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Published: September 29th 2011
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Cusco (Cuzco en español) is a pretty famous city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. The city is of course the site of the historic capital of the Inca Empire and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO. It is a massive tourist destination and receives almost 1.5 million visitors a year, even though the population of Cusco itself is a bit smaller at 360,000 or so. While Lima is the official capital of Peru, Cusco is designated as the Historical Capital.
But while we looked forward to all the amazing history and scenery that the area has to offer, we were really excited to get to hang out with our friends! A bunch of our mates from Florida were meeting us in Cusco to party and hang out, and…oh yeah….to walk the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!
After making our way across Lake Titicaca from Bolivia to Peru, Sarah and I took a bus to Cusco which got us in at about 3am. We were staying at a cool, party hostel called Wild Rover right in the middle of all the action. I was delighted to get selected to
play with the official Wild Rover team in a charity soccer tournament on one Saturday morning. A couple of other lads didn’t seem to share my enthusiasm though…one of the boys, Cathal, demonstrated his disdain by unintentionally hurling right on the door of the hostel as we were about to leave. The drink specials the-night-before were certainly affecting the overall fitness of our team. The tournament went quite well with us winning a game and drawing, before we had to abandon our final match to go back to the pub – it was time to watch the Champions League Final with my favorite team, Man Utd taking on the mighty Barcelona! Unfortunately United lost 3-1, but fun was had at Wild Rover nonetheless.
Meanwhile, while I was playing soccer and watching soccer, Sarah and a few of our good friends were making a fun white-water rafting trip. I would have loved to have gone, but Sarah knows how it is with me and football, especially when it comes to Man United. Thanks Babe!
A few things may strike you when you get to Cusco. Even though we arrived at night, the ancient history is omnipresent; beautiful old stone-paved
side-streets in the old city, historical buildings, churches, the beautiful plazas, and much more. Next, for us anyway, was the sheer volume of street hawkers! With so many tourists to the town it’s no surprise that there would be a lot of vendors but you can’t make it across the street without being pitched on at least 4-5 products or services! As a sales guy, I appreciated the tenacity but most sellers could do with sharpening their skills. Most tourists really have no need for a saw and drill as they stroll around town.
Anyway, the other thing that a lot of people notice is the altitude. Ah, our old friend Alti Tude…we had been in the Andes region for about two months at this stage so we were quite used to it. But I know Sarah yearned for some beach time (coming up in a blog soon, I promise.) Cusco is at about 3,500m / 11,500ft.
Thankfully our friends from the US are true warriors and nobody complained of any sort of sickness from altitude. Hangovers could be a more likely foe! We all managed to meet up the next day, which was a Saturday. A few
of us grabbed lunch and beers before rendezvousing at the Peru Treks office to finalize everything before our Trek on Monday. Our group would be about twelve or so in total. We had a bit of an army as we prepared to walk the path to Machu Picchu, as the mighty Incas once did. So in true military fashion we had one hell of a session before we marched out after the weekend.
So, Cusco is just a real pleasure to walk around, and work of a hangover. The many buildings constructed after the Hispanic invasion have a mixture of Spanish influence with Inca indigenous architecture, including the Santa Clara and San Blas neighborhoods. Of course, the Spanish destroyed many Inca buildings, temples and palaces but they used the remaining walls as bases for the construction of a new city….and more churches of course. While here, Sarah and I checked out the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, the Plaza de Armas, the twelve angle stone, San Blas, Inca Museum, Pre-Colombian Art Museum and basically wandered the streets. On a particular say we came across a cool street festival that you can check in the photos.
Another ‘must do’
Cusco Square
@ Night, Plaza de Armas in Cusco is Cuy. Cuy is the local specialty dish, but it may not be for everybody….especially for those who still wake up in the middle of the night crying out the name of their beloved childhood pet Guinea Pig. So a few of us found a restaurant with Cuy as a featured house specialty and, yes, we ate a few of the little fellas. We all enjoyed the meal a lot and with our fun group it was impossible not to have a great time. But I have to admit that while I thought the Cuy tasted alright (very chewy, chicken / gamey) it wouldn’t make its way above my preferences of Steak, Chicken, Pork, Turkey, or fish. I may also have been guilty of overstepping a gross-out line with our friend Tara at the table. With the Cuys right claw in my hand I attempted to ‘high-five’ her, but she wasn’t feeling it!
Surrounding Cusco, you have many, many more interesting sites to visit and things to do mainly located in ‘The Sacred Valley (which you can read about soon). In fact, Cusco itself was built in the shape of a Puma: the Puma being a sacred
Grrready!
Mike is ready for action as always! animal to the Incas and Quechuas. .
Next up…..we embark on the Inca Trail to walk to Machu Picchu!
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connie and Kevin
non-member comment
nice showing
good job on the cuy!!!! What colorful outfits and action going on for the plaza party. Lucky you guys, still loving the writings and news. Enjoy love yas, xoxoxo