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Published: October 6th 2014
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We have finally arrived in Cusco after 18 hours of traveling. With unlimited drinks and movies on the planes and average airplane food the entire ordeal was not too bad. We arrived in Cusco at 6:30am and it was a very chilly start. It was in the 50s and the cold air is just so fresh. Apart from the cold air, what hit us immediately was the 30% less oxygen because Cusco sits at 11,000 feet. Instantly you feel light headed and you can’t quite catch your breath. Luckily our doctors had given Kelly and me altitude sickness pills and we started taking them a few days prior to help us adjust.
After checking into our hostel (EcoPackers – highly recommend) we took a much needed shower and had our first cup (of many) of coca leaf tea. The locals drink coca leaf tea to help with altitude sickness. While some tourists/doctors are weary about whether the tea actually helps or not I figured if the locals drink it then I would. Coca leaves are of course where cocaine comes from but drinking the tea does not produce a high. The tea actually does help with altitude sickness,
Plaza de Armas
The main Cathedral is in the background. for about 30 minutes, and then you feel like crap again. Either way it is a nice traditional Peruvian way to start the day. Next we set out to start exploring the city.
Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire and many believe that the city was planned as an effigy in the shape of a puma, a sacred animal. The streets all are Cobblestone and most are very narrow. Luckily most of the cars we saw were little Neons or other 2-door cars so they fit in perfectly.
We made our way to the Plaza De Armas which is the main square in Cusco. I could have sat in this Plaza for hours and just people watched. A lot of the locals come here in traditional clothing with baby goats, alpacas, llamas, etc. and take pictures with tourists for a couple of sols (Peruvian currency). Both the main cathedral and the Church of La Compañía both open directly onto the plaza which were beautiful to look at.
A few years ago an earthquake hit Cusco and caused some damage with the underground pipes. During the repair work the workers
found ancient ruins under the street that leads up to the Plaza de Armas. More digging revealed more and more ruins. The problem is Peru is a very poor country and they do not have the infrastructure in place to excavate these ruins. To give you some background in 2010 Peru tried to sell Machu Picchu! They were not able to take care of it and were going to sell it privately. Fortunately and unfortunately this sell fell through after a large chuck of rock was broken in Machu Picchu during the filming of a beer commercial. But anyway the problem is that a large archeological discovery could be sitting under Cusco right now but it may never come to light.
For lunch we found this great spot right off the Plaza and we both had traditional chicken and rice plates. Mine was chicken in a cream sauce and Kelly had an herbed chicken, both were very good.
Next we made our way to the Museo de Sitio del Qoricancha. While the museum itself was lackluster there were a few notable items in it, including a mummy! Incas had very intensive rituals for after
death and because of the work that they put in in order to respect and preserve the bodies many of them still contain skin fragments. As you can see from the guy on my left it is 1000s of years old but very well preserved. There were also a lot of deformed skulls. The Inca nobility would tie wooden sticks around their heads, 3 sticks would frame the top and sides of their faces. They started doing this to their children when they were very young and their heads were soft. This caused the back of the head to grow out in a cone shape.
Lastly we went to the Qurikancha with Convent of Santo Domingo. This was one of the most revered temples of the capital city of Cusco. The walls and floors were once covered in sheets of solid gold, and its adjacent courtyard was filled with golden statues. But when the Spanish required the Inca to raise a ransom in gold for the life of their leader most of that gold was collected from Qurikancha. The views from the balcony and surrounding gardens of this church were breathtaking.
After only a
few hours the altitude had really started to affect Kelly and I. We both were feeling pretty nauseous and had terrible headaches. We forced down soup for dinner and were in bed by 8pm.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Cusco
I'm heading for Peru in January. If this is an example of Cusco...I can hardly wait!