After about a 13 hour bus ride, we finally arrived in Cusco from Arequipa. Cusco is the capital of the region and sits at 11,200 ft. (Denver is at about 5,600 ft. for reference). We arrived late at night, couldn’t see much of the city and went straight to our AirBnb, which was a private room in someone’s house. This was an awesome apartment in a great part of the city close to everything, so that was a major plus (and it was only about $15 a night). They also had two cats, giving us our first chance to hang out with pets in a while.
Since we weren’t figuring out how to obtain a Bolivian visa these were some of the highlights of the city we were able to do/see:
Visited a few churches - Cusco Cathedral is beautiful and right in the middle of the city in the Plaza de Armas. It was built in 1560 and took 100 years to complete. Inside there are some crypts, which was obviously crazy to see because of the dates on these coffins. San Cristobal Church was the most impressive in terms of where it was built. It’s on the top of a hill overlooking all of Cusco. We visited another one that wasn’t as memorable so I don’t remember its name. Pictures can’t be taken inside of these churches, so we don’t have much to share in terms of pictures except for the outsides and the views.
San Pedro Market - Wow! This was a culture shock and can be somewhat overwhelming if you’re not prepared. The size and selection in this market is daunting enough and the vendors yelling at you to come to their stand and waving menus in your face doesn’t help, if you’re already stressed. But regardless of whether you spend 15 minutes or a whole morning there, you need to go and experience it. There are rows that are labeled with everything you could imagine (juice, ceviche, meats, cheeses, breads, eggs, etc.), and once you go down a row there’s booth after booth serving more or less the same thing. For example, we wanted a fresh juice so we walked down the juice aisle and there were at least 30 stands all selling pretty much the same thing and all the women were yelling to come to theirs. It’s wild. We bought some juices and then 3 fresh avocados ($0.40) and 5 pieces of bread ($0.30).
Caitlin waiting patiently for her juice.
Plaza de Armas - This general area is a must and while a little touristy, it’s a place you can go and chill for long periods of time. In this square you can find everything from the historical (the Cusco Cathedral and Church La Compañía), to restaurants, bars (Paddy’s is supposedly the highest elevation Irish pub in the world and is very lively) and non-stop ladies asking you to buy a massage.
Saqsaywaman - At the top of Cusco stands the Saqsaywaman Inca ruins. They started building these ruins around 1100. This might not be a popular opinion, but I personally thought that these structures/ruins were as impressive if not more than Machu Picchu. Nothing can rival Machu Picchu as it pertains to the terrain it’s built on, the surrounding landscape of mountains and just the overall awe it evokes. BUT as far as actual structures, I think Saqsaywaman is right up there. Just like Machu Picchu, this massive compound was built with stones and NO mortar, which is mind blowing. This meant that all of these stones had to be perfectly cut to fit together and these stones are so damn big! Apparently they had to be cut in the quarries and then drug up by hundreds of men for just one rock. Another place we would highly recommend.
I thought it was incredible how perfectly these were cut and fitted together.
Overall, we had a great time in Cusco and the only real regret was not getting to the Inca museum. Other than that, it’s a great city to wander about and find things as you go. Also, Caitlin would probably have me tell you to make sure to give yourself a day or two to get acclimated to the altitude before you go crazy and walk everywhere. She had a little case of altitude sickness that lasted about 24 hours.