the prices reflect that. You can keep expenses lower by being a smart traveler--choosing restaurants and money exchanges farther from the main square will save you money.

a view off the street into a typical courtyard in Cuzco

This was just our first morning in Cuzco. In the afternoon we had a Cuzco city tour which included stunning Incan ruins. Check back soon for that post.

Sue