Cuzco or San Francisco?

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- FOOD: Rip off in the restaurants surrounding the plaza.

- AREA: So full of their official flags which are rainbow coloured it feels like a gay pride is going on. Very touristy and the prices reflect that. Big plaza with huge cathedral. The area of San Blas has narrow cobbled streets and is nicer to stay in.

- PEOPLE: Lots in traditional dress, but only for the tourists sake. Selling everything you could (and couldn't) want.

- WEATHER: Typical Andean, high altitude - hot in day, freezing at night.


Wed 15th June: The bus arrived in Cuzco (Inca meaning 'belly button of the earth') early - a first but a pain as it was only 4am. Thank god the hostel I went to had space. Got a room to myself with a double bed and good views and slept the morning away.

Ventured into the town - the Plaza de Armas is very big and there are churches galore and a HUGE cathedral. It was quite strange to be in a city where the buildings aren't white!

Cuzco's flag is a rainbow and there were millions of them flying due to it being near to the Inca Inti Raymi festival and the Sun festival. Anyone would think they'd walked into the middle of a gay pride! I've heard the authorities are considering changing the flag for that very reason!!

It hit me how very touristy Peru is compared to anywhere else I've been so far and therefore a thousand sellers take advantage of this and dress up in traditional dress parading the plaza with postcards and anything else they can sell. I was surprised that Cuzco didn't seem as smart as Arequipa. It has a nice feel about it though even with all the tourists and sellers.

I had lunch on a sunny balcony overlooking the plaza and paid well for the privelage for a not very nice lunch of refried beans and tortilla.

The churches were all closed so instead I went to the archaelogical museum. I got collared by a guide who gave quite a good tour but I wasn't that enthralled by the place - sounds awful but I've seen it all before in other museums!

I went to about 20 different travel places as I didn't really know what treks other than the Inca trail were available. You really can't get on the Inca trail last minute - it's true!
I had already decided I didn't want to do it anyway and would rather do a less popular trek. However, the only other decent treks to Machu Picchu (Salcantay and Ausungate) were 7 days and VERY hard. I've had enough exercise trekking the canyon so the train it is!

The area I'm staying in (San Blas) has lovely narrow cobbled streets and is higher up. Very nice and away from the hustle bustle of central Cuzco but bloody expensive (they know they can up their prices and get away with it in Cuzco).

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